# standing dead considered seasoned?



## hill (Mar 18, 2008)

This will be the first year I will actually have several cords of wood cut and seasoned. Up to this point I have been cutting and burning either standing dead or dead ones that have fallen with zero season time. I've never had any problems getting the wood to burn, but my question is this....are standing dead trees or laying dead trees considered seasoned?


----------



## buckwheat (Mar 18, 2008)

It depends. If it is standing dead - how long? The best way to tell if its ready is to cut it down and visually inspect it to see if the moisture has been pulled out. Some times you can just tell from the appearance of the standing tree, but they can fool you. 
With downed trees, they can be laying for quite a while, but if the ground is moist, they can still suck in water and get punky. If the bark is still on them, a tree can hold water for quite a few years until its finally bucked up and split.
Some species will dry out quicker than others.
Finally, if you're cutting standing dead timber, be very careful about falling them: dead branches can come down, and the trunks can be split, hollowed, and rotten - leaving you no holding wood after you get to a certain point.


----------



## user 19670 (Mar 18, 2008)

In my limited experience most standing dead trees I have burned were not as dry as they should/could have been.

Hope this helps


----------



## sredlin (Mar 18, 2008)

I burn alot of standing dead elm and if the bark is peeling off they are usually dry enough to burn but it helps to buck it up and split it and let it dry for a few weeks in the sun off the ground---even standing elm will get punky with time and they can get a little dangerous to drop


----------



## 046 (Mar 18, 2008)

Standing dead trees... for instance a deal Oak, will contain large amounts of water. but that water will quickly dry out after splitting vs taking a much long time for green Oak split.

if you are getting low on seasoned wood. dead standing Oaks would be my first choice.
assuming you can find a few that's dead, but not punky yet.


----------



## kurtty (Mar 18, 2008)

i only cut standing dead trees for firewood. and it goes like this. if its a softwood like pine or spruce and its standing dead then its dry, they dry as they die.
harder woods like berch take longer to dry so if they are standing dead take a chunk out of them with your saw and see how wet or rotten it is. if its to wet just leave it and come back next year.

if its dead and on the ground then its wet, hell even if its propped up in the air by some debri its still going to be wet.

wet wood is sometimes handy, ill mix it with dry stuff sometimes to get a cooler burn for those warmer days.


----------



## max2cam (Mar 18, 2008)

On standing dead the branches and limbs will usually be good and dry but the trunk section needs to be split and seasoned for best results.


----------



## hill (Mar 18, 2008)

Thanks for all the info. Mostly downed locust trees are what I've been messing with so far, mainly in the 18" range. I've run across some rotten trunks while cutting (which I just toss aside), but most of it has treated me pretty good. Typically I split them in quarters and they do fine. I have bucked several black walnuts that have been dropped by the wind which had the bark still on them, so I probably jumped the gun on burning those. I appreciate all the advice and like I said, this will be the first year I do things the right way!!


----------



## jjett84724 (Mar 18, 2008)

Where I am there is a ton of beetle kill douglas fir. The bark has fallen off most of it and the loggers don't take the stuff in the 12"-18" range for some reason. I can cut a truck and trailer full of rounds in under two hours. :angry2: This stuff is very dry and I have had no problems burning it.


----------



## tomtrees58 (Mar 18, 2008)

no tom trees


----------



## Joshlaugh (Mar 18, 2008)

I cut down two standing dead trees two weeks ago. I have been splitting and burning them and have not had any problems burning them.

Josh


----------



## windthrown (Mar 18, 2008)

I cut a lot of snags (standing dead trees) here. I leave some standing for easy to get firewood in case we run low on firewood for some reason. Generally the oaks and alders are pretty dry and burn fine in a week or so after felling. So does grand fir (not much heat value in that wood though). With the oaks and alders, anything that is live will not burn well, but dead branches and limbs will be fairly dry, above about 10 feet off the ground. We just cut a box elder down that was 90% dead. Just the outer 2 inches of wood was still alive. The inner white wood is already dry after 4 days (burning that here right now for heat). Then there is the soggy rotten wood near the limbs. That will take all summer to dry out, along with the live wood from the outside of the trunk. The tree was 38 inches DBH. 

So I guess it depends on the tree, and how long it has been dead. If it has been dead over the last summer here, it is usually dry regardless of the rain that we have had. Also the trees tend to have wet and dry sections, so I have to select, cut, stack and burn or let dry, accordingly.


----------



## abohac (Mar 18, 2008)

*Dead Trees*



hill said:


> This will be the first year I will actually have several cords of wood cut and seasoned. Up to this point I have been cutting and burning either standing dead or dead ones that have fallen with zero season time. I've never had any problems getting the wood to burn, but my question is this....are standing dead trees or laying dead trees considered seasoned?



Heck yes they are seasoned, if they are truly dead. I cut a ton of dead elm (no bark at all) and it goes straight into the furnace. Burns great.


----------



## Dirttracker (Mar 19, 2008)

Standing dead elm works very well in my OWB. I usually cut the trees a year or 2 (or more) after the bark has peeled and never have a problem with burning the wood. The first several feet of the trunk are a bit wet sometimes, but it dries fine in a month or so when it is split into halves/quarters. Elm is the only standing dead wood I have experience with, so take this for what its worth in your situation. I heat my house almost exclusively with standing dead elm that I cut in the fall.


----------



## jimsfirewood (Mar 19, 2008)

If the bark is loose or off, the upper 3/4 of the tree will usually be dry but the 1st 6 feet of trunk usually still has too much moisture to burn. If you split those, they dry fast however. If you wait too long with standing dead trees, the stem gets punky or wood ants get into it. Some trees make a nicer result as standing dead than cut green eg red elm. Be extra careful when dropping those dead trees, the dead branches make them dangerous.


----------

