I will agree that maple left on the ground in log form will get punky quickly, but I disagree with the Ash going punky quickly. I have a lot of ash on my property, and had timbering done in 2011, the maple tops went to punk within 2 years, but the ash remained good. The bark peeled off, and the wood was not punky. I burnt mostly ash for 2 seasons from the tops. These were not butt logs laying on wet ground, so there's that. If I were to do it over again now, I'd harvest all the maple as soon as possible, and get to the ash secondarily. Just my experience with ash vs maple. $.02
Welcome aboard starfish4078 and dylantdyck and I'll put a little spin and twist on that title. Humidity, heat, time, laying on ground, off ground and all these things have a factor in longevity! I have some Maple that has sat out on plastic pallets and is 5 years old. Big thing is as Paul said, keeping it dry! I'm burning some oak as we speak thats 6 years old. My wood stays uncovered and out in the elements till I store it in my wood shed for the winter, only reason for that is the obvious. To keep it dry before it comes into the house. Laying wood on the ground causes many factors of rot, bug infiltration, mold and fungus and such. High and dry is the key and "In my opinion" you can get 5+ years easy out of most hard woods. Again, at minimum keep it off the ground! Good to have you both here!!!
Welcome to the forum dylantdyck There have been some good comment about your wood so far but please allow me to inject this bit of advice: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage I believe it was papadave who mentioned about the popple tending to rot a bit more if left in log form. In the Primer I referred you to, I believe it tells in there you should always buck to length, split and stack then cover ASAP. However, you can wait for a bit before covering but after one summer, get that wood covered. A hard cover is much better than tarps. Here is how we usually stack: Popple can be decent wood to burn but we usually only burn it in spring or fall or sometimes in winter as daytime fires only. As you can probably tell by the pictures, we love ash but unfortunately we won't be able to burn it much longer because of the bug that has killed almost all the ash. We like to burn oak in the coldest part of winter but then only nights as we don't have a lot of oak to choose from. But the biggest thing is to get the wood dry, off the ground and top covered. How long will it last? Lord only knows the answer to that but we've seen 10+ year old wood burn extremely nice! No rot or punk to it either.
Welcome to the forum starfish4078. Nice to have another Canadian on the forum. Love your sign too even if you have to stand on your head to ready it! lol
I respectfully have to disagree about the ash being the worst. On the contrary, I find ash to be about the best as I've even forgot some wood that I had bucked but the trailer was full. Then I forgot to go back for it. It was either 3 or 4 years later I found it and it had even sat in water for quite some time. It showed no sign of any rot and was as good as that which I had already taken out. I'll take ash any day!
I think many of us can say this, "Depending on where you are located" and how you store your wood will depend on your woods longevity! See, that was easy!!! It's trial and error, and I know from living right off the water, 1/2 mile some woods fair better than others. I "don't and won't" touch pines, and here it rots quick after cutting. Why, I don't know but Maple isn't much far behind it, and I get Lot's of Maple here. There are a few woods some of you folks see and I don't, vise versa. Sweet gum... GREAT burning wood but tough as iron!!! Just like Elm. I've had that stuff for 6+ years in the yard. There are many theories, and what works for some may not for others but one thing is for certian as everyone says, Up and dry.
Odd cause I know Dave to be a straight shooter.. Here maple and pine good for a year or 2 on ground!! I've been splitting rounds piled for 2 years as I never got split last year due to house fire. Ash, maple, cherry and pine some sap wood rot but 90% good. Birch, silver to bonfire and whites already compost.
Just a thought. My splits never rot when stacked properly. Rounds and log lengths have. CSS asap is the answer.
It may be we have 80 to 90% humidity here all summer long and also very sandy soil. I don't think anyone "really" has the right answer, It goes back to where you are and how "dry" you are. My Maple will get punky after 3 years! That's why I'm doing my dammedest to burn what I got left from last year. I have stuff growing aliens on it...
Okay, given all the disagreeing on ash being prone to rot, I will need to reconsider. As I mentioned before in another thread I dont have much property and thus cant store many cords that I split of fresh green wood for more than one burning season. Because of this I need to scrounge mostly dead fall that I can finish seasoning in 1 year. Ash logs are a common find due to EAB and I do often find parts of logs punky at times and can be like splitting a block of parmesan cheese. That said I can'treally say for sure how long a log I found has been laying there, or if it's in a spot that gets swampy from periods after rain. So maybe I'm not giving ash a fair assesment because I am finding it already punky? I will say though that most ash I find is in good shape so there's that. If I may add another thing to factor on longevity of whole logs is it also depends on their diameter. Skinny logs 8'' or less if kept high and dry as others mentioned are not much worry and season just fine.
A friend bought a home that been in foreclosure for 2 years n empty. He has been there close to a year n decjded to clear out some trees,green briars n such. There were 3 nice size ash trees that someone felled n left that had to be at least 3 years old....there was no sign of ash borers n the wood was in great shape. All the bark peeled off nicely....
I have felled some dead ash already n had some punkyness that you described....i chalk it up to the luck of the draw....
I've got an ash log that started life as a stringer under a log load that has been laying in the dirt about five years now. The spring after it came, it got buried in pine rounds. Last year I finished the pine finally and found the log. Still strong, but it's pretty dirty. I keep meaning to go finish the cuts I started on it, but don't want to cut through the mud with a fresh chain. Maybe I'll do some cutting tomorrow and finish it off before I tune up the chain..
Or maybe since its older the bark may not be on so tight and you can chop it or knock it off ? If still on tight, you might at least be able to remove the areas where you will be making your cuts? Sometimes I blast wood like this with the hose, but not stuck dried and hard mud, wait till its soft and damp after rain.
Good thinking! I bet once I roll it the bark will stay right there in the mud and give me a clean log to work with. Thanks!Now I'll definitely be getting after it tomorrow. Interested to see the MC.
