MRCONRAN
ArboristSite Member
Just curious if you were out of wood (I'm not) and you could choose green hardwood or dry seasoned soft wood which would you take?
Which One?
- Thread starter MRCONRAN
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wdchuck
Addicted to ArboristSite
Lets qualify the answer;
If out of wood, and the heating season is not over, then dry wood, even if it's softwood.
If NOT for the current heating season, then green hardwood.
The exception, ASH, this particular wood has pretty good heating/burning characteristics whether seasoned or green.
If out of wood, and the heating season is not over, then dry wood, even if it's softwood.
If NOT for the current heating season, then green hardwood.
The exception, ASH, this particular wood has pretty good heating/burning characteristics whether seasoned or green.
MRCONRAN
ArboristSite Member
Thats what I would take. Someone from canada once told me that all they have to burn for wood in the far north is soft wood. I think it would burn okay as long as it was dry. Some folks here use slab wood, hemlock and pine from local mills. I just ran out of dry wood to sell. I have plenty for my own use. Currently I have hickory, hard maple and a lot of oak to sell but it's all very green.
habanero
ArboristSite Guru
Even though softwood has fewer btu's than the hardwood, by the time you factor in the heat it will take to evaporate the water from the unseasoned hardwood it is pretty much a wash. I'd take the seasoned softwood any day.
TooTall999
ArboristSite Operative
If I needed heat now,seasoned dry wood over green wood anytime.Around here the most common woods are either soft woods (jack pine,tamarack ) or lower grade hard woods (Poplar,white birch) there are limited quantities of oak around,but harder to find.I have a part-time logger friend that supplies me with 6-7 cords of standing dead jack pine every year.Nice and dry,and burns great in my indoor wood boiler.
1CallLandscape
ArboristSite Operative
id take the softwood if it were real dry but ......if the green wood was locust then id take that hands down burns great green but a little smokey.
wahoowad
ArboristSite Operative
people who think softwood creates more creosote more than likely already have smoke spilling out their chimney all the time, soft or hard wood. Those old school "damper her all the way down" folk are a bit too country 
MRCONRAN
ArboristSite Member
You found me on the ebay. I just replyed to you message. I got the RMS loader from you. I gotta say I love it. I wish my land didn't have so many hills it's more than the JD1530 wants to pull on the steep ones. I have a 8000lb hydraulic winch that I am going to mount on the front this spring as soon as it gets too wet to work the woods. No fear then!!
enjoys cutting
ArboristSite Operative
dry soft wood for sure.most of what i burn is seasoned soft wood mostly spruce.with a good air tight stove soft wood lasts and heats fast.i just leave some of the pieces round for putting in especialy at night.
i'm glad its worked out well for you,if it's too much for your tractor. you can see how it would be with my atv
:bang: 
you just gotta learn"go lite go often" no problems. cheers ,william
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I ended up burning green ash the first winter I moved here. I wasn't a year ahead at that time. There was a chimney cap which had a screen on it. I assumed it was to keep birds and downdrafts out(trees all around that are much higher than the chimney). Well, it had gotten below zero and when the ash burned, the moisture went up the chimney, condensed on the cap, and fell back down the clay flues to the bottom of the chimney. 
When I went to clean out the chimney(I knew I would need to do it more often because of the green wood), the clean out was iced over. I had a block of ice that was 15" tall that kept me from cleaning out the creasote from the cleanout door. I had to bring out "big berta"--my propane torch and let it run against the ice for over an hour before I could start breaking the it up.
LESSON LEARNED: Stay away from green ash unless desperate and get rid of that dang cap!
Since then, not a problem.
I would burn dry softwood!
When I went to clean out the chimney(I knew I would need to do it more often because of the green wood), the clean out was iced over. I had a block of ice that was 15" tall that kept me from cleaning out the creasote from the cleanout door. I had to bring out "big berta"--my propane torch and let it run against the ice for over an hour before I could start breaking the it up.
LESSON LEARNED: Stay away from green ash unless desperate and get rid of that dang cap!
Since then, not a problem.
I would burn dry softwood!
