Hello - New here

[DonB]

Hi Y'all,

You have a nice forum here with a lot of good info. Thanks!

Even though I've been using a stove to heat the house for 15 years now, I'm learning quite a bit from reading your posts. I never really acknowledged the importance of properly seasoned hardwoods but I normally use nothing but live oak. I cut and split enough to last a few years at the time but I start burning it when it's green. It always works great and never gives me a problem. Even when freshly split, once you get it going, it burns like coal. Hot and slow.

This year, however, I'm laying in a supply of red oak from a lightning split tree. I don't know much about this wood but from what I'm reading around here, it ain't quite the same as live oak for green use. I have enough of it split and stacked to last for a few years but from the way it sounds, burning the stuff this winter may be problematic even if I use the driest of the wood and mix it with what's left of my old live oak stash. We shall see.

Another thing I've learned here is pine may not be all that bad as fuel wood. Except for using scrap dimensional pine for kindling I've always avoided it like the plague but I think I'll check it out. I have the middle 30' of a hurricane snapped longleaf pine (southern yellow pine - dead 4 years) hanging in the top of an oak tree in my woods and I'm pulling it down tomorrow. I'll think I'll dice some of that up for firewood and see how it does.

Don

 

[beerman6]

WELCOME!

 

[Mkarlson]

Welcome...I too never thought bout using any softwoods till I came here. I cut a little bit this summer to try out next year.

 

[Rookie1]

Dont spread the news that pines ok to burn, I might lose some of my supply if people wise up.

 

[Dok]

Live Oak is the only hard wood I have found that burns okay green. I don't have any experience with Red Oak, but if it is like White or Water Oak it won't burn very well and will be a pain to light. We started burning 8yrs ago and our first year was a mix of pine and live oak, seasoned only a month. That was a hard winter.
Dok

 

[DonB]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

I saved a few hundred pounds of that longleaf pine but just whacked it up into kindling splits.

I'm working the trunk of that old red oak now. The bark is very thick and woody. Some is ¾" thick. Is this worth keeping to burn in a stove?

 

[Dok]

I don't bother with the bark, it's difficult to burn and seems to create a lot ash

Don't be afraid to use the small branches, even down to 1". They may already be dry enough to burn. Look around for standing dead trees. Pine also seasons quickly. Can't be picky when you are low on seasoned wood. Good luck!
Dok

 

[DonB]

Thanks Dok. I was wondering about the bark since it's so woody and there are times when I basically want a slow, do-nothing fire. This stuff looks like it would lay and smolder forever without doing much.

 

[woodbooga]

Can't provide any kind of a comparison, red vs. live oak since the latter doesn't grow up this way.

However, red oak is some fine firewood, though it takes a long time to season. Needs a year, though some of the old timers will wag their fingers if you burn it before 2 years time.

I also burn most of the bark that falls off. Good kindling and useful to have for those early and late season fires when you want just a tad bit of heat to take the curse of the chill.

 

[excess650]

Having lived in Pa all of my life, I was taught to not burn softwood in a fireplace or stove for fear of creosote and flue fires. Some years back I spent a week in northern Idaho and all they had to burn was softwood. My new philosophy is that if it'll burn, it goes in the stove! I still prefer hardwood to softwood, and seasoned to green. Wet wood has to cook the moisture out first, and doesn't burn nearly as hot while its doing it.

Hard coal (anthracite) is the best, but not everyone has access to it. I can get a 36 hour burn from my Gibralter from startup to cool stove If I'm not at home to tend it. It also makes a much more even temperature burn if you tend it every 12 hours or so.

 

[LAH]

Welcome to the board Don. I live in WV and have used red oak for years. I find it best if seasoned 2 years though I tried to have a 3 year supply. As for the bark, burn all you can get. I would take all my bark, chips, etc. and place it in small boxes or paper bags and burn the stuff. True it makes ash but the ash is good for the garden.

 

[DonB]

Having lived in Pa all of my life, I was taught to not burn softwood in a fireplace or stove for fear of creosote and flue fires. Some years back I spent a week in northern Idaho and all they had to burn was softwood. My new philosophy is that if it'll burn, it goes in the stove! I still prefer hardwood to softwood, and seasoned to green. Wet wood has to cook the moisture out first, and doesn't burn nearly as hot while its doing it.

As a compensatory factor, wet wood burns slower, yes?

When I lived in Colorado I burned a lot of piñon pine but that is somewhat a different animal. I still burn a lot of pine but now I do it like this :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[DonB]

Welcome to the board Don. I live in WV and have used red oak for years. I find it best if seasoned 2 years though I tried to have a 3 year supply. As for the bark, burn all you can get. I would take all my bark, chips, etc. and place it in small boxes or paper bags and burn the stuff. True it makes ash but the ash is good for the garden.

Thank you LAH. I save and burn all my splitting chips too. It's against my religion to waste wood. I also have a whole bunch or this bark saved. Big thick sheets of it. I think I'll whack it down to 4" strips. Yep, hardwood ashes are good fertilizer

 

[DonB]

Can't provide any kind of a comparison, red vs. live oak since the latter doesn't grow up this way.

However, red oak is some fine firewood, though it takes a long time to season. Needs a year, though some of the old timers will wag their fingers if you burn it before 2 years time.

I also burn most of the bark that falls off. Good kindling and useful to have for those early and late season fires when you want just a tad bit of heat to take the curse of the chill.

Thanks woodbooga. The red oak is very nice to work with. Much more agreeable than live oak. It's very cool being able to cleave out controlled size, square chunks for end stacks. I don't have it all split and stacked yet but I'm pretty sure what I have will last me three winters, not counting what I'll use this winter. I was able to split off some fairly well seasoned stuff from parts of the tree to use this year. Stuff with a nice ring to it and almost no oak smell.