What burns good with Oak?

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fields_mj

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Okay, I'm a wood snob. I admit it. The woods that I cut in had 1100 trees logged out in the past 9 months, and now there's more red/white oak than 10 guys could cut in 10 years. I've got most of the following season's wood cut and hauled into the house. It's piled up waiting to be split and stacked. It's about 3:1 white oak to red oak. Generally I like to mix my wood, especially with oak since it doesn't leave much for a bed of coals. What types of wood should I be looking for to burn with the oak? There should be some beach out there too, but I haven't looked to see if they've logged those out yet, or if the tops are even reachable (deep ravines). They had marked some black locust to clear out. That would be awesome. If they are still laying there on Saturday, I'll be cutting as much of it as I can :)

If I can get one or two more loads of something to burn with the oak, then I can go back to the oak and start working on wood for the 2013/14 season :) The only down side is once this stuff starts to rot, I'll be begging and borrowing again for places to cut. So the plan is to cut like mad this winter, and get it stacked off the ground and covered (tarps). This would probably be a good time to find out how long white oak should last if it's split and stacked off the ground, and the top is covered with tarps?

Thanks,
Mark
 
I don't see a problem with just the red oak being used.Its all I use and there's always enough coals in the am left over so I can just throw some in and it fires up.My next choice is maple but oak is the most abundant in my area.
 
I burn 90% red and white oak.Really don't bother to mix anything else in with it. Free wood is nice no matter what kind!!
 
Thing about red oak, though, is that it takes about twice as long to air-dry as any other hardwood. And if it's not properly dried, it'll be really hard to burn. Some say it takes 3 yrs to properly air-dry red oak.

Stacked so the summer breezes blow through the stacks, up off the ground, covered on top & NOT on sides, you should not experience rot. Black locust seems to have heartwood that's impervious to fungi.
 
Here in east NH. we got oak that climaxes with white pine. Burn it as it grows is the mantra of a few old timers. Oak should dry 16mo's plus. Got some 1iateobv2 mo. oak in the firebox...toss in a split of pine to keep temps hot and obviate smulder-related creosote.

Even with well seasoned hardwood, I toss in the occasional pine split to keep flue temps up.
 
Beech burns good with oak. For many years the Beechwood Corp. was here in town.They supplied Budweiser with the shredded beech that goes in the beer.We would go to the plant and get the 2x8 and 2x10 cutoffs. They were about 12" in length. I would burn them in October and November by themselves then start adding oak when the temperature dropped below 35 degrees.
 
Beech, birch, maple, ash...anything burns fine wiht oak...in fact...so does oak!

Once you've got enough split for this year and next year, concentrate your efforts on cutting and stacking off the ground only, don't worry about splitting more till you're done cutting and you have as muhc of that as possible put up off the ground...split 2013/14 in the spring and just leave a bunch in the round and off the ground...wouldn't bother covering it as that'll just keep the moisture in the wood and it'll form mold and maybe start to rot.
 
"Oak doesn't leave much for a bed of coals".....


Exsqueeze me? If there's a better wood for having some seed coals left in the AM, I don't know what it'd be. If you're burning it up to a powder, it's a lil too dry..
 
Mine does generally burn up to a powder. Then again, my rule is no such thing as firewood that's too dry :)

I should clarify what I mean by cover. I cut my firewood 23" long so that it stacks well into the bed of my truck. I stack it on a pair of 2x10 boards, or 4x4s or skids or even straigth limbs that I put down to get the wood up off the ground. I generaly stack 2 stacks next to each other with about 1' in between, so my 2 stacks are about 5' wide total and the stacks are over 5' tall and 12' long. I buy 6'x8' tarps when they go on sale, and lay them across the top of the stacks to keep most of the rain and snow off. I will run a couple of sticks, or even firing strips through both stacks, and then tie the tarp off in a few places to those in order to keep the wind from blowing them off. My thought is that this will let the wood breath just fine and not cause the mold to grow. In the past I've mainly done this so that when I bring it into the basement it isn't soaked with rain/snow, but now I'm hopeing that it will help the wood last longer too. I'm going to have to put something down under it to keep the weeds and vinces out. I have a roll of 30lb tar paper that should do the trick :)

Thanks for the suggestion about not splitting too far ahead. For some reason, I hadn't thought about that.

Thanks,
Mark
 
Oldtimer said:
"Oak doesn't leave much for a bed of coals".....


Exsqueeze me? If there's a better wood for having some seed coals left in the AM, I don't know what it'd be. If you're burning it up to a powder, it's a lil too dry..
Click to expand...

Hedge... Want me to UPS you a piece???:D
 
DIESELBOB said:
I think Hickory leaves a nice bed of hot coals. I had a cord and a half two years ago and I thought that was the best wood I ever burned.http://www.arboristsite.com/images/smilies/Saiyananim.gif
Click to expand...

In the past, I've mostly burned Hickory because we always had more available than we could cut. We moved a few years ago, and down here I had been burning a mix of white oak and ash most of the time with an occational load of Beech, Hickory, or black locust. A co-worker had several black locust around his lake that he wanted removed, so for the past 2 years, and for this season, I'll be burning mainly black locust with some ash mixed in. Now you know why I'm a wood snob LOL

I've never burned hedge either, but a buddy of mine from highschool has some property that apparenly has a lot of it on it, and he would like it gone. Problem is that it's an hour drive. I'm going to get as much wood cut as I can over the next 18 months, and by the time that runs low, I should have had enough time to save up and buy or build a good HD wood hauling trailer. I'm thinking about a tandom with a pair of 5K plus axles. Finally, something for my ol diesel to pull :) At that point I could haul over 2 cord in at a time, which makes the hour drive each way worth while. It's only a few miles from my folks, and from the woods that I always cut the Hickory in, so it makes for a good excuse to go spend time with dad too :)
 
fields_mj said:
In the past, I've mostly burned Hickory because we always had more available than we could cut. We moved a few years ago, and down here I had been burning a mix of white oak and ash most of the time with an occational load of Beech, Hickory, or black locust. A co-worker had several black locust around his lake that he wanted removed, so for the past 2 years, and for this season, I'll be burning mainly black locust with some ash mixed in. Now you know why I'm a wood snob LOL

I've never burned hedge either, but a buddy of mine from highschool has some property that apparenly has a lot of it on it, and he would like it gone. Problem is that it's an hour drive. I'm going to get as much wood cut as I can over the next 18 months, and by the time that runs low, I should have had enough time to save up and buy or build a good HD wood hauling trailer. I'm thinking about a tandom with a pair of 5K plus axles. Finally, something for my ol diesel to pull :) At that point I could haul over 2 cord in at a time, which makes the hour drive each way worth while. It's only a few miles from my folks, and from the woods that I always cut the Hickory in, so it makes for a good excuse to go spend time with dad too :)
Click to expand...

Hickory is just handy stuff... I get very little of it around here, so when I do, I put it in the shop and save it for smoking wood.:msp_wink:
 

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