Gettin* into the treet tops, i have a couple which are rotted on a very thin layer, but man there is good stuff to be had. Finding a month worth of wood in some long rotted looking logs. Don’t take the rotted logs for granted. In that same vein, dont take petrified logs for granite!
If it’s good enough to split, it’s good enough to burn here. Especially on the homestead woodlot since I have to clean it up anyway.
I have a lot of oak that looks like that. Also have some maple that looks great but is just good enough to burn.
We had an old standing dead Beech fall up back last summer. When cutting it up, I realized there was a decent amount of burnable wood. It’s now in the stacks.
It's usually just the sapwood that rots, still has a solid heart. You have to do something with it, might as well burn it.
A lot of my sugar maple is spalted BUT after I cut split and stacked it. It shall be burnt in the stove!
Last weekend, I got a cord of black walnut that had about 1/2" of punk on the outside. It's a tree that fell in a storm some time ago. It's amazing how wet the solid wood is, but it'll burn great in a couple of years!
I love finding long forgotten/down black locust as the stuff lasts forever. Old oak too. The sapwood rots fast, but heartwood has a long shelf life.
