New to this forum, living in the Arkansas Ozarks west of Marshall. I haven't spotted how to search the forum, but as I have a lot of gum on my home site and always have had trouble getting it to create a hot fire I hope some one can give me some more information on curing the species? Have watched and enjoyed the Roku segments. Bob
Hi Bob, welcome to the club! I think there's a few other members in the Ozarks. How long do you let the wood season? Ive never burned gum, but like any wood if it's not seasoned enough you won't get much heat from it. Most of us here strive to put up 3 or more years worth of firewood; as pretty much any species will be well seasoned in that time.
Welcome to the forum. My first suggestion is to let the split wood season for at least a year in full sunlight before you even try to burn it. That does wonders for most wood types. For some woods like oak a second year is needed but if I recall correctly gum is not one that requires that second year.
Oldman gives good advice here - are you seasoning the wood? Split it and stack it is a nice, airy stack in the sun and wind. When it is dry gum (Sweet Gum I assume, but Black Gum is similar wood) should burn nice and hot. It won't last as long as denser woods like oak, but should be as hot or hotter.
Welcome, you've come to the right place! The "search" function is at the top of the screen to your right, right below your user name. You might also be interested in the "Resources" section as there is a lot of usable data contained within. Everything to proper wood burning to drying times of wood to how to identify the various trees and most everything else you might need or want to know. Or just ask, someone will answer the questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question as each has it's relevance. Resources | Firewood Hoarders Club For Red Gum which is listed, it shows 12 months. So figure one year from the time it was cut split and stacked, plus whatever months leading up to the following season. But, as others have said, getting on the 3 year plan, that's being 3 years worth of firewood ahead. Some of us are way beyond that because firewood hoarding is addictive. I'm about 7 years ahead at this time.
I think the problem is solved, the longest I've dried wood is eight months. Always blame the poor burning on damp wood, I will start next month, as I don't have next winter's supply yet. I've oat, hickory, lot's of gum, wome cherry, and locust available.
That's great info and I was thinking that the wood would lose heat values if left unburned more than four years. Learn something every year, even if I am just 69. Thanks, maybe I will be able to help later. Bob
Welcome Bob pull up a seat by the fire and join in the fun. One thing to know WE LIKE PICTURES so get to work on that soon
Bobrm2 Welcome to the site. It is good to see more people of our generation joining. Notice I did not say older generation
Hi Bob, welcome from this neck of the woods, I can't help you as I never even seen gum, but as you can see already others that can are chiming in! Enjoy!
Welcome to the forum Bobrm2 I have always enjoyed burning gum and have found that it is best after at least one year of being split and stacked. Oak on the other hand takes 2-3 years but there are a lot of other species you can scrounge up that will season in 6 months to a year depending on how much sun and air they get after being split and stacked.
Welcome, Bob, from the great Southwest.....yes, we have winter here, too. This is my first year heating with wood and I have already learned a ton. Enjoy the information......and shenanigans!
Welcome Bobrm2 That's a very nice area you're from. I've never burned any Gum but I'm sure it would be fine when you get it dried. What stove are you burning in?
Welcome to the forum Bob. You might enjoy reading from the link below. This can also be found by going to "Resourcesm" Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage | Firewood Hoarders Club You'll find for sure that pretty much all wood needs time to dry properly. Still I'm willing to bet that 95% or more of wood burners really do not understand the proper method of drying and how long it should dry. Typical is the fellow who sells firewood and calls it "seasoned," which is usually a bunch of baloney. They simply can't make it pay to dry their wood before selling it so they simply tell their customers the wood is ready to burn. Most find out it don't burn worth a hoot and many people become very discouraged with burning wood under those conditions and give up. That is sad. As far as I know we have only one gum tree on our place but I've never burned any. I have read that it can be tough to split. Now the oak, hickory, cherry and locust we have burned but not much hickory or locust as we just don't have any here except some very small hickory trees. Did burn a bit many moons ago. Oak is the hardest to dry here but 3 years in the stack does it nicely. Also, in the stack, we usually mean stacked and top covered. Top covered only! Never cover the sides or ends. You wrote, "Learn something every year, even if I am just 69." That is good. We try to do the same thing but hopefully more than once or twice per year and I am a few years ahead of you! Still, congratulations to you. It would help all of us if you would edit your signature line and let us know what stove you have. Many of us put in the stove, saws, splitters or whatever in our signature line as it helps others when answering questions and besides, we like to know a bit about you to help welcome you. Good luck to you too.
I'm up in PA and we have black gum here. It's a small, junky, understory tree up here. I has interlocking grain so it is hard to split by hand, but does fine on the hydraulic splitter. The one virtue of this species is that it dries real fast if split up reasonably small. I've got some that's like 6 mo.'s old and far less than 20% MC. It burns fine in my stove, but does not have a lot of BTU's. I have to clear a bunch of it out of my forest and it will go on my firewood pile. I'm not sure how sweet gum compares.
