Off the ground with covered racks I've had no problems with any species. Oak, Cherry, Hickory, Elm, Locust, One big ash went through the 5 year cycle a couple years ago, burned great. Been all the way around my racks 4 times? so far. Most trees I harvest of all species have already been dead a year or two
Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)
- Thread starter mainewoods
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Almost 3600 pages here on the scrounging thread without many if any problems. Except pictures don't load very fast.
I should be more specific - the EAB killed ash here is deteriorating rapidly while standing. That is what has the woodlot concerned with stockpiling for next season. Ordinarily, ash is great firewood. We don't have covered storage.
Ron
Ron
This ash log has was a dying tree taken down 2 years ago. It has been laying in my yard ever since. I have it slightly off the ground on small logs. Peeled bark off as it loosened. As you can see, it's still solid inside. As with all my wood, I will split and stack it off the ground either on skids or in racks. As long as it's off the ground it will last as long as I need it to.
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Nice looking ash you have there in Canada. For the last several years here in Tennessee, I have been cutting sound dying and dead ash:
Most of what I fell now never makes it to the woodlot. Prime example, solid at the base then potentially deadly junk (in the foreground is the top that broke off while I was at the cut), only the 15' base made firewood:
Some stems that are sound enough to buck and load later "explodes" on the splitter so I am told. There is plenty more I have already put on the ground and dozens I haven't gotten to yet. The question was raised this weekend as we close out our active season if bringing in more is waste of time and effort if it is going to turn to junk in the next 6 to 9 months. This is not an issue during the season as folks burn wood faster than we can cut and split it.
Ron
Most of what I fell now never makes it to the woodlot. Prime example, solid at the base then potentially deadly junk (in the foreground is the top that broke off while I was at the cut), only the 15' base made firewood:
Some stems that are sound enough to buck and load later "explodes" on the splitter so I am told. There is plenty more I have already put on the ground and dozens I haven't gotten to yet. The question was raised this weekend as we close out our active season if bringing in more is waste of time and effort if it is going to turn to junk in the next 6 to 9 months. This is not an issue during the season as folks burn wood faster than we can cut and split it.
Ron
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I worked on some of the storm damage trees today. The leaner is a 27" DBH maple that has a lifted root plate. If it were not for interlocking roots and the eastern red cedar it would have been on the ground all by itself. To get it to roll off the cedar and miss a small tree just out of the shot to the left I put the face cut about 80° to the left side of the lean as viewed from the back. I had to cut it goofy as it was leaning more than shown in the photo which was taken mid-February--I wasn't willing to work under it!
I used an open face cut, bore cut and a trigger to put it safely on the ground with little damage to the cedar and none to the small tree. It made a loud crack and slammed to the ground as soon as the trigger let go. The small tree in the foreground of the first photo was swatted by the tree with the happy stump which can be seen to the right of the leaner. There are some miscellaneous piles of rotting wood from previous damage clean up to the left and right in the first photo and behind the trunk in the second. The recent damage is mostly going to become firewood... white pine, cedar, and maple brush excluded.
I used an open face cut, bore cut and a trigger to put it safely on the ground with little damage to the cedar and none to the small tree. It made a loud crack and slammed to the ground as soon as the trigger let go. The small tree in the foreground of the first photo was swatted by the tree with the happy stump which can be seen to the right of the leaner. There are some miscellaneous piles of rotting wood from previous damage clean up to the left and right in the first photo and behind the trunk in the second. The recent damage is mostly going to become firewood... white pine, cedar, and maple brush excluded.
First fire in the new Kuuma sauna stove. Lots of smoke in the initial burn off but it cured pretty quickly.
Might have to chain up the scrounge locating tool if this keeps up…
Politics and wood Scrounging don’t mix. There is a long list of things that do mix with wood scrounging .
At the old CEI coal plant here they would push rail cars onto a big turn table over top of a massive pit that fed the boilers. The turn table would flip the rail car upside down to dump the coal. The whole process took less than 3 minutes start to finish. The bull gears that ran the table were massive. It was impressive to watch.
My comment on the semi was more in speculation of how long would an engine run at that angle before it starved itself of oil. I'm sure there are procedures in place to help prevent that from ever happening, but where there's humans involved there's bound to be errors.
It's a tough call on the ash. For me it's almost tree specific as to what I haul back to the splitter. From your pic^^^ I would think the only problem might be wood on the very bottom of your piles that may deteriorate. The logs from your other pics don't look to bad. Maybe try stacking them in alternating crisscrossed layers for air flow till processed.
Woodlot like that doesn't stack, just conveyor it into a pile. Sketchy wood will continue to rot in the interior and low areas. Wood doesn't really dry well in heaps like this. I see a lot of this locally and I get it, I wouldn't stack it either because it doesn't pay to. The end user should be buying a year ahead and stacking to ensure properly seasoned/dry wood. Most don't however, I see that a lot too. Folks complaining about not being able to get any heat from that newfangled stove. Chimney fires etc.
eab is here as well but not as bad as south of here, yet. Pretty much all the logging is ash, trying to cut them before the borer gets them. Firewood processors should stay away from dead standing. All the wood guys here get fresh from the woods. Dead standing is for guys like me.
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eab is here as well but not as bad as south of here, yet. Pretty much all the logging is ash, trying to cut them before the borer gets them. Firewood processors should stay away from dead standing. All the wood guys here get fresh from the woods. Dead standing is for guys like me.
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The woodlot is a charity that currently serves 349 families. No charge is made. The burn rate during the season is greater than the input. Seasoning from April until November is the best it gets. Much goes out soon after it comes in. We don’t have enough help to stockpile much. This is why dead ash has been so desirable until now.
Thanks for the comments.
Ron
Thanks for the comments.
Ron
Very cool, would be interesting to hear how that works.
Agreed. That is a huge undertaking.
I will reply in a few days - too much to say using a cell phone while on break.
Ron
Ron
reminds me of the big oak had to take down couple weeks ago....https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/firewood-prosizer-laser-firewood-measuring-tool.353172/
Finally got to try out my laser chainsaw! Here's the link to Philbert's thread where I posted my thoughts on it. Haven't run my ms460 since my surgery last year. Fired right up on the 8th pull and second curse word! Felt great to give it a run in the big ash log.
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dry is the key! i have some split oak that is over 30 years old. been dry all that time. still burns with a vengance... some of my older exposed wood - outdoor use only
22 cords! impressive pix ggg. thanks for posting it. glad i happened upon it, too....
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