Got a small load today with my firewood permit in the national forest. Gambel oak is as good as it gets around here so I’m happy.
I take it they dont get big or that one was dead and you can only take such? Nice when you get the best btu wood in your area.
You can only take dead. If it’s dead standing it has to be no bigger than 10” diameter at 4 ft from ground. Dead and down—no size restrictions. Gambel oak grows in stands or clumps so they rarely grow as a single trunk. All the trunks join into a single root system. That’s why they are smaller trunk diameters than you might be used to. Occasionally you might find a big trunk single tree which means it’s very old and all the sucker shoots have died off and it has taken over. But that takes a lot of time. A lot. Oak, Gambel or Scrub or Rocky Mtn. White | TreeBrowser
I guess it is a rare treat seeing all the skinnies he took. How about you Cash? Much in your area? It is high on the FHC chart only osage is better Firewood BTU & Drying Chart
Put a bunch of those skinny ones in the stove before I go to bed and they burn down to a long lasting goal bed. When I get up in the morning it’s real easy to restart by putting a fresh log on and away we go. Everything has its place…
Yep. There is quite a bit of it around here. It loves to grow on sunny southern facing exposures. I usually keep about a cord of it on hand. It’s absolutely amazing firewood. It’s a PITA to harvest though. It grows in thick patches that are hard to maneuver around in. And finding it in a large enough diameter to be useful can be a challenge.
I was just doing some research on it. Didnt realize it doesnt grow big so skinnies are the norm for such. Geez, imagine if it got to the 3' diameter oaks commonly seen around here?!!! How many loads does it take for you to acquire a cord Cash?
Nice score! I went to Colorado, Arizona and Utah this year and hardly recognized any of the trees. Strange seeing oak that looks more bush like than a tree. Mule deer through camp and oak. I think I even was in Cash Larue neck of the woods.
Yep! Pine Grove is the town portion of the area that I live in. I live quite a bit above Pine Grove though. The actual town is down along the river. I’m above the town in the hills. You should have come by for a beer
It typically takes 2 or 3 trips for me to get a cord of that stuff. Sometimes people want it cleared from their property, because it’s so hard to get through. It will take over your property if you let it. So I’ll go grab the big stuff to bolster my stacks. That stuff is hard on chains too.
