When stacking wood I don't generally try to separate the wood but when bringing wood to the porch in winter then I tend to separate the oak and save that for night burning.
No, not sad at all. Or if it is, then I guess both of us are in trouble! My family knows I went off the deep end a long time ago.
Most certainly do separate them. If a maple split is found in the oak stack, it must get moved to its brethren in the maple stack - right now. There will be no mixing of species here... until they go into the stove.
I have my week or two's worth of wood on the front porch, it's mixed up so that whatever I might need is there. Warm days, cool nights, or cold days, & frigid nights. I can be flexible with heat demand, and re-stock the porch based on the 10 day weather outlook telling me what to bring up. So the answer is yes, I have primo wood saved for the subzero temps.
Another separator here. I always separate oak when stacking since I let it dry for much longer than any other type of wood I burn. For the burn season's wood, I separate 3 cord of oak/ash/beech/sugar maple/black birch, etc. for mid-Dec through Feb burning, with a separate cord of pine/cherry/white birch etc. for shoulder seasons. Cheers!
I certainly feel the joy from separating out the good stuff. Been right around the zero mark at night, and the house is cozy for hours.
Shag or smooth, ironwood, and beech top off my fires on the coldest nights. My furnace door is 11x13" and its 30" deep so I can get some big pieces in if I want to.
