Will this ash be ready?
- Thread starter hoosier daddy
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
woodbooga
cords of mystic memory
Nice pile! Boy, that's some flat country out there.
I echo the sentiment that it will be ready. Especially if you split real fine.
Goodly amount of work ahead of you, but that's a good looking processing area. Oughtta be a snap.
I echo the sentiment that it will be ready. Especially if you split real fine.
Goodly amount of work ahead of you, but that's a good looking processing area. Oughtta be a snap.
Curlycherry1
Addicted to ArboristSite
Based on the color of the cuts and the amount of bark that is peeling off and the color of the sapwood under the bark I would guess those were dead and standing ash trees. If that be true then those trees are going to have very little moisture in them.
Bugs do like ash so be prepared to see a lot of chewing critters and their tell-tale piles of sawdust.
Bugs do like ash so be prepared to see a lot of chewing critters and their tell-tale piles of sawdust.
hoosier daddy
ArboristSite Operative
Yes, it's flat country...good farm ground but not much woods to cut from, Mostly fence rows full of old wire...but wood's wood. I think that I'm going to order a moisture tester and see where it's at come December. I have to say that I never would have stopped and asked what they were doing with all the wood if it wernt for all the posts about "free wood" on this site. as it worked out it was a huge find for me. I plan on sharing it with those that are planning on helping me work it up. will end up keeping half for myself and my father, the other half will go to a buddy and a brother in law... I will try to repost pics of the pile of wood after split...should be pretty cool.
woodbooga
cords of mystic memory
Swell...and welcome to the website! Looks like you got the leg up on some good ole fashioned woodboogerin - or whatever that translates to in the local hoosier vernacular.
Chris Crouse
ArboristSite Operative
Must've been small semis but still a lot of nice wood!
Oldtimer
Addicted to ArboristSite
I prefer my ash as green as I can get it. Bone dry ash burns like gasoline. Hot, and fast. NO good for an over-night fire. You'll wake up to a cold house unless you put some semi-green oak on top. If not, you'll have a stone cold stove, no coals at all.
But what do I know, I've only been burning wood for 40 years.:yoyo:
But what do I know, I've only been burning wood for 40 years.:yoyo:
Exactly how I burn my "not quite ready oak". Works like a charm. Great balance.
Wow. 2 posts since 2006....I'm on fire! lol Gotta be a record.
kd460
ArboristSite Operative
I agree with the above statement. I have burned lots of ash in the past few years (thanks to the EAB in Michigan-lookout Indiana).
Split it, stack it in the sun and breeze, and burn it this season. You will be fine. Good score! Get ready for more. The EAB will make sure of that. KD
CrappieKeith
Addicted to ArboristSite
Burning any wet wood is ridiculous.....those that do for all night burns need a more efficient furnace or stove.
I burn ash all of the time and I can get 12-14 hour burn times with it being 0 outside and it's 72 inside.
I burn ash all of the time and I can get 12-14 hour burn times with it being 0 outside and it's 72 inside.
Oldtimer
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have an Ashley air tight, modified to be even more air tight than stock. I can kill the fire if I want. I live in a 225+ year old farm house. No insulation, it's the same today as it was in 1790. I prefer to not tear down the plaster walls, so I just go nuts with heat. 5-6 cords a year, and 600 gallons of K1 a year for 2 monitors. So, I like to have the stove PUMPING out the heat, not just sort of half-assing it and smoldering. Therefore, I burn semi-dry maple/oak/beech wood, and green ash. Pure bone dry wood just doesn't last.
A friend of mine burns fresh cut green oak and loves it. He can leave for 14 hours and when he gets home it's still warm, and the coals are deep enough to catch another load of green oak.
Anyone who tells you you can't heat just fine with green wood is telling you a fib. Just have to know how, and clean the chimney regularly.
Sure, for a new tight and well insulated home, dry wood is what you want...you can get by just fine with one chimney cleaning mid season.
A friend of mine burns fresh cut green oak and loves it. He can leave for 14 hours and when he gets home it's still warm, and the coals are deep enough to catch another load of green oak.
Anyone who tells you you can't heat just fine with green wood is telling you a fib. Just have to know how, and clean the chimney regularly.
Sure, for a new tight and well insulated home, dry wood is what you want...you can get by just fine with one chimney cleaning mid season.
laynes69
Addicted to ArboristSite
It takes alot of btu's to boil off the excess moisture in wood. The dryer the wood the more we can close down our furnace and the hotter and longer it will burn. One thing you may want to look into oldtimer is air sealing the attic and the basement of your home. I can guarantee just doing that and not insulating will save you a ton of money and it won't cost that much. Then consider some attic insulation.
Oldtimer
Addicted to ArboristSite
I am not sure that's exactly accurate...
JMPO, but..
If the moisture is being boiled off, then HEAT is being generated to do so...which is the name of the game...
And that steam is throwing off heat as it moves up the pipe..same as the smoke..
I think the biggest difference in the two, dry vs green, is that green doesn't burn as easily, and creates a lot more soot. As for BTUs released, in a good HOT fire, I think the difference is slight if there's any.
All I know is a load of bone dry wood will be stone out come 5 AM if I load it full at 10:30 PM....
Where a load of green (same species) done the same time and put on top of a good hot bed of coals will still be tossing heat come 5AM...there won't be much left, but there's heat and coals enough to get a fire going again with a bit of dry oak bark and a chunk of dry wood under the green.
One issue I have is that if I shut it down super tight, especially with dry wood, it turns the wood to "charcoal"..it becomes SO dry and right on the verge of combustion that when a tiny bit of air is introduced...BANG! It explodes into a raging fire, flames right up the pipe..if I leave the dampers open, it just burns hot and fast..a happy medium is very hard to get...I happen to have enough draft in my chimney to suck a cat up the pipe...the men of old knew JUST how to make a chimney work..
So I like to burn semi-green with the dampers left good and open, but so they will still close down some if it gets really hot...it just works better..Green can't cause a damn chimney fire in the middle of the night like bone dry wood can, and has for me..
As for the house, I do wrap it tight around the bottom with black plastic, and I plastic the windows...and there is a layer of insulation on the floor of the attic...messed up by years of storing junk on it..
I also use a propane top-hat heater in the dirt/field-stone cellar to keep the pipes from freezing when it gets to 0* or below....above zero, so long as the house is around 75*, the pipes are OK.
JMPO, but..
If the moisture is being boiled off, then HEAT is being generated to do so...which is the name of the game...
And that steam is throwing off heat as it moves up the pipe..same as the smoke..
I think the biggest difference in the two, dry vs green, is that green doesn't burn as easily, and creates a lot more soot. As for BTUs released, in a good HOT fire, I think the difference is slight if there's any.
All I know is a load of bone dry wood will be stone out come 5 AM if I load it full at 10:30 PM....
Where a load of green (same species) done the same time and put on top of a good hot bed of coals will still be tossing heat come 5AM...there won't be much left, but there's heat and coals enough to get a fire going again with a bit of dry oak bark and a chunk of dry wood under the green.
One issue I have is that if I shut it down super tight, especially with dry wood, it turns the wood to "charcoal"..it becomes SO dry and right on the verge of combustion that when a tiny bit of air is introduced...BANG! It explodes into a raging fire, flames right up the pipe..if I leave the dampers open, it just burns hot and fast..a happy medium is very hard to get...I happen to have enough draft in my chimney to suck a cat up the pipe...the men of old knew JUST how to make a chimney work..
So I like to burn semi-green with the dampers left good and open, but so they will still close down some if it gets really hot...it just works better..Green can't cause a damn chimney fire in the middle of the night like bone dry wood can, and has for me..
As for the house, I do wrap it tight around the bottom with black plastic, and I plastic the windows...and there is a layer of insulation on the floor of the attic...messed up by years of storing junk on it..
I also use a propane top-hat heater in the dirt/field-stone cellar to keep the pipes from freezing when it gets to 0* or below....above zero, so long as the house is around 75*, the pipes are OK.
laynes69
Addicted to ArboristSite
Modern stoves are made so they burn the smoke before it goes out of the firebox. When wood with excess moisture is added, that steam will cool the fire. That cooling then lowers the temperature where the gasses can't be burned and smoke is produced. Burning that smoke creates alot more btus. In an air tight your right, they can't be shut down 100%. Newer stoves are made so there is a constant supply of combustion air both as primary and secondary. Theres quite a difference from the old stoves to the stoves of today. Of course for them to be properly operated they need good dry wood.
Oldtimer
Addicted to ArboristSite
My Ashley is about 8 years old. It came from the factory with enough non-closeable draft to burn my house down...EPA regs about burning cleaner = too much draft..I'd have to fill it every 2 hours...It doesn't have a catylitic converter..
Like I said, I have it modified to the point that I can snuff the fire...that's a good thing when you have danger of a soot fire starting..I've stopped several in the very beginning just by closing off the air.
Here's my stove:HERE.
I am going to have a metal fab shop build me a custom plate steel stove like a Fisher Papa Bear, only with an ash pan and a left hand door...The idea is to have a stove that has a "custom fit" to my particular needs. One that I am not worried about over-firing.
Like I said, I have it modified to the point that I can snuff the fire...that's a good thing when you have danger of a soot fire starting..I've stopped several in the very beginning just by closing off the air.
Here's my stove:HERE.
I am going to have a metal fab shop build me a custom plate steel stove like a Fisher Papa Bear, only with an ash pan and a left hand door...The idea is to have a stove that has a "custom fit" to my particular needs. One that I am not worried about over-firing.
Last edited:
flewism
ArboristSite Operative
For the last three years at least 60% of the wood we've burned has been ash. It is a great firewood. Follow the advice about stacking, bucking and splitting a portion small and you will be fine. Even completely green ash I can get it good and dry in one summer. Now our stacking area is wide open getting full sun and wind all day. Those do look like EAB standing dead so they will be ready in ready in one half the time.
Great Score!
Great Score!
hoosier daddy
ArboristSite Operative
thanks for the info.
I started last night bucking and splitting. It works up really nice, the ash is a dream to split. I have a pasture that I use for a drying area and it's full sun and surrounded by those damn windmills so it always has a breeze. I try to stack single rows on pallets or 4X4's so it's up off the ground. I have about 6 cords that's been seasoning since april so if i get into this it will be late Jan. I want to have this in the barn by late November...hopefully it's ready, I'm not crazy about burning green wood as my wood furnace is in the garage. Thanks again to all who have advised me!
I started last night bucking and splitting. It works up really nice, the ash is a dream to split. I have a pasture that I use for a drying area and it's full sun and surrounded by those damn windmills so it always has a breeze. I try to stack single rows on pallets or 4X4's so it's up off the ground. I have about 6 cords that's been seasoning since april so if i get into this it will be late Jan. I want to have this in the barn by late November...hopefully it's ready, I'm not crazy about burning green wood as my wood furnace is in the garage. Thanks again to all who have advised me!
Similar threads
