Beech question

[Wood Scrounge]

A friend is having 2 monster beech trees dropped professionally this week. He is letting me have all the wood, I am figuring if they leave just the main trunk and some of the larger branches it should be close to 2 cords. I have never burned beech in quantity, I see it has a great BTU rating but what is the season time like? It looks like it's in the same family as oak so am I looking at 18-24 months or 8-12?

 

[darnet]

I don't think so. Beech dries alot faster than oak. I like beech, it splits well and burns nice. good over all wood.

 

[Mike PA]

I would say to dry it right up to the time that you need to throw it in the stove, and not a day longer.

But... if you let it go 12 months, you may as well let it 18 months. I would think it would be ok come Nov/ Dec, but longer doesn't hurt. A lot depends on how you split, stack, cover, and locate your piles. For some people and places 8-10 months should be fine, for others, 18 would be best.

 

[tomtrees58]

if you split it now you can burn it in 6 months tom trees

 

[swift4me]

a favorite

Around me, with the choice of oak, chestnut and beech, most guys are very happy to burn beech. Does seem to dry faster than the other two.

Pete

 

[Woodcutteranon]

I have always thought beech was a little tough to split. Nothing like elm but still a much tougher wood than maple.

I always liked the smooth bark on beech as its easy on my hands and gloves when lugging and stacking.

 

[bullseye13]

Beech is good stuff. After you split it. The trunks arent bad, but the branches and crotches can be truely miserable. Also, if the tree has a large amount of noticible twisting in it, your in for a fun one.

I agree it dries really fast, i never really fuss about how long wood seasons, leave it all stacked in the middle of a field over summer and it'll be good to go.

 

[MJR]

It is really good stuff. If you split it now and stack it, it will be ready by fall. You got very lucky.

 

[Greenthorn]

Agree, I like beech, drys about as fast as hackberry (IMO), burn heats much better.

 

[Jon E]

Good stuff, dries fast, burns hot, but get it split and up off the ground ASAP or it will turn punky on ya.

 

[swift4me]

Beech forests

Here in the Pyrenees, there is an elevation band, (depending on exposure), where the only thing in the forest is mature beech. No undergrowrowth of any kind, only the mulch and beech nuts, except for the mushrooms in the fall. The migratory pigeon we hunt here, the same bird as the wood pigeon in the UK and the band tailed pigeon on the Pacific coast, favors these groves for roosting and feeding.

For any readers of Hemingway, in The Sun Also Rises, he writes of the Iraty forest. When you walk through the forest here and get above the oak, birch and chestnut band, you can walk for miles through mature beech. Impressive site.

Pete

 

[Wood Scrounge]

I'd like to see that, any pictures?

 

[loadthestove]

I have always thought beech was a little tough to split. .

Split as soon as you can.seems to me they longer they lay around the tougher they are to split.

 

[swift4me]

pictures

I have a beech grove at the farm, but have never photographed it. These pictures are from an annual pigeon hunt in the Iraty forest about an hour away from the farm. Beautiful country.

This is the road in to where we start the hour walk to the cabin

This is the area around the cabin. Younger trees than the grove at my place, but you get the idea.

This is my buddy up in one of the tree blinds we shoot from. It can be exciting in a big wind, but those are thest days for shooting.

Most of my place is a mix of birch, chestnut, oak and beech. This is my dad when he came for a visit next to one of the old chestnuts near the house.

Pete

 

[Vincent]

Hi Pete do you have boars ?

@Wood Scrounge: Beech is a fast rotting wood.

Stack it split under roof at a windy place and beech is a very good firewood.

The day after sawing you can see on the cut face small cracks.
It is easier to split along these cracks.

Have fun.

Cheers,

 

[swift4me]

boars

Yes, we have a fair number around my farm. The local hunters kill forty or fifty a season in the 10,000 acres our association hunts. I like to bowhunt, but it is not legal to hunt boars without a "team" and some dogs to find wounded boars. I get to bowhunt the deer though.

I don't speak Basque and don't really have any experience in driven hunts, so I'll probably try a few hunts with them next season. A little tough to break into the local crowd as they've all hunted together for years, but they seem like good guys.

In the Iraty forest there are boar, deer and cerf as well, as it is higher.

Pete

 

[Vincent]

Very interesting. To be honest I do not like this driven hunting so much. So many bad shoots and cruel wounded animals. I prefer the calm shot which comes by suprise.

Bow hunting is not allowed on animals in Germany, altough I think a good!! well placed shot will easily kill a deer because it has so much energy.

You are right- it is not too easy to find the good guys ;-) when you are new in hunting. But after a while you can find some.

Cheers,

 

[tomtrees58]

small trees over thear here a long island beach tom trees

 

[Wood Scrounge]

The Beech

3/4-1 cord?

Very Heavy full of water

I was able to back my landscaping trailer up to it and roll the rounds right up the ramp.

 

[jbighump]

nice score

just got this load off craigslist, i split for around an hour today and produced alot of wood.