Problems with pics, but dropped and bucked a 15" DBH black birch today. I have 2 smaller ones to drop this weekend. Anyone know how this stuff dries and/or burns???
Burns great, one of the higher BTU woods. Dries quick also. It is essential to get split and stacked and to keep it dry or it will punk up almost instantly.
It tends to rot really fast because the bark is water-tight. Anything left unsplit - like small branches - will rot before you get a chance to burn them. Haven't tried it yet myself, but I've heard of an "unzipping" technique that is supposed to help prevent rotting. Basically anything that's too small to get split, you want to score along the length of it with the chainsaw enough to get through the bark. It's one of my favorites to work with - has a really nice 'wintergreen' smell to it.
Unfortunately, its almost gone!!... Was great for a while to let people know that my neighbor paid to heat my house.... One year stump to stove.. Time to go get some more!!!
I'll second what Shawn had to say. I didn't top cover mine until around September and it didn't get any rot or punk. I had some unsplit 2-3 inch diameter round pieces that weren't nearly as dry as 4-5 inch splits.. The latest black birch I got, I split everything down to 2 inches and the stuff that was smaller, I just cut into 5-6 inch chunks that will dry quicker..
I guess I'll go ahead and post the pic of the setup since we have about 800 more members than we did when I took this one down. Tree was leaning toward the above ground box for the underground utilities. Used the old GMC to "coax" it in the right direction. Lucky I left about a 2 inch hinge as the center was rotten.. This was during the January thaw last winter.. You can see that the top was dying which was the reason for taking it down.
On the top covering. If you live in a wet climate, then I would top cover as soon as the wood is stacked. Otherwise, we leave our stacks uncovered for the first summer and fall. My theory is that with it uncovered it will allow for better evaporation of moisture. Then top cover before snow flies. Or if we have a really wet fall, then I'll top cover in September.
