I agree. Its a step down from birch and larch in btus but lasts way longer than spruce and pine. Ive been trying to target more fir than lodgepole in recent years.
It sure is great to get a good thread going guys! Seeing the conversations branch out all different directions. A pretty neat thing that i look forward to everyday. The wife thinks im a nerd but ...do i care? Shes in a book club!!!!! I wonder how many btus an encyclopedia would bump out??? Lol any how heres more pics of the stacks half done while i still have about 3.5 cords worth to split and stack. Being that it was dead fall or what not the moisture reading baffled me. After split its ready to burn lol.
woodguy Did you check the moisture on the face of a freshly cut piece? Checking on the end grain can give you a false reading of exactly how wet the wood is. I have seen end grain reading down in the teens but up in the 30's when the wood is split and a reading taken on the fresh split face.
I checked all sides...same reading give or take a few points. You can tell by just taking the splits and banging them together. These splits make a high pitched pop/clink hollow sound and for the size of the splits they are super light. Its a accurate reading but trust me i was in disbelief...i knew i had scored big even when i was splitting it...if it was at all wet i never would have been able to load my little truck up like that ..it would have sent the back bumper to the ground!!!
Glad to hear you checked the fresh split face. Wood like oak is famous for staying wet if not split and stacked for a few years.
Absolutely, all that grey barkless oak out of my huge score still pushes moisture when the splitter hits it and those logs have been sitting for 5 years. They do seem to dry out alot after split, not burnable yet though. The maple and beech however are really dry when split.
Yup i agree. Some species of wood are a sob to dry. Could be checked like crazy and even when split and stacked for 2 years still hisses when you toss them in the ol stove. I found that red oak dryed really fast. Split in april and was bone dry in september...mind you it was beat on by the sun the whole time. But still they were thick splits. I guess a lot of factors come into play obviously when seasoning ..sun ..wind..shelter and properly stacked etc.
Definatly after splitting firewood it will dry much quicker - main reason being that the bare surface of the grain and heartwood is exposed and this forces the moisture to wick its way to 3 or more surfaces as aposed to just two if left in rounds. And because rounds are usually quartered or split into 1/8ths they are much smaller. Also tree bark is an excellent vapor barrier so if left in rounds moisture will be trapped and will take for ever to travel to the end of the round. Just my two bits...its probably all common knowledge around here though haha.
Hey got a score on some big branches that broke out of the tree across the road from my house at the grave yard, been driving by it for a week and it was still there so I got a hold of the grave yard board trusty and he said if I wanted it i could come over when he was cutting it up and I could help. I waited 2 weeks and he called and couldn't get to it so I said no problem I'll go and cut it up and clean it up, it was a bigger job than what it first look like butt I got it done my wife help a little until she hurt her back and then it was just me. I thank it' a red oak. Here are a few picks of the job, I just cut it up enough to get it across the road and I will prosses it when I have time and the rest of the pile to
That looks like white oak to me. Bark looks like it. leaves look like mitten fingers rather than sharp points. You'll know when you split it, it will/should smell a hint of vanilla. Fresh split red oak smells like silage/pizz/sh*t to some people. I don't think it smells like any of those but can't think of a better way to describe it. I think it smells nice but then I like cilantro.
Ya I'm still learning my trees I just went out and choppd in to it with my council tools boys axe and was smelling it, it did not smell like crap it had a hint of a sweet smell to it
Thanks for the pics z. Yup you have got your self some btus there. Good stuff. Gotta love a good score!
Yep! White Oak great BTU's. I've got one waiting for me out on the edge of my wood road. Hope to get to it this week or next. It has come off the stump and ready to cut will definitely add to my three year plan.
No kidding ...im soo jealous. White oak is rare in my area if at all. Red oak is around. Mainly an abundance of birch..maple.. alder. But ya if i knew of a fallen white oak anywhere near me i wouldnt get any sleep at night haha. When my bil and i go on a wood run up in the logging roads we usually bring back 4 split cords total. An all day trip some times over night...its great though. Nothing beats fresh mountain air bucking up an endless pile of birch or maple.
