Anyone else have a love/hate relationship with white oak? Burns hot and long but can be a bear to get started. Takes a long time to dry out. I should have saved some of the pine I burned last week to add to each load!
I usually do as well. Just depends on where it ends up in the stack. Somehow this tote ended up half pine, half white oak. Anything scrounged around here is oak and sassafras, but I hauled home loads of mixed oak, cherry, maple, and cottonwood over the summer. That will be a nice mix in a couple years!
I've been burning cord after cord of white (chestnut) oak. When proper dry, it catches fire instantly with very little hesitation. Most of what I'm burning is "seasoned" at least 5 years though. Get far enough ahead and it's a non-issue. How long has yours been split? The only thing I hate is the mess it leaves. The bark/sap wood mess sucks.
Can't say I hate anything about White oak. I'll take all I can get. Have 2 dead ones on the hit list in my woods to be processed this winter.
I do not hate it, but I have learned that it’s best to have Poplar, Cherry, or Maple when starting a fire. If I’m fortunate to have white oak I will use it for the overnight fill, or a cold day extra.
I have a love/hate for all oak. Love how it burns, hate how long it takes to dry. I really don't scrounge a lot of oak. When I do, it's stacked by itself.
Probably not long enough. I don’t remember if this tote was a year and a half or two and a half. At our previous house I had wood dried for 5 years and loved it, just never really ran into white oak. Lots of red oak though. At least the white oak is dry enough that it flares up after 10 minutes or so on a hot coal bed and burns nicely after! Pushing hard to get back to that 4-5 years ahead mark.
White oak is near the top, maybe even the top of my fave list. I am burning some this year and it lights as well as any wood I have but it's been seasoned by me for at least three years. I also make some of my splits about 2 inches thick on purpose cuz they light easy. It's just primo wood for me. Sassafras was mentioned in OP. I love that wood. It is such a 'pretty' wood, wonderful grain, lightweight, splits if you touch it and catches on fire about as good as anything. But, of course, it is nothing like white oak in the BTU department.
I like my white oak and all oak seasoned 3+ years. I'll also split about half of it smaller than I normally do with other stuff to help it dry quicker. I keep it stacked separate and usually chuckle to myself when I fill out a rack with it about how I'll see it in a few years.
For sure 1 - 1 1/2 years after being split just won't get it for white oak. I won't touch it until a minimum of 3 years in the stack. Longer won't do any harm.
In 2015 I read about your 3 year plan and was on it until we moved. I’m glad I was a year or year and a half ahead!
I love white oak, didn't get very much for many years. Hurricane Helene last September brought down some very nice trees that we have been able to clean up... We usually mix most loads in the stove, try to keep all woods stacked separately, if possible. Pick what we want as we burn.
I thought about stacking wood species separately but ended up just mixing it all in my totes. Since I only bring one tote at a time to the porch with the Skidsteer I figured I could choose what to burn as I was filling the insert. I do wish I had stacked all the cottonwood I got separate for shoulder season but that’s alright. It will all burn!
Thank you. That read is still available in "Resources." (2) Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage | Firewood Hoarders Club
That's a good way to do it since you bring a tote at the time...especially if wood in tote all dries about the same time. We bring our wood to the house in 5 gal buckets, that's how we can mix it.
