I too have wondered but no answers yet. Occasionally we'll get one that is fairly straight at least for a short distance. When we do, we have used them as fence posts and they keep fairly well too, which is actually surprising. But most of ours grow really crooked even in the deep woods where other trees grow straight up looking for sunshine. Maybe the sassafrass gets drunk on its own sap? lol
Man sass sure makes some purdy firewood. Almost too pretty to burn. Splits like butter! I may swing the fiskars at a few of these
Yeah they grow super crooked here too! Some get fairly large, but most dont. And all have woodpecker holes.
I have the perfect solution for you. Just show up at our GTG this spring and you can even cut one if you wish.
I have lots of Sass on my place but most are 12" and under. There are some big ones in the area. Smells great. Splits great. Dries fast. I've been told it was popular in wood fired cook stoves for those reasons.
I have another one that is right by where this one was. It’s probably 20” or more. I’ll be going after it next week so I’ll be posting more pics. Also have about a 15” poplar to process
buZZsaw BRAD shoulder season is the fall and spring when its not as cold. Think of a graph with shoulder head and shoulder.. The shoulders you need less heat BTUs then the head or cold of winter.
Welcome to the club. buZZsaw BRAD ! I think you're gonna like it here. Here shoulder season would be October/November and March/April when you still need a little heat at night or just to keep the chill off. Thats when we burn the lighter weight woods, like poplar, pine or maple.
Thanks for the education. MAPLE for lighter wood!? What species? I could see swamp or silver as they are not as dense. Sugar is pretty dense and one of the best burning hardwoods IMO I already love it here. You guys are the greatest!
I think its silver maple. not sure though. Compared to the oak that i burn, maple is lighter. Oak, beech, hickory and locust are the heavy hitters in our area. heres a list to check out in the resource area. it gives BTU's, drying time and weight per cord Firewood BTU & Drying Chart
Probably red as its noticeable lighter in weight than sugar maple. Red splits easy with an axe (i dont use a splitter) Norway is denser than red but not quite as sugar. Norway breaks easy like Eastern White Pine under snow/ice/wind load based on my experience. You see the difference in the fall as Sugar has the bright orange foliage and drops leaves early, red maple has red foliage and smaller leaves, Norway foliage is yellow and is the last maple to drop its leaves. I usually reject silver maple as its fast growing in wet soil and not very dense. Lots of oak, maple, ash (sadly will be scarce in a few years with the beetle infestation) are my main trees. Did cut one bit of beech, some cherry, no hickory (tough to split by hand). I honestly cant say if ive ever cut locust or even identify it around these parts. The gypsy moths have killed off a lot of oak and the May 15 Tornado dropped wood all over.
