Favorite Firewood

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svk said:
There was a nice cedar swamp near my cabin that was on paper co land but they sold it to a logger through an under the table deal. It's still there but no scrounging dead and downed any more.
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Very unfortunate.


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Red oak, black oak, is the easiest to find around here. Its easy to split and dries fast once split. For that reason, it makes up the bulk of my firewood. I will go out of my way to gather whiteoak, even tho it is stringy and dries slow, even once split. Whiteoak will put out the most heat and burn the longest of any species I have access to. My wood pile right now contains good bit of river birch and red maple, which dries very fast and burns very hot and ashes to dust. I also have a right smart of popular and even some yellow pine, and maybe a little whitepine. All burn hot once dry, but wont last long in a stove. Yellow locust is high on my list of favorites, and there is plenty of it around here, but I seldom get any, most folks that harvest the locust split it into fence rails. I seldom sort my wood by species. It all goes in the stacks as its processed so my stacks always have a mix of woods and go into my stove the same way. What ever I lay my hands on is what I burn. Nothing like a little yellow pine to rekindle a fire early in the morning, or when you want to warm things up fast and then let the fire die down on those warm days. I seldom see any kind of elm unless it comes from a lawn somewhere, and ash, while around, just isnt plentiful.
 
muddstopper said:
Red oak, black oak, is the easiest to find around here. Its easy to split and dries fast once split. For that reason, it makes up the bulk of my firewood. I will go out of my way to gather whiteoak, even tho it is stringy and dries slow, even once split. Whiteoak will put out the most heat and burn the longest of any species I have access to. My wood pile right now contains good bit of river birch and red maple, which dries very fast and burns very hot and ashes to dust. I also have a right smart of popular and even some yellow pine, and maybe a little whitepine. All burn hot once dry, but wont last long in a stove. Yellow locust is high on my list of favorites, and there is plenty of it around here, but I seldom get any, most folks that harvest the locust split it into fence rails. I seldom sort my wood by species. It all goes in the stacks as its processed so my stacks always have a mix of woods and go into my stove the same way. What ever I lay my hands on is what I burn. Nothing like a little yellow pine to rekindle a fire early in the morning, or when you want to warm things up fast and then let the fire die down on those warm days. I seldom see any kind of elm unless it comes from a lawn somewhere, and ash, while around, just isnt plentiful.
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You say Oak dries fast? Not in my experience it doesn't. It takes about a good two years to season.
I season my Maple, Hickory, Ash, Cherry and Birch (Black or Yellow) for a year and my Oaks and Elms for two or more.
However with the EAB decimating the east coast of North America, there's always LOTS of Ash around and it seems to be one of the most prevalent of firewood now along with Maple, Oak and Birch.
 
Marine5068 said:
You say Oak dries fast? Not in my experience it doesn't. It takes about a good two years to season.
I season my Maple, Hickory, Ash, Cherry and Birch (Black or Yellow) for a year and my Oaks and Elms for two or more.
However with the EAB decimating the east coast of North America, there's always LOTS of Ash around and it seems to be one of the most prevalent of firewood now along with Maple, Oak and Birch.
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Let me say first that there is a lot of difference between Ontario and North Carolina when it comes to drying wood. Really thats all I need to say about that. Whiteoak cut in winter and and processed will dry enough to burn in one summer. I have some whiteoak I cut Christmas and split in April setting out in the sun right now. It has large cracks in the ends and has turned gray but is just scatterd on the ground not stacked. I have some of the same wood stacked that is showing signs of drying and seasoning, but I believe the wood that is just scattered is little farther along. Moot point as my this year wood has been in the shed for over a year so the whiteoak wont be burnt for at least another season, but I do believe if I needed it, I could burn it this winter.
 
Red oak dries slower than molasses IME. I have some woods grown RO that was cut 2+ years ago and I'm not sure it will be ready for this season. We have had a couple of hot, humid summers though...pretty typical for the Mid-Mississippi valley.
 
I have seen redoak left in rounds that wasnt dry 4-5 years later. I think lots of folks either leave the wood in rounds or logs until they are ready to split and stack and then get in a hurry to stack it as soon as it split. I am fully convinced that wood in small piles will dry faster than wood stacked neatly because you have more of the wood exposed to direct sunlite. Stacked wood exposes the ends of the wood to some lite and wind, the sides of the wood doesnt see the sun. Wood stacked two or three rows deep will see very little sun. Piled wood, not those monster 20 cord piles, will expose more of the wood to the sun and dry faster. Any wood directly on the ground wont be as dry as the wood on top, but the wood on the ground will be the wood on top once stacked, and dry out pretty quick once it is stacked. Just my opinion, but I am experimenting by stacking some of my wood and takeing the FEL and just scattering the remainder just to see which wood will season fastest.
 
muddstopper said:
I have seen redoak left in rounds that wasnt dry 4-5 years later. I think lots of folks either leave the wood in rounds or logs until they are ready to split and stack and then get in a hurry to stack it as soon as it split. I am fully convinced that wood in small piles will dry faster than wood stacked neatly because you have more of the wood exposed to direct sunlite. Stacked wood exposes the ends of the wood to some lite and wind, the sides of the wood doesnt see the sun. Wood stacked two or three rows deep will see very little sun. Piled wood, not those monster 20 cord piles, will expose more of the wood to the sun and dry faster. Any wood directly on the ground wont be as dry as the wood on top, but the wood on the ground will be the wood on top once stacked, and dry out pretty quick once it is stacked. Just my opinion, but I am experimenting by stacking some of my wood and takeing the FEL and just scattering the remainder just to see which wood will season fastest.
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I think drying depends on many things but direct sunlight and air flow are by far the most important.

In my traditional spot I had uncovered ash and 18 months in it was still at 30 percent. Otoh my new stacking area cures maple and birch in two months. I was amazed the difference. My new stacks are in full sun stacked north to south and are about 6' away from each other so they get full sun even in early morning and late evening.
 
Understandably anyone enjoys free wood but Basswood really? Maybe if mixed with Balsa and Bamboo you would really get a good overnighter.


CaseyForrest said:
Whatever is free. Last winter we used primarily basswood because it was free. Yeah, we used alot of it, but it didn't cost me a dime to acquire. And I'm splitting something anyway... Might as well be free wood.
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muddstopper said:
I have seen redoak left in rounds that wasnt dry 4-5 years later. I think lots of folks either leave the wood in rounds or logs until they are ready to split and stack and then get in a hurry to stack it as soon as it split. I am fully convinced that wood in small piles will dry faster than wood stacked neatly because you have more of the wood exposed to direct sunlite. Stacked wood exposes the ends of the wood to some lite and wind, the sides of the wood doesnt see the sun. Wood stacked two or three rows deep will see very little sun. Piled wood, not those monster 20 cord piles, will expose more of the wood to the sun and dry faster. Any wood directly on the ground wont be as dry as the wood on top, but the wood on the ground will be the wood on top once stacked, and dry out pretty quick once it is stacked. Just my opinion, but I am experimenting by stacking some of my wood and takeing the FEL and just scattering the remainder just to see which wood will season fastest.
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I've found that split wood piled loosely on gravel dries substantially quicker than the wood in stacks. But I would not leave wood sit on the bare ground for long or rot sets in quickly...at least around here. The gravel really helps with that.
 
Full Chisel said:
I've found that split wood piled loosely on gravel dries substantially quicker than the wood in stacks. But I would not leave wood sit on the bare ground for long or rot sets in quickly...at least around here. The gravel really helps with that.
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I agree with the rot. I usually just leave it in small piles thru the summer months and stack under shed later fall. No noticeable rot so far.
 
Cheap meters work ok but the will all tell you something different
So while you are burning you can test it and see how well it burns
+/- 5% can make a big difference in some species of woods but the meter might be off that much too
 

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