What kind of wood do you burn?

[Nuggetsowner:)]

Hello Everyone! Its has been awhile since I have been able to jump on and stay for awhile. I have been able to peek but not contribute. Finally this morning I have sat down with a coffee cup in my hand and I find this great subject!!

We spent all of yesterday splitting wood. Mostly ash and oak. It was knocked down in a storm early last spring and DH cut it in 8' sections and we let it dry. So now we had to split it so we could use it this year for heat. ( this is what we do with most of our wood. ) We split about 5 cords with DH, myself and the three boys taking turns running the splitter and stacking. It was a good days work. We have quite the wood pile!. We stack it in cords on pallets and then cover them with tarps. We split and stack the wood on our property where our cabin is because there is more room. Then we bring a couple of pick up loads at a time back to the house. It is a real pain because it is extra work to stack and load and restack it all the time but I just don't know what else we can do. We get the wood for free. DH and I own a landscaping and lawn maintenance company so most of it comes from storm damage or that kind of thing. We do thin groves for people and clean fallen trees out as well. I will not pass up free wood because it is not convenient if you now what I mean!!

Well, I have rambled on long enough! Time to go check out what else has been going on around here!

 

[dacjohns]

Things I am learning and relearning about firewood.

Black walnut doesn't burn real good for daytime heat but it does pretty good for banking the fire at night. It makes some awesome coals.

Sassafras burns but don't waste your time if you have something better.

Hickory splits easier when it is green than when it is dry. The same is true with cutting.

Red oak that has been dead for a long time and has started to rot will often still have good solid heartwood with the sapwood rotted off.

Cured oak splits pretty easily.

My tractor bucket holds about 8 cubic feet. A cord is 128 cubic feet. Four bucket loads are 1/4 cord. That was a let down.

I haven't burned as much wood as I thought I have.

 

[dacjohns]

Pecan is like black walnut. It doesn't burn near as well as oak and hickory.

 

[me&thegals]

This year we're burning a lot of elm. Unfortunately, Dutch elm disease is taking a lot of our elms in this area.

I love it when we get some pine or cedar! Of course, it can give a quietly reading person a heart attack when the heat gets to some of the sap

 

[the simple life]

So far we have never had to buy would for the past 15 years. It has all come from oak and maple trees that we took down on the property.

 

[sylvie]

Like Unclejoe we burn Maple, Elm and cherry early in winter.
Oak, hickory, ash, beech and black locust in January and February, then back to the first three for March and April.

I cut an older downed tree that I thought was ash, but when it burned the fragrance was spicy and wonderful. It was Linden. It had a decent BTU output.

Cherry is another tree that has usable wood in the center long after it has fallen. I recently cut up one that was already down when we bought the place 20 years ago and it had good heart wood.

Standing dead Elm is hard to cut and split but green elm is so fibrous that it is better to wait a year to split if using a maul.

Tulip, or white poplar as it is known locally, is labeled a hardwood. I consider it worthless as a firewood.
The firewood peddlers try to include it as 25% of a rick. It can be confused with black locust which is also yellow wood. I've seen them let tulip get wet so it feels heavy like locust to fool customers.

Ricks or face cords go for $100 and up. It is popular to put out a 1/3 of a rick for $40. No one sells cords in my area. Ricks are maybe at best 1/3 of a cord.

There is a waiting list for ends and slabwood at the local saw mills.
Slabwood is another racket around here. Usually all green wood and containing the dreaded Tulip, it will build creosote in the chimney and the burn is only 1 1/2 hours, no good overnight.
Most people don't know to ask if is slabwood before ordering. It goes for the same $100 rick.

The next racket is truckload sales. Never a full measure. Usually an outfit that sells BTU depleted hardwood. It's a grab bag of hard and soft wood.

 

[dacjohns]

I like the laws in New Mexico regarding selling firewood. It is sold by the cord, a real cord, a 4 X 4 X 8 cord. Anything less than a cord has to be by the cubic foot. No ricks, fireplace cords, face cords.

 

[sylvie]

I like the laws in New Mexico regarding selling firewood. It is sold by the cord, a real cord, a 4 X 4 X 8 cord. Anything less than a cord has to be by the cubic foot. No ricks, fireplace cords, face cords.

Here is an overview of Ohio's laws, very similar to New Mexico's yet rarely enforced:

http://ourohio.org/index.php?page=tips-for-purchasing-firewood