too late for next winters wood?

[mga]

a buddy calls me up and says he's taking down 8 huge trees next week and asks if i'm interested in the wood. maples and i believe he said oak.

i tell him yea i'll take it.

so, if i get it and split it ASAP, think it'll be dry by next winter? i have about 5 full cords now, but hey, you can never have enough...right?

think it'll dry by december?

 

[windthrown]

I dunno about there, but here it only takes a few dry summer months for split wood to dry out in the heat. For oak and maple, I would go for it. Good stuff. I would get that stuff any time of year here, actually. There is always the winter after this coming winter, and spring, etc. We have been burning wood here though May the last 2 years. If you start with the 5 cords you have now, that will probably get you through mid-winter, and then you will hvae the new stuff to burn. So go cut wood!

 

[Mike Van]

Split, stacked [in the sun?] and covered on top, the maple for sure, the oak maybe, if you're in a real good drying spot.

 

[jburlingham]

I would think if you kept it stacked off the ground, cover on top and open on the sides, and it was split small enough, then I would imagine with a dry summer and warm weather it may be good towards the end f the winter.

 

[husky455rancher]

yeah i think you can get away with it if you split it small.

 

[Moss Man]

I pile in single rows on pallets going east to west facing the sun and keep the rows about 6-8 feet apart so they all get direct sun.Keep it out in the open if possible so the wind will blow through it as much as possible. Pile it bark facing up and there should be no need for a cover. It should dry in 3 months easily.

 

[wdchuck]

Are the trees alive, meaning, did they draw sap up this spring?

If yes, then count your blessings for 2010-11.

If not, then they will be usable by February if you do everything fast, small, and lots of sun/wind can get through the stack on pallets.



If it were my windfall, I'd consider it for 10/11 heating season.

 

[Octane]

As long as you stack it off on pallats and keep it covered, it should be dry by the time winter gets here.
The key is to keep it off the ground so that it cant draw any moisture from the ground and to keep it covered so that it doesnt get rained on and so that it bakes all summer long and dries out.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

:agree2:

I have cut Hackberry, Mulberry and Oak as late as August and it was ready (here) before January. It was drought conditions when they were cut and it got plenty of wind and Sun in the stack. Work it up quicly and it should have all Summer and Fall to dry.

It would be dryer for the folowing heating season but you won't go cold with it this Winter.

 

[Spotted Owl]

I dunno about there, but here it only takes a few dry summer months for split wood to dry out in the heat. For oak and maple, I would go for it. Good stuff. I would get that stuff any time of year here, actually. There is always the winter after this coming winter, and spring, etc. We have been burning wood here though May the last 2 years. If you start with the 5 cords you have now, that will probably get you through mid-winter, and then you will hvae the new stuff to burn. So go cut wood!

Your right there.

A bunch of us cut I don't know how mant cords this last weekend of oak. This comming weekend it will all be split up and in drying piles. Come Spt/Oct it will be stacked in the barn ready to burn. It won't be in the rotation yet but two years ago it was and we had no ill effects of the short dry time. Heck rotation doesn't take long we got a fire in the stove as we type, when the house gets down to 58* Mrs likes a fire going. Pile it in the sun, exposed to wind and you should have no trouble at all.


Owl

 

[ray benson]

I'm cutting now for next season. Been doing it that way since the 1970's.

 

[lobsta1]

The maple yes. If you are burning in a newer EPA stove with secondary burn, no way on the oak in one summer in New York.

I found that out going from my old Russo to an Englander NC13 this past winter.

Al

 

[howellhandmade]

No, not too late. I'd stack it separately, and burn the maple first. You didn't say what your seasoned wood is, but the maple I've had has dried fast so you if you've already got oak or locust you could burn the maple in the fall to make your seasoned wood last longer through winter. Sounds like there might be a lot of wood with 8 trees, so with enough maple you might be able to save the oak for 2010-11 when it will be at its best. Especially cutting now, if it's live it will be pretty wet. If that scenario seems likely to be true, I'd split the maple small so it will dry fast, and split the oak normally for long burns 18 months from now.

Jack

 

[woodbooga]

Red maple, definitely. Sugar maple, probably under the right drying conditions. The oak could be burnt if you absolutely needed to, though you'd have a higher than ideal moisture content and would be shortchanging yourself of its optimal value. For example, I have a pile of red and white oak all split, but which is going to sit for an additional year.

How small do you split - and what type of stove do you have? I need to split small because of the firebox in my ca. 1900 cookstove. Thing was shipped from the foundry 70 years before the EPA was even born. So what works for me might not work for you.

 

[avalancher]

Like others mentioned,a lot is going to depend on how you split and stack it, but I dont think you should have any problems unless you have a really wet summer this year.I would stack it so that you burn it after you burned up what you already have, shouldnt be a problem.I try and stay 2 years ahead myself, but have often gotten greedy and sold off more than I should and ended up burning wood that I had cut the previous summer.

 

[tals2]

Glad to hear the consensus is it will be ready for this winter. As a new burner I am playing catchup and will definitly have to be burning wood that was cut this spring/summer. I have an old corn granery that I am stacking in so it is out of the rain, but still gets plenty of wind.
I just bucked a hackberry last night. It splits surprisingly easy by hand with a maul. It will most likely be burnt this winter.

 

[smokinj]

silver maple would be ready for sure

 

[Henry G.]

Free hardwood? Take it! Youve got 5 cords already it will still be good next year...
Here with no humidity, no summer rain, sun and 90 degree temps everyday it would be ready by SEPTEMBER!

 

[willsaw4beer]

Yeah it'll be ready. I dropped, bucked and split all my woon in Jan. and Feb., but now will be okay if it's split immediately and stacked right. Splitting it small will definitely help more.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Any soft (such as silver) maple and linden that you cut today will be ready to burn this fall. Just get it split.