I went out today in between work, a stop at the dump and going out for dinner with the family. I had hoped to fill the truck but since I had a time crunch I was just happy to get out and drop a tree. This was 10 minutes from home. Check out the check in it. This beetle kill tree has been dead for quite some time but was still standing before I got to it. I left the top but thought I would show it to you so you can see the needles have long since gone. Here's three different readings from the center of fresh cut splits. The first reading is from a round at the base of the tree, then one from 10 or so rounds up and then the third from a bit further up. I didnt bother with splitting the little ones to see. After splitting the rest I will stack in the yard for a month to let some wind get the rain off the outside of the wood. Weve had lots of wet weather here the last few weeks. After that I will load it in the garage for burning this winter.
That's too dry! You'll burn your house down! Lol Different kind of tree, but we have sort of the same deal with dead standing American elm here. You know it's ready to burn when all the bark has fallen off and there's big long cracks up the trunks. Near the base, the moisture content is a tad more than ideal, but only a few feet up, and it's burnable right away. Those rounds that are a tad too wet dry out very quickly once split and stacked. Good work Sean!
I know your joking around but yeah it can get pretty dry. We have to be careful when we burn some of our driest pine as it doesnt take to long to get it choochin real good. As a side note,,,, when I was throwing them up by the truck they were landing on each other making that wooden baseball bat sound some of us talk about from time to time. Its hard to describe the sound real dry wood makes when you bang them against each other until you experience it yourself!
10 minutes from home is a nice bonus. Over the last few years we've had to drive further and further to get our wood (also Lodgepole) as others woodcutters have been after the same trees. In fact I notice last year that the last grove of beetle kill pine we've been harvesting from for 3 years, which is already 30 minutes away, has been encroached upon by another wood cutter, which means we're probably going to have to find a new place to get our wood. Problem is going further up that same road the Lodgepole pine diminish and spruce become the dominant tree, and I dislike spruce as firewood.
That is amazing to me how low the MC is standing. I'm in the same geographical area as Horkn. He's totally right about the elm. I can't imagine seeing it down around 10% though. Awesome for you!!
I know you and I have touched on this before but is it also getting further away because the pine beetle is less prolific? It is in my area thats for sure. Hard to find a tree that has turned the last two years. My days of ultra dry lodgepole is coming near an end. Its a good thing of course but a guy got used to having an easy source of dry wood for the pickin!
Yeah kinda spoiled there. I get larch that is quite dry as well but not that dry. Larch would be similar in btus as birch at around 19 mbtus.
Yah, I don't know if it's got something to do with global warming or what, but those pine beetles seem to be turning into a bunch of slackers.
