Harvest man, be very thankful for what you have. Many would pay dearly to have what you have! Personally, I'd be a very happy man if all I had were white or red oaks.
Oh, I am thankful; even if it doesn't sound that way. I got my first load of rounds from a tree service last winter; I was excited because I was told it would likely be a mix of hardwoods. When I found out the whole load was red oak I was a bit disappointed; it was very good wood and was happy with it, but I really wanted to get something different from what I normally cut. I have added some new species to the stack this year (silver maple, black walnut, mulberry and sassafras). I suppose it is a bit like beer. I have my favorite beers, but I sure do like trying new ones from time to time! There needs to be some kind of national firewood exchange club. Each member sends in some of the species they have and get back something they don't ... with free shipping of course.
We only see red oak in my area. We are at the northern edge of oak growth. 90 miles from home and oak is scarce and 150 miles there are zero oaks. Think that's a big reason people won't turn oak into fire wood, only saw logs. We don't have the locust, black birch, cotton wood, or lots of other stuff you hear about.
Wasn't aware I had black birch on my lot. Found it simply because I dropped the beech tree. From a distance I had assumed it was silver maple, shorter then most trees with a smooth like bark. For most of my lot you'll find decent sized hemlock and pine. Hemlocks reach about 20" diameter and pines reach around 18" when full grown.
I see locust in my area, they aren't firewood though, they're planted near the farm houses as natural lightning rods since they get so tall. The first black birch I saw in my area was the one I came across while dropping the beech tree.
Signs of progress! It's getting there, stack wise I tossed in some striped maple I came across after I dropped the beech. (they had broken off, anything 1 and a half inch in diameter and more in the tree got cut up for firewood.) Taking it all out by wheelbarrow is a chore but it's all worth it. In a few of the pictures you can see the mid sized hemlocks in my lot, a majority of them seem to suffer from some kind of disease or bug infection.
Oh yeah, she's a beech tree through and through. Spotted a poplar at work today and took a look at the leaves and bark, bark wise they kinda look similar but the leaves are very different.
Whatever it is it's slowly spreading, leaves little bore marks from what I can tell in the wood after the bark falls off. The ones that seem to be on the verge of death I'll remove and try to get ahead of whatever it is.
good plan, but it may be like trying to stay dry by catching rain drops. In the picture with the downed tree and the saw resting on the trunk, you see suckers coming up from the beech tree. That is how they spread around. Cut one down, and 10 come up only to meet a similar fate.
Yeah those are definitely black birch trees. The leaves and the bark looks the same, I have a decent stand of them near that beech tree. I may cut out the hemlocks to let them grow as they are a superior firewood and aren't diseased.
