Saving rotting wood

[80cj]

I bought a house about 1 1/2 years ago and just before I bought it, the previous owner had ~1 acre of trees clear cut (to allow for a view). the trees were just dropped and have been laying ever since. the catch is that it is fairly steep and rocky, so it is a time consuming process to try to get them out.

the reality is that there is probably enough wood there to heat my house for 8 - 10 years! but since it has been laying and has started to rot some, can it be kept for that long?

i should add that i live in northern Alabama and this humidity is rather new to me. (i'm originally from PA) i burned some oak this year that had been split and stacked for a year and it was still not seasoned.

my immediate plan is to cut the logs to ~10' lengths, skid them off the slope and stack the logs up off the ground. will they keep like that or will i need to cover them as well?

any input would be appreciated.

thanks
shawn

 

[WSJchester]

I hate "clearing for a view." Always seems more like "clearing so people can see me and my fancy house on a hill near the lake." Bah.

OK, got that off my chest - what's the wood? If hickory, better get it cut, off the ground and covereed ASAP because it con't last any time. If oak you've got a bit more time. With red oak it'll still be good even after the bark's gone and it's punky on the outside. But of course the faster you get it worked up the more wood you end up with, plus it's a lot less dirty and hard on chains.

Good luck. -WSJ

 

[KD57]

So the previous owner likes a view of downed trees? It's really pretty simple, punky wood gets thrown away, good wood gets cut and stacked for use. Depending on what type of wood it is will determine how long you can store it, and whether or not it's covered and kept dry.

Some oak rounds I have kept dry and covered is 20 years old and still hard as a rock. Even the bark is still stuck to some of it.

 

[Mike PA]

Depends on the wood whether it is worth it or not. Hackberry, elm, and silver maples tend to rot quickly. Oak and locust can last a long time. Best way to tell is to cut into it. If it is still hard, pull it out, cut it up, and get it covered and off the ground. Just getting them off the ground will help, but I would cut them to length as soon as possible and get it covered. A cheap tarp will do the trick.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Like mentioned earlier , get it cut to length and covered sooner as opposed to later. The drier it is inside the longer it will last under cover. The logs will take much longer to dry out than the firewood length rounds. Make sure it can get some air flow and stacked in a sunny place.

Best way to see how good it is still is to cut into some and see. If nothing else the place should look better after it has been cleaned up and make any later harvesting much simpler without having to work around fallen rotten logs.

 

[80cj]

i wasn't happy about the po clear cutting the trees, but not much i could do about it at that point. (and in my defense, its not a fancy house and there is no lake!)

i will admit my ignorance, i'm not entirely sure what types of wood are there. i think mostly oak and hickory???

like i mentioned, it is pretty steep and rocky. most of the trees are laying downhill, so i'm not sure if that makes them soak up more water, but when i cut the first 10' section off and stuck the ax into the end, it compressed the area around it and forced out water. (log was ~ 20" diam)

do you think that it is enough to stack and cover the logs, or do i need to cut/split/stack and cover?

here are 2 pics of what i have done so far. (excuse the poor quality!)

thanks
shawn

 

[Mike PA]

That wood looks pretty good. It would be best to cut it to length, but getting it off the ground and covered is a pretty good start. Work at it as much as you can. I think that cutting to length will do more to dry than splitting, but splitting does help a good bit, also.

 

[savageactor7]

What a donkey just to cut for a view and leave natures bounty to rot.

Just say'en... I burn crap punky wood all the time. If I can't drive over it I cut it up and get it off the ground...burns OK a great shoulder season wood.

We're also big on campfires here so that's the campfire wood of choice too.

I'm thinking down it Alabama you could make good use of it cause it rarely drops to zero.

 

[avalancher]

Hard to tell by the pictures, but it looks like a good bit of that may be oak, looks like some of it is live oak.
Kind of surprised they didnt take any of that for timber, the stuff in the pics are big enough to worth while.

Oak will quickly go to rot in the sapwood, but the heart stays good for a good bit longer.
As was mentioned before, cut it into lengths as soon as you can and get it covered until dry weather comes along. The rotten sap wood may look like unfavorable firewood, but it will burn fine.
Good bit of wood you got there, and at least you arent having to pack it out by hand!

 

[shaunbagone]

My Grandpa's motto for rotten or punky wood. "It aint gonna get any better, throw it in"

 

[barkies]

welcome to Alabama
gotta love the humidity

that wood ought to keep 2-3 years if you'll put it out of the weather

 

[flashpuppy]

I'd burn that in a heartbeat.

 

[80cj]

i can take better pics of the trees to help id (or i could not be so lazy and look it up myself!). truthfully, i just didnt really look. that is a lot of wood and that is only 2 1/2 trees! there is probably more than 50! part of the delemna is that if it will rot before i can use it all, then i'll need to get rid of it.

on a related note, i'm also trying to figure out what the best way to store/season it is. i have read a lot about that on this site, but the humidity here in Alabama is really high (Average Relative Humidity: Morning 85%, Afternoon 61%). the way i see it, airflow and heat (and time) are the 2 main components to drying wood. but im not sure that flowing moist air can be as helpful here so i'm thinking that sacraficing some airflow for heat maybe beneficial. that said, i do have a (unused) greenhouse that i considered using, but that is all heat, and not airflow and it is VERY humid. so i am thinking that i will have to make a pole-type shed (has roof with minimal/no sides) to store the wood in.

thanks
shawn

 

[thejdman04]

Looks like good logs to me.

 

[Hansenj11]

Get Bucking and spliting

 

[Dan_IN_MN]

Very nice little tractor there!

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Hwo does that 'lil 'ole M-F do picking up those larger logs?...what HP?, gas or diesel?

 

[savageactor7]

...just had to add that's some real fine looking rotten wood.

 

[avalancher]

I feel for you, I really do!We moved here to TN to get away from the humidity of Mobile Alabama.That, and the stinkin mosquitoes!
I cut a good bit of wood while in Mobile, but burned very little.Maybe a little over a cord each winter.The rest i sold because I found that even when covered in the winter, the humidity would quickly rot out anything that was stacked over three years.
I would consider if I were you splitting up three years worth of stuff, cover it in the winter months, and try and stack it in full sunlight. Sell the rest.
When Hurricane Ivan came through Mobile, I had wood flowing out of my yard to the point I didnt even have to mow the lawn. Sold it that winter for 100 bucks a pickup load, and made some good cash.

 

[80cj]

thanks for the compliment on the tractor. i can justify buying anything if i try!

here are a couple more pics of the logs that i have out and of the mess that i still have to work. any help on id'ing the trees would be great. still not sure how long it will last...

thanks
shawn