Conundrum; takin' down a Box Elder today...

[Whitespider]

...ANYBODY WANT IT??

This old wood-snob is in a real conundrum. I take down a lot of sacrificial Box Elder in the woodlot when harvesting real firewood... and then just leave 'em lay. Today it won't be quite so simple.

I'm cleaning off the concrete feed lot next to the old hog house; figuring on parking the pickup and car (both are rarely driven, especially this time of year) on it so I don't have to move 'em cuttin' grass... and that way they'll quit killin' the grass under 'em. The slab has a fairly large Box Elder leaning low over it that has to go, and the only option (because of the hard lean) is to drop it directly on the slab. So that means I can't just drop it and walk away... I'm gonna' haf'ta clean it up.

Now here's where the conundrum comes in... the corner of the concrete slab is less than 10 feet from my firewood stacks. I'll be dropping that Box Elder so close to the stacks some of the branches may actually hit them. Here on this board I've always stated that Box Elder was a weed, not work messin' with, and I wouldn't even burn it in the fire pit. But... but... but... it will be laying right next to the stacks, and I'm gonna' haf'ts do some cuttin' on it anyway...

What to do??? What to do??
My pride tells me to haul it back in the woodlot and dump it... my practical side says, "gee-wiz man, it's layin' right there next to the stacks, don't be an idiot!"
What to do??? What to do??

If somebody would just come take it off my hands there'd be no conundrum.

 

[RiverRocket]

Drop It.....Cut It...List it on C/L "Free Firewood" :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Whitespider]

I like the CL idea... except...
Here's how my luck runs...
I'd be gone when the guy comes to get his free firewood, and when I got home I'd still have a small pile of Box Elder... but I'd be missing 16-cord of oak and hard maple :msp_scared:

 

[stumpy75]

Stack it. Good shoulder wood stuff. Yes, it's a little smelly(to some), but it's better than burning snowballs! And being that close to your piles, well... It's just meant to be added to it.

 

[haveawoody]

I would stack it.
Less work if it's that close

It's ok shoulder wood for when it's just chilly.
I burnt about 1 cord of it 2 winters ago when it was a pretty mild winter and it was nice to have the lower btu stuff to take the chill off and save useful wood for colder times.

In my experience if you split it into smaller than normal splits the smell of the wood and stinky smoke when burning it is all but gone.
Save your nice oak for those days when box elder won't do the job.

You can always decide at some point that if the stack of box elder isn't your flavor you can always have a big bonfire outdoors or get an old oil drum and burn it as a hand warmer when you are working out in the cold.

 

[zogger]

Well, your reports of living in a localized mini ice age area lead me to believe that you can't have enough stacked wood around. It's wood, it will burn.

Not near as cold here and I still stack everything I have to touch. Yesterday I had to go to town to boss's office/warehouse and start clearing down the buildings, mixed bag, you name it species. I'll be going back and scrounging the burnable sized pieces. Want as little brush as possible as it has to be moved someplace, this is all down blacktop, trees and weeds growing in little three foot what used to be beds or something next to the walls. It just went wild and wasn't cut or sprayed for years....

I *thought* only a couple small trees before I went there, (haven't gone over there for a long time...) dropped over 20 saplings up to 8 inches thick/20 feet tall with the battery saw. Not even done with one wall on one building yet.

I will be taking some gas saws next time. So far what I recall poplar, privet, sycamore, cedar, some sort of wild fruitish looking tree, cherry or plum maybe, some other jazz. In the stacks, anything an inch or larger diameter.

 

[Speed]

Stack it and burn it. Its okay, it won't hurt your stove, lol. Just don't count on it in February. I wish I was closer, I know a carpenter (my Dad) who asked me to find him a decent box elder saw log. He's always despised box elder, and somehow, he saw something made of box elder, said the grain was beautiful, and now he wants to make some small projects with it! Shocked me to hear that one.

 

[Cheesecutter]

If it's 10-18 inch diameter give or take, use it to make Scandinavian candles. View attachment 302397 At least thats the best use I've found for the crap.

 

[GVS]

Split it,stack it,burn it.What ever wood is avaliable.

 

[groundup]

How big is it? If it's wide enough it makes some real nice looking lumber. It carries some nice red colorations if it can be slabbed

If you don't have a jig for milling it might be time to get one :smile2:

 

[Festus]

Box elder burns fine and heats fine. It just doesn't burn very long. Good wood for when you're home all day on weekends just putzing around the house. Sounds to me like you're spoiled with all that oak and hard maple.:hmm3grin2orange: Truthfully, I hate box elders too, except I think they all deserve to be cut down and burned.

 

[Steve NW WI]

If I gotta cut it, I'm burning it - somewhere. Usually fence line box elders get piled tree length and burned on the spot, unless there's a nice straight easy to work piece (not often), that'll come home with me for spring/fall wood.

If it's yard cleanup like you're doing, it gets stacked by the fire pit. That's also my "free wood" stack when friends come around looking for some wood for a campfire.

Every once in a while, I'll come across one growing in the middle of the woods. Usually tall, straight, and not very box elder like at all. They go into the general firewood stacks.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Hey, it's better than willow! Since you have to process it anyway, get some btu's in return. Of course, if it's your reputation that you're worried about, put it on CL.

 

[DTB]

How big is it? If it's wide enough it makes some real nice looking lumber. It carries some nice red colorations if it can be slabbed

If you don't have a jig for milling it might be time to get one :smile2:

Very true on the red colorations. An arborist friend of mine told me that it was a type of disease or fungus of some type that grows in the tree. Wood carvers like to use it. Ive also burnt quite a bit of it. It is good for getting the fire started.

 

[Whitespider]

Darn nice y'all give me a pass... but, ya' know what?
I just wanted the job done and over... I tossed it all behind the hog house to rot :msp_unsure:

 

[Speed]

Wood snob. That would have went well with the cord of oak and cord of white ash I split and stacked today.:msp_biggrin:

 

[deepsouth]

Darn nice y'all give me a pass... but, ya' know what?
I just wanted the job done and over... I tossed it all behind the hog house to rot :msp_unsure:

Hmmm, discarding firewood? Are you looking for red rep? :msp_razz:

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Hmmm, discarding firewood? Are you looking for red rep? :msp_razz:

Apparently!!

 

[greendohn]

Junk Wood

I've brought it home and stacked it in the shed, the owb burns the junk wood just fine.
I used to be a wood snob when I was burning wood in the fireplace insert.
I remember when I started loading cottonwood and box elder on the truck I'd be thinking, "Oh Lord,,The humanity"!! My deadbeat neighbor, who's L.P. gas is subsidized by the guv'munt, tried poking fun at me for the junk wood I was bringing home. Sometimes I hate that guy..
One of the land owners I cut on likes to see me hauling off the bad with good, the small stuff with the big.

 

[olyman]

I've brought it home and stacked it in the shed, the owb burns the junk wood just fine.
I used to be a wood snob when I was burning wood in the fireplace insert.
I remember when I started loading cottonwood and box elder on the truck I'd be thinking, "Oh Lord,,The humanity"!! My deadbeat neighbor, who's L.P. gas is subsidized by the guv'munt, tried poking fun at me for the junk wood I was bringing home. Sometimes I hate that guy..
One of the land owners I cut on likes to see me hauling off the bad with good, the small stuff with the big.

subsidized by you AND ME!!! sounds like he has a tude also...:taped::taped: