I know, I'm only poking fun. In my experience it's that 3rd year that's the longest. I burned some 2 year old oak last season and some of it burned alright, some of it not so much. This upcoming season I'm expecting better results. I've heard from people that burn 4-5 year old oak that it's even better, so I may just leave my oak alone for a while longer still... I have plenty of other species to burn if I need to.
Red oak has been keeping New England warm for centuries! Plus, if you scavenge the dead stuff, you can burn it a lot sooner. Mulberry is fun but doesn't carry the load that red oak does in my region.
Nice and straight grained Red Oak is a dream to split by hand, Mulberry needs a splitter Red oak stinks and always seems to have big black ants, Mulberry can even be used for grilling. Red Oak is heavy especially when wet and cannot be left on the ground too long, Mulberry always has grit in the wood and is rough on the chainsaw.
I've only had a few split of Mulberry, I did like the yellow color. I get plenty of Red Oak, it's my favorite wood to split.
