Slabwood??

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whatisup02

Member
Feb 3, 2012
164
MI
So I was looking on C-list and found something called slabwood... What is it? This guy can bring me a semi-load. Any good or leave it alone?
 
Slabwood is what saw mills cut off the log, the outside edges,when they square up the log to make lumber. So you get bark and some wood. Thickness of the wood varies. You shold get the load cheaper than you would for a load of cut and split firewood. Many mills in my area sell the slabwood.
 
Bigoak is right, you'll end up with a lot of bark in relation to the amount of wood you get. Slabwood works fine in my steam engine when I'm running on the saw mill, but then I'm not looking for any kind of efficiency and I need to clean my flues every day.
 
So maybe not so good for an indoor add-on
 
Lots of people burn slab wood indoors in a wood stove or insert. You will want to dry it out and not load too much of it at once into the stove because it is cut thin. The thin cuts mean a lot of surface area that lets gases escape faster than with normal cordwood, so you can overheat the stove if you're not careful. If it is a good price I'd go ahead and buy some and just be a little cautious when you first start burning it. Start with a few pieces mixed with your normal wood and work up from there. Some slabwood has several inches of good wood and that stuff is nice firewood. Other slabwood somes with only a little wood and mostly bark, and that is less nice for long burns although it still burns and is nice to heat the stove up when you are starting cold or reloading.
 
I'm considering buying some myself and I think it is just like any other wood...it needs to season. I would think if it was 'stickered' it should dry nicely, but I will leave that to the experts to decide as I'm still 'wet-behind-the-ears' with this stuff. Maybe it isn't worth it either.
Edit: Slower than Wood Duck : Seems like something worthwhile if the price is right then - hopefully free in my case?
 
+1 to Big Oak and WoodDuck's comments . . . I usually grab some myself every year . . . good for kindling and shoulder season fires . . . just don't stuff the firebox full of it or expect to get a nice, long burn time.

If the price is right it can be a good thing . . . a lot also depends on what type of wood they have. Around here it's mostly softwood, but depending on the place they may be processing mostly hardwood.
 
Time to go visit my buddy's mill then. Thanks for the info. and thanks for the OP for starting this thread as I was just about to 'Search'.
 
So I called the guy. $900 for 2 28 foot trailer loads stacked 7-8 feet tall to my house. He said "that's a lot of wood" lol.

I don't know if I would want that much of that stuff. That is a lot of wood
 
Why not go pick up some samples and burn them before committing to putting "Mt. Slabwood" next to your house?
 
Thats what Im going to do. Next year I will know if I like it or not.

DanCorcoran said:
Why not go pick up some samples and burn them before committing to putting "Mt. Slabwood" next to your house?
 
DanCorcoran said:
Why not go pick up some samples and burn them before committing to putting "Mt. Slabwood" next to your house?

One good reason would be that any slabs snagged now may not be dry enough to burn properly this season. Just saying ...

As to buying slabwood, consider that you'll have to devise and use a whole different procedure from what you use processing logs. At least, I know I did. Even only a couple inches thick, red oak took a loooooooong time to dry sufficiently, meaning that sorting is in order.
 
He said he has cut off's but I have to go get them. $20 a load in my 5x10 trailer.

Cut offs are short rounds right?

So I might go get me some slabwood and cut off this summer when I need something to do.
 
Dry a couple of bushels full in the house/basement. That'll tell you what you need to know, without waiting two years.
 
I used to burn slabs many years back but got out of the habit. Last year I found some that a guy had that were stacked for about 18 months from where they had logged his property. I really liked having them around and found another guy then close to home that was getting rid of a bunch of green slabs, so hauled a lot of those home last winter and am burning them this year. I picked up another 3 bundles of green slabs at the beginning of this winter and will use them next year. They burn great if seasoned just like any other wood. I like them to mix in so you can get the firebox full. They also are great for me in the evening if I get home later like 6. I can put quite a few in and get the house warmed up for the 11 o'clock load of normal firewood. Here's the ones for next winter. These about 8 to 10 foot long $45 dollars worth. I don't think I would want as much as you are talking about though.
 

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Those are much thicker than the aspen slabs that were available in SW Colorado, from a mill that made aspen wall siding.l I guess every location has different byproduct...another reason to test first.
 
Im going to get some but I wont know if I like it till next year as my add-on is not installed yet. Im just trying to get ahead on my wood, as I have learned from the nice people here.
 
cut offs are not short rounds generally,they are the end trimmings of the lumber from the trim saws used to cut the lumber to standard lenghts,usually 6 inches long at most,and usually between 4/4 and 8/4 in thickness,most mill run these peices to a chipper,but some dont have a chipper and find other markets for this material such as fire wood and such
 
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