Not bad for a city slicker, amiright? It looked like a lot more wood until I “staged” it in the back yard.. some of it is a little long for my stove, but i’m Sure i’ll find a use for it anyways. It has seasoned enough so the bark peels off, although it is damp from being on the ground. I’ll go back for some more after I get that cherry tree sawn down.
It can be tough to judge volume by a mound mrfancyplants . I make my log racks sized for 1/3 (face cord), 1/2, or full cords or multiples of these so i know how much i have. Sometimes i wish i had a "perpetual" wood pile whereas one end had the fresh, green wood and the other the driest, oldest wood. Wonder if anyone on FHC does this?
I have been thinking about the least intrusive way to rack up a three year plan, and I was noticing from the photo that maybe behind the shed next to the retaining wall my neighbors put up last year. I could go the length of the lot back there. Our primary heat is gas and the fireplace insert doesn’t heat the entire house, so my usage is probably lower than most on here at 1.5 cord a year, but i’m going to see how low I can get my gas bill next February, so my usage may go up.
Slickest system I've seen was a rail car type system in a open wall shed that held about ten cord on ten "cars", or about a cord per car . When the driest car was empty it was removed from the front of the train and moved to the back and the whole train indexed forward one car. The empty car was then refilled.
There is five times this amount there to be picked up in my neighborhood. The neighbor said they tried to save a couple hundred $$ by not having it hauled away. And posted it to the Listserv when they realized it wasn’t going to chop itself. Parts had branches and many were cut too long for my stove. I do need to warm up that chainsaw before I fell the cherrys. Is red maple considered a “gopher” firewood? I was thinking of keeping my splits a little thicker for anything I might not want for next year.
From what ive learned on the forum mrfancyplants red maple is considered a "shoulder season" wood. Ideal for Fall/Spring fires. It seasons fast, but may not be dry enough for next Winter, unless Cut and split soon then stacked in an ideal location ie full sun, lots of wind. It can be mixed with other hardwood during regular burning season, which ive done myself. There is an excellent btu reference chart on the forum.
Me neither. At 20 mBTU it is my cold weather wood. It certainly can season in 12-18 months and is why I stack it separate from oak.
Um.....nope. If I could get my hands on more of it easily, I'd use it all winter. Burns all night, seasons fairly quick, and is easy to split. I like to dry it for 2 years, but it can be used sooner.
I didnt CSS that much of it and didnt take it that often when it when it was available to me until this season when i got a glut of it. I was going by what ive learned on here papadave
Must've not read many of my posts about it. I'm a big proponent of the stuff. Others may have differing opinions. I also like Poplar and Pine.
Get it off the ground and it will dry quite fast. Red maple is great for firewood but will not hold fires as long as oak or hard maple or locust. Still, it burns nice, lights off quickly (so therefore also makes great kindling) and gives good coals. Another good thing about red maple is that it usually needs only 6 months to a year to dry (after being split and stacked) and be ready to burn. On the rounds that are too long for your stove, it works quite well to wrap a ratchet strap around several rounds or splits, then cut off. I've used an orange crate or even a milk crate to stick them in before cutting. It works very well. The cut-offs can be used in the fall when you only want a quick but not long fire. Or they can just be added to any fire; they'll still give heat.
Thanks, great tip. I have some ratchet straps I’ve used for a surf rack that should work. It’ll be a big help for some of the flowering cherry odds and ends I’m dealing with, while I have the chainsaw on loan. What do you think about doing some Chunky splits to make the burn last longer for the longer term storage?
buZZsaw BRAD I store my split wood in a pole barn that I have divided up into approx. 8X8 bins. Each bin holds just over 2 cords and I move clockwise to get to the oldest wood.
Red maple splits pretty chunky anyway. It has a bit of a wavy grain. 2 years to season larger chunks, at least here in NH. I burned a couple cords of it this winter, it's OK, but I still prefer oak.
Midwinter my red maple takes more than 6 months also. I wonder if this has to do with our length of warmer weather in the summer. Here last frost is June... first frost is September..
Very nice set up! How long do you season it. I just wonder because they say about air flow being the main key on drying. I see the windows open.I have thought about building a shed to hold 8 cords to get 4 years ahead, but again wondered about air flow verse single stacked fence row kinda thing.
