Longterm Storage of firewood ( Outdoors and Uncovered )

[DFK]

There are still a lot of uncut, downed trees from the tornadoes that came throught Alabama back in April. Many are being held off the ground by their branches and root balls so they should stay sound for quite some time.

Others are flat on the ground. I have been cutting a few of the "Flat on the ground" trees just to keep them from rotting in place.

Normally I dont cut firewood that I cant burn in less than two years. But, I dont normally have acess to so many downed trees.

Question: How long will firewood ( OAK and HICKORY ) last in a uncovered stack?

David

 

[Laird]

Hickory will go bad the fastest. Bugs really seem to like it and it could get unusable in as little as one year. White oak will last longer than red oak and I've cut up some good Red Oak after it had been down for three years.

 

[ScoutmasterRick]

I'm in the North Alabama area, and I've seen stacked, uncovered wood last at least 3-4 years for firewood purposes. As the previous poster noted hickory seems to go bad first. One thing that would help a lot is if you can get some space between the stack and the ground. In a pinch I have cut poles from saplings and stacked the wood on them. Otherwise your bottom row may be to punky to use. Having the stack where it gets full sun helps too.

 

[ponyexpress976]

As long as you get it out of direct contact (up on pallets?) with the ground and can keep leaves/debris from building up and trapping moisture you'll be fine for multiple years.

 

[Fifelaker]

I have been cutting on some red oak tops and leftovers from 3 years ago that are still good. some is half in the ground.

 

[turnkey4099]

I burned some willow at the start of the season that I cut 4 years ago. Stacked outside, direct on ground, no ocver, rick against rick, no spacing. Solid as the day I first split it except for the bottom layer that had a fraction of an inch of punk where it was dirty.

Currently have 40+ cords black locust in my stacks but I don't worry about that. It will last forever it seems.

Harry K

 

[olyman]

As long as you get it out of direct contact (up on pallets?) with the ground and can keep leaves/debris from building up and trapping moisture you'll be fine for multiple years.

And THATS,, the bare facts!!! The rot of the tree being out in the air,,is very minimal, if the wood is kept off of the ground..Im not speaking of very low heat value wood,either. Ive had in the past,soft maple,split and stacked, not rot one ounce, in the three years it was stacked..

 

[zogger]

Just be careful

Cutting those trees with tipped over rootballs. I had my first really large one stand up on me this year, and it could have been a disaster, had my dogs with me. It went *fast* WHOMP!

 

[DFK]

Where might I find a used pallet

Thanks for the replies.
Going to look around and see if I can find a few used pallets.
Dont know where to look????

May have to come up with come type of cover to keep leaves from covering the top of the stacks.

Zogger:
Have not had a stump to offer to stand back up yet.
I always start at the top and work my way to the stump.
That way I can judge if it has any lift to it. So far no lift.

Thanks
David

 

[zogger]

Thanks for the replies.
Going to look around and see if I can find a few used pallets.
Dont know where to look????

May have to come up with come type of cover to keep leaves from covering the top of the stacks.

Zogger:
Have not had a stump to offer to stand back up yet.
I always start at the top and work my way to the stump.
That way I can judge if it has any lift to it. So far no lift.

Thanks
David

The one that happened to me had no indication at all of standing up (that I noticed at all) until I cut the last block off of it, doing the same, working from the top to the stump. There was still around 4-5 decent blocks worth of trunk left on it. I was sledge hammering in chunks of wood under it as I worked my way down, to get some ground clearance for cutting. *perhaps* if I wasn't doing that it would have stayed on the ground, but I wanted to get the log out of the dirt. Wasn't much lift either, just a few inches or so. Just real surprising, I've been cutting since the early 70s and that was my first one do that.(of any major size, had some small ones do it but I knew they would and was waiting for it)

From now on, any big ones like that I am cutting stout braces and sticking them on the rootball first, just in case. I know if I hadn't completed the cut as it stood up, the saw would have gone flying at least, if not more, like me with it or something. It was fast, like a catapult. One of those times in the woods you get a little "adrenaline rush"..ha...

 

[slowp]

If I think a blowdown tree is going to stand back up, and I feel safe about cutting it, I first cut it off at the rootwad. That gets rid of the weight and the tree is stablized.

 

[ponyexpress976]

Thanks for the replies.
Going to look around and see if I can find a few used pallets.
Dont know where to look????

May have to come up with come type of cover to keep leaves from covering the top of the stacks

Try your smaller, independent lawn and garden dealers. Here's my list of sources...1) the auto parts store a mile down the road 2)office furniture supply house 3) lighting supply distributor. All give them away. Drive through your "warehouse section" of town and check in at the office. I've also started putting pallets on top of the stacks and then tarping. Any place moisture that would be trapped by the tarp now has a place to go.

 

[Coach B]

Question: How long will firewood ( OAK and HICKORY ) last in a uncovered stack?

I've got a little bit of oak left that has been stacked on pallets for 4 years. It's fine. As others have stated get it off the ground and you should be good with oak for awhile(I've heard of folks who've claimed to have oak sit for 7 or 8 yrs w/o issue). The bugs seem to get after the hickory a little quicker, but again if off the ground you should be good for at least 2 or 3 yrs. I just lit my stove this morning with some hickory that has been stacked for two yrs and other than a little of that fine sawdust looking stuff caused by some kind of bug its very solid.

 

[J.W Younger]

Holding moisture is the culprit, otherwise stacked wood would take a long time to rot.
If your stacks have a lot of insect dust like mine do, this is more of a problem than leaves.
Covering just the tops won't prevent this and poor exposure to sunlight makes it happen in even less time. With some species and climates maybe this ain't gonna be something you have to deal with but I do.