Hi Everyone, New Guy Here, and Some Pics of my Inventory

Welcome Razo. Nice pics. Just keep getting a little more ahead and you'll eventually get to 3+ years. Keep an eye on the chimney, creosote can build fast with less than ideal wood.
I really like the hearth, nice work.

 

Got to be one of the best intro posts i ever seen!

 

Looking good there Razo. I have a different sorting system. I sort it by the day it was stacked.

 

Welcome, Razo. Ditto what coal reaper said.

 

Welcome to the mix. That is a fine stack of BTU's you have.

 

Well, I was gonna' say we got ourselves a live one here, but it looks like a bunch of you guys found him first.
Welcome aboard Razo.
Very nice work you've gotten done so far.
Is that a concrete floor with some kind of tile?
If so, your floor CTC will be fine. I see block walls too.

 

The hearth looks like it's coming along just nice! Welcome aboard and thanks for the pics. You will fit in just nicely here...anyone who takes that much time to label his piles and stencil his lawn with each species of wood is welcome!

 

My thoughts entirely. The lawn stenciling was a nice touch. Welcome to the wild bunch.

 

I'm intrigued, I'd love to hear you elaborate on this, any pics of what you are talking about?

 

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, I know exactly what you mean about the "fix" haha.

@Backwoods Savage Thanks for the links! Going to check them out now.

Thanks for the tip, I am a bit nervous since its my first year with a stove but with everything I'm learning I'm going to play it safe. I really don't want to put anything above 20% moisture content in my stove.

I'm with you, I sort by species and by what day it was stacked, if I get more red maple, it gets its own "stall" since it was split and stacked in a different month. I definitely have OCD bad when it comes to wood, I keep an Excel spreadsheet with species, location in yard, the date it was CSS, moisture content at different dates, and moisture content when it was burned. Yes I take it to that much of an extreme but I know you guys won't judge me haha

 

I like spreadsheets. Haven't done one for our wood. We keep a diagram of the yard at my mother's so if someone is putting wood down into the basement, they get the driest first. Sometimes they actually look at the diagram.

 

Welcome from a fellow Pennsylvianian.

I'm envious of your ash pile lol. I love that stuff but dont have much left.

 

I am always amused by statements like this. Cherry is listed at 19.5M Btu's according to Sweeps Library, and they list red Oak at 22.1M Btu's This is a difference of only 11%. Taking into consideration that Oak takes 2x to 3x times longer to season, without helping it along, the opportunity cost of having Oak in your stacks if you are space constrained at all is about 17M Btu's every three years(39M-22M). In the same 3 year time period you could have one cord of oak(22.1M Btu) ready to burn, or two cords of Cherry(39M Btu's).

The difference in burn time for me from oak to cherry is about an hour, or cherry gives me 10hrs and Oak gives me 11hrs, this jives with the11% difference in BTU's per sweeps charts . A 10 hr fire to me is no different than an 11 hr fire. I dont sleep for more than 8 ever so I have my overnight burns with cherry and it seasons faster giving me a better opportunity to have more seasoned wood in my smallish suburban lot. Now if you have all the space you need this kinda goes out the window, but most of us have some limits on space.


Just thinking out loud YMMV

 

I'm with you, no oak in my stacks because I only have space for a 2 year plan. I do have a tiny amount in my BBQ section, though.

 

You seem to be pretty darn handy. Glad your on the forum. Those stacks look good too.

 

This is a very good point! I was absolutely amazed at how fast my cherry has dried in a short amount of time. I split it smaller than usual back in August. I checked 4 different splits by splitting them in half and burying the probes of the moisture meter into the freshly split surface. 21% moisture content, my red maple split on the same day is still up in the 40's. I wish I could score more cherry but I haven't come across any more.

I have tended to shy away from oak since I learned from sites like this one that there are plenty of other woods that have higher BTU content than oak but season faster. The black birch I split and stacked back in May is reading 17% on a fresh split. Space is a concern for me, especially since I want to get ahead.

 

You make some awfully good points. For me, space is not a concern. Space that's close to the house, but not really visible from the road, maybe. I'm still just starting out, and trying to get my inventory built up. If space was a concern though, you're absolutely right. For me, this year, and at least next year, it's all about having a enough wood that's dry enough to burn.

So, I need the kind of stuff I can split and burn inside of a year. For me and my land, this means a diet of soft maple and cherry. I'll probably never have any oak, because I just don't have much in the woods. Plus it's pretty much my favorite kind of lumber, so if I ever did lose any, I'd want to have it milled. I'll have to settle for Black Locust instead - have plenty of that.

 

Welcome to the forum.love the way you have cataloged and kept records of your wood.What a great idea and a good tool to know what kind of performance you'll get from it.
Hearth looks really nice.great work there.