Need Answers on Dead Red Oak Wood

[tbow388]

I have a dead red oak in my yard (right next to my shop). About 3 years dead.

This last weekend a friend came and knocked it down with a excavator. (BIG tree and leaning towards shop)

It has about a 40" base and was pretty rotten up top. None of the limbs are any good for firewood to sale, just too rotten.

Now getting down into the trunk the wood is good. I have been cutting rounds and they seem pretty dry.

Now the question. How long to let this sit once split and before I sale it?

I am newer to cutting wood so I just plainly do not know....:msp_confused:

 

[cedarman]

sell it now as green for a lower price or let it season for a year and sell it as seasoned for top price

 

[Coldfront]

Standing dead will be a little more dry than live green, you might get away with 6 months dry time.

 

[Encore]

Standing dead will be a little more dry than live green, you might get away with 6 months dry time.

I thought this too, and I think with most wood it will prove true, but my experience with red oak is that even standing dead takes about a year split and stacked to really be good for burning.

 

[audible fart]

Split the dead oak up into small chunks. Nothing thicker than 1" or very slightly more. Stack in full sun off ground. Then sell as seasoned in 5 or 6 months, but don't kid yourself if they need another month after 5. That's what i would do. But all oak firewood i get is getting the same treatment. Split 1-1 1/4 inch thick and stack vertically on my firewood mountain. It will be ready in 6 months, but wont be needed for 12-15 months anyway. i just got a load of standing dead red oak last week. minimal sponginess on the outside but nice sopping wet and solid red oak ready to get split thin and set in the sun&breeze. i have a couple big chunks of scarlett oak laying around to split. It splits so easy man, i love the scarlett oak. Sometimes i stumble onto huge piles that are set aside to be discarded. And i can have my fill.

 

[PA Plumber]

1" to 1 1/4" splits? Seems kinda of a pain to split, and a pain to stack, and a pain to move, and a pain for overnight burns etc.


After it has been split, the trunk section should have a year to season.

I have had standing dead oak ready to burn in 3 months, but it was stuff with no bark and had been dead a long time.

 

[zogger]

Stack that rotten wood

I have a dead red oak in my yard (right next to my shop). About 3 years dead.

This last weekend a friend came and knocked it down with a excavator. (BIG tree and leaning towards shop)

It has about a 40" base and was pretty rotten up top. None of the limbs are any good for firewood to sale, just too rotten.

Now getting down into the trunk the wood is good. I have been cutting rounds and they seem pretty dry.

Now the question. How long to let this sit once split and before I sale it?

I am newer to cutting wood so I just plainly do not know....:msp_confused:

--you'll be surprised, cut split and stack, or just cut and stack that rotten wood. Let it dry out well, then split up some. It's *oak* man. You'll be amazed at the heat those pieces will throw. Burn 'em yourself, who cares, they work, I burn a lot of marginal wood like that that burns once it dries out. Heck, I drag logs out the beavers have dropped in the pond and it's been soaking in water for a long time..it dries out and burns fine.

And you can sell those chunks at a discount if you want to later on once seasoned. Always someone looking for "bargain" wood, or they run out completely near the end of the season but still need wood. Or campfire wood sales, that you can get away with marginal wood as well. Just price it until it sells. You got it, use it.

There are a lot of different wood buyers out there, pure high dollar insist on 100% perfect wood and perfect pieces pay top bucks, then all the rest.

If you have to handle it, make some money or heat from it.

 

[audible fart]

1" to 1 1/4" splits? Seems kinda of a pain to split, and a pain to stack, and a pain to move, and a pain for overnight burns etc.


After it has been split, the trunk section should have a year to season.

I have had standing dead oak ready to burn in 3 months, but it was stuff with no bark and had been dead a long time.

any of the heart stuff or knotted pieces i leave bigger. Most of the rest small. Plenty of overnight chunks everywhere. Nothing about what i do is a pain. I generally devote 20 minutes to firewood per day. Nice and leisurely. Oh, and a lot of the scarlett oak i was splitting an inch or a little more think were big square chunks, so each slice was the shape of a book. Throwing 5 of those on a bed of coals will char your snuggie all right.

 

[PA Plumber]

any of the heart stuff or knotted pieces i leave bigger. Most of the rest small. Plenty of overnight chunks everywhere. Nothing about what i do is a pain. I generally devote 20 minutes to firewood per day. Nice and leisurely. Oh, and a lot of the scarlett oak i was splitting an inch or a little more think were big square chunks, so each slice was the shape of a book. Throwing 5 of those on a bed of coals will char your snuggie all right.

I had visions of working up less than 2" x 2" splits.