Got a call from a new connection/tree service. Taking down a white oak about a mile from the house. I'm done working wood for the year but I'm not going to pass up free and easy. If I put the rounds on pallets and just leave them go til next may/June will they get crappy. I usually process everything right away but I'm totally wiped out from this year. I put up 30 pallets c/s/s two rows deep with chunks and uglies in the middle in the heat of summer. I'm 5 years ahead so there's no rush to get it split and stacked.
You could leave those rounds as they are for a couple of years. Worse thing to happen, is they get some ugly fungus on the cut ends and the bark might loosen. I'd get them split as soon as you have room for the splits. Get them drying out. They'll take 3yrs to be ready to burn. 3yrs from when they are split. FInd a place for them and let them season.
Hardwood rounds (oak, hickory, locust, heck even hard maple) will be fine stored as rounds, even for several years. The worst case scenario is the sapwood will get a little punky in some cases, the hickory and maple will spalt a little, but it will still be fine.
I think they will be just fine, as long as they are off the ground. You being so far ahead, no rush!!
I have a sycamore round that's about two years old, left in the dirt year round. It's starting to lose bark, and that's it. Oak will last way longer than garbage sycamore too.
This white oak was cut down by one Scotty Overkill back in April 2017. Split just a short time ago. All is great. In the first picture, pay no attention to that ash. It was just laying there after falling down. I had already split part of the pile before I remembered to take a picture. In the second picture, just the first stack is some of that white oak. There are still some limbs from that tree we need to buck up and split but it can wait. I just wanted that one pile done before the fall rains begin.
Oak should be OK especially if you get the rounds up off the wet ground. It takes a long time to start rottting if rotting conditions are just right and don't count on much seasoning to take place as it is a very slow process in the round. I've done it and gotten some mushrooms to grow on the cut ends. No biggee. They dry up and fall off once split and kept dry..
Well I got 3 loads out yesterday in a light rain/mist. It was mainly just the smaller tops. The main trunk is still laying on the ground and it's gonna be alot of work but a boatload of wood. As a bonus I got a smaller sized hemlock out of it as well that the owner just wanted takin down too!
One thing that I would recommend is making sure that the pile doesn't get full of fall leaves. A little top cover helps keep the water holding debris out and lets the air flow through.
I have all kinds of colorful stuff popping out, with all the rains we've been having lately. Those are red oak rounds that were cut and stacked 4/18. That's about 1/3 of what I have to split, as racks become available over the next several months. I'm not concerned about the fungi.
Down my way...i dont think theres a d@mn thing that doesnt have shrooms or mold growin on it......dehumidifier in crawlspace n garage have been pumpin nonstop.....gggggrrrrr.
I've stored Pine Cedar and Oak in rounds on pallets no problem. Seems to me the longevity really depends on the species and if they're off the ground or not. My entire 2018-2019 stove ready stuff is Pine I left in rounds uncovered from last year. Bark fell off beautifully and the stuff hand split like a dream. With that said I do live out west in a fairly dry climate. Seeing as we're on the topic, I wanted to get everyone's opinion on storing quarters vs rounds uncovered. My year to year plan is to store rounds on pallets and split and stack as my stove ready area opens up. My thought process is that the rounds are less susceptible to moisture because they're whole. I have no data to support this but it makes sense to me and it's the way I've always done it. With that said I'm currently processing a HUGE Ponderosa and most of what I need to store is 25" or more. I've decided to quarter the rounds to make them more manageable. I'm trying to decide if I should cover the quartered chunks or not. Thoughts?
Hell...it dont matter what ya do around here...mold is growin on fresh splits in less than a week....top covered or not....
Some of the rounds in my pics are halved, only to be able to move them around, without causing myself any damage.
WOW! Out here there's a 40% chance that it might rain .17" next Tuesday. Would be the first drops we've seen fall from the sky in almost 4 months. We just get firenadoes.
