What are You'ins burning for the Winter of 2014?

[Dusty Rhodes]

I've been scheming on how I'll fill the woodshed this year and was going through the list of what I have for wood for next winter. Since I work the wood shed from front to back in both bays I like to fill it with a mind of when I'll likely get into certain wood at various times during the winter. The variety of wood I have to choose from changes a little from year to year depending on what I've gotten on my mountain runs and my scrounging efforts. Never have exactly the same collection of woods from year to year but always seem to have certain ones. For example last year I had very little locust but this year I have a good amount, some years I have some white ash some years none. Here's my list for the winter of 2014. Hickory, Red Oak, Chestnut Oak, Black (sweet) Birch, and Red Maple. Usually I have some Cherry, Elm, Ash and White Oak but it just did not happen this year. Seems odd but I am not complaining as I have a lot of great wood to fill the shed with. I have the volume I need (8 cord) but not the diversity I usually have. Guess my only shoulder season wood next year will be the Red Maple. What will you'ins be burning next winter?

 

[Whitespider]

Firewood

 

[Whitespider]

OK, seriously then...
Something like 70% of what I have stacked and seasoned is Bur Oak, 10% is Sugar Maple, and the remaining 20% is a hodge-podge of American Elm, Red Elm, Black Cherry, Hackberry, Silver Maple and Black Walnut... and I'll likely cut some 3-4 cord of standing-dead elm this fall just before fire-up. I don't get overly concerned about keeping it all sorted and such... I just save the oak and Red Elm for cold mid-winter, the rest just gets tossed in the firebox as it comes off the piles.

 

[DTB]

White, Red, Chestnut, and some Pin Oak, some Hickory, Black Locust, Cherry, Apple, Osage Orange, Beech, Holly, Mulberry, Maple (Medium) and (Gum-Yuck!). :msp_biggrin:

 

[RiverRocket]

I separate most of my wood in different categories
usually Maple,Ash and Cherry get stacked together
then Locust, Oak, Hickory and Elm stacked together
I like to use the Maple stack spring and fall or in the morning to get fast heat and I use the Locust stack during the cold months

 

[Cheesecutter]

I have a mix of elm oak box elder soft maple and pine to start out with. Then I'll switch to a hackberry elm ash box elder mix until it gets to about 10 degrees then I've got red oak hard maple and red elm mix. Then as it warms up again I've got ash willow box elder walnut hackberry and cherry. At least that's the plan for now.

 

[Gavman]

Douglas Fir and some Maple, plus pine if she's a cold one, Pine is at the bottom of the stack:msp_biggrin:

 

[greendohn]

I've more diversity this year than in the past.
Hickory, ash, walnut, cherry, mulberry, oak and hedge, as usual. The oak and hickory are more plentiful this year and I've started bringing home woods i generally wouldn't, haven't bothered with.
Sycomore is a new one to me and I have laid up several truck loads. Same with cottonwood and soft maple. The plan is to use these as shoulder wood. And,,,hard MAPLE.. I know hard maple is a good firewood but I have generally passed on it over the years because they were so doggone big and gnarly. Not any more! As a scrounger I'm getting over being a wood snob and just about anything is going on the truck these days!
It all burns better than snowballs.

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

The current system I have now works out pretty well for me. That being, all my lower BTU burning wood gets stacked up on one side of the house. This year it'll be poplar, red maple, cottonwood (I think) and some white ash. Everything on the backside of the house is where all the higher BTU stuff goes. This is probably about 95% oak (a mix of red, white, and chestnut) some black locust, and some sugar maple. Now I know the ash burns almost as hot as the oak, problem was I was running out of room on the backside of the house. So there it stayed.

 

[Blazin]

Maple, cherry, ash, oak, yellow birch, hemlock, and pine....not necessarily in that order.

 

[CTYank]

Special supply this year of Apple, Black Birch & Beech on top of the usual (N. Red Oak, Black Locust, Black Cherry, White Ash), with small shoulder-season supply of mongrel-wood.

Some of the Oak will be about ready, after 2 summers in the sun. No rush.

 

[TonyK]

On the menu for this season is White Birch and Ash on the shoulder followed by a main course of Shagbark Hickory, Eastern Hophornbeam, Oak and Hard Maple. I am out of Linden for a starter so I will not be having junk food served this year.

 

[Fred Wright]

2014.... that's the 3rd stack over, close to the sheds.

It's all willow oak and red maple. I didn't cut any gums for that stack. The gums, sweet and black are mixed into the 2013 stacks. Should be an education, seeing how much wood we burn with black gum in the mix.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

It's interesting to see what others are burning, quite a diversity. Had to laugh at CT's comment on Mongrel wood, I usually have some of that myself but not this year. I suppose it could still happen but too late to be dropping green stuff for this winter, Unless its standing dead what I cut this summer will have to wait till 2015 or beyond. Took a look at a mulberry that is on a building this afternoon but it is beyond my skills, the guy will have to hire a pro to take it out. It's a fair sized tree at about 18" DBH and partially uprooted. Guess I will have to wait for another opportunity to try some mulberry Funny how if people know you cut firewood they also assume your some kind of pro logger or arborist... Not.

 

[Fifelaker]

I usually keep only two woods for winter and they are white and red oak. Now for spring, summer, fall I will burn everything else. Pine, poplar, cedar, ash....

 

[FLHX Storm]

The first thing I'll burn this coming season will be a good portion of the poplar as well as dig into the variety of shorts n uglies of everything I've felled last season. (poplar, black birch, black locust, red and white oak) Then I'll dig into some of the red oak because as in winter past there will be a cold snap. But just in case there is a bunch of black locust sitting off to the side for a just in case. When I finish off the row of red oak, I have red maple stacked on top of more black locust because if this winter is like last, it's going to be fricken cold n nasty at the end of the season.

N funny thing, all of that wood is stacked in the shed which is furthest from the house.

 

[aaron]

Ash, Mulberry, & Locust

 

[RPrice]

Must be nice to have access to the variety, especially the hardwoods!!! Here in the Northern Rockies, we don't have much to choose from, and it's pretty much all soft woods, such as Aspen, Doug Fir, ponderosa pine, and the most popular, Lodge pole pine. Doug Fir has a slightly higher BTU rating than Lodge pole, but is generally less available (at least where I've been cutting).

When I lived in Utah and Nevada I cut a lot of Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), which is hard on chains with stringy, dirty bark. But, the BTU rating was higher than any of the pines. I also cut Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius), which even exceeds btu ratings for most, if not all eastern hardwoods. This species grows here in Idaho but it is really not accessible growing in scattered stands on very steep hillsides.

So, I cut lodge pole which is very available due to the ravages of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) during the past several years! I just have to stack and burn more volume than you guys with access to the hardwoods.

As a matter of fact I cut a cord today, on Father's Day!! It was 50 degrees, and I was dodging snow drifts up in "the hills". Too much fun.

 

[H 2 H]

Cedar; Maple; Hemlock; Fir and Alder

That's what I have cut up right now

 

[Wood Doctor]

Ash, Mulberry, & Locust

+1. Then add walnut and red elm to my list as well. Some how or another I also stumbled onto a marvelous truckload of hard maple. It's almost as dense as locust. Last year I ran into some as well, but this year's hard maple "crop" is a bit different. I can split it almost immediately. Last year's hard maple was almost impossible to split until after three months of drying in the round during heavy drought conditions.

There are several varieties of hard maples, so I guess I wandered into another one. I'm not complaining. I guess I'm bragging. :biggrinbounce2: