What should I do for the '12/'13 winter

Ash, soft maple, cherry, would be my suggestions... In that order.
Split small, single rows, plenty of wind and sun.
Good luck

Yep- ash, soft maple, cherry. Any chance you know another burner nearby who would trade some not-ready oak for some of their slightly-lesser but dry wood?

I'll open this reply up for comment but good for you for having some GREAT wood for 2014 and beyond with your sources for oak. For next year as peeps said I would try for some ash or birch as that will dry nicely over the summer but also look for some pine (pine is fine as long as its dry) and it will also dry nicely over the summer and if you have to use 2 pieces of pine with one piece of your oak if you have no choice. The nice hot pine fire will work on your oak for you - again not optimal but if its the best you have..... or buy some bio bricks and do them 2 bricks to one oak - or some pallet pieces to get a nice hot fire and then thrown in a piece of oak.Not sure how much oak you have but I find any wood dries quicker the shorter it is so if you can run that oak thru with a chainsaw or run it over a table saw and make it short it will dry quicker.
If you do burn that not dry enough oak be sure to clean your chimney frequently (monthly?) there's a forestry website out there that I found that states oak can create more creosote than pine so forget all those old myths about creosote- wet wood creates creosote and you need to deal with that- I use that Soot Eater gadget on the end of a monster drill monthly on my chimney only because I like it and it keeps things cleanI got thru my first year with buying "seasoned" wood that wasn't and bio bricks and pallet parts. Still here to tell the tale GL!

My first choices would be ash and soft maple. Burn the soft maple in the daytime and save the ash for nights. Soft maple dries super fast after it has been split. The ash won't be the absolute best but it will be burnable if you get it ASAP or sooner.

I agree soft maple is quick to season, and I have heard Ash is too (no personal experience with one-year old Ash). I would also ask your buddies for pine or spruce. Those are probably the easiest woods to get, since most people don't want them, and they dry very fast. i would split small - two or three inches thick, and stack in the open, and the wood should be good by fall. If you can get a mix of pine and spruce plus some Ash, Soft (Red or Silver) Maple, Elm, Birch, or other medium density, non-oak firewoods, you will be fine for next year. The only think wrong with softwood and lighter hardwoods is that they don't give the long burns of oak, but they burn hot and will keep you warm. I would definitely prefer dry softwood to wet oak.

Sycamore is like maple, drys pretty fast and likely tree services could be cutting some. It isn't the best wood but it burns ok. Oh, sometimes it doesn't split real easily though.

How about seeing if you can find some slab wood. It will dry very well over the summer if you get it cut to size and stacked. I burnt a fair amount of hard maple slabs this year and if you stack them in tight in the stove you can get a nice burn out of them.

Locust and ash would be my first choices.

Wood Duck said:

I agree soft maple is quick to season, and I have heard Ash is too (no personal experience with one-year old Ash).

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I think the Ash might be pretty good after a full year. Last year we stacked some at SILs' at the beginning of July and split small. It was still wet enough to hiss, show moisture on the split ends, and gunk up the glass in late Winter...

I have some sycamore that I have yet to burn, but I am surprised at how fast it has dried. My chart shows it's very close in btu to cherry.

Yup. If you can find Ash and get it split and stacked by June it will be in good shape by November Mike. As always, the more drying time the better. But many times I have burned Ash that was dried from late spring to late fall and it always burns well. There have been times I have burned it with less drying time than that as well. I was a little behind those times. Most guys that sell it up here say it will season well in 4 months. It is a great wood for quick seasoning and still give you good BTUs. Makes a good coal bed for that Wood Gun as well! Now, I always try to have it at least six months outside. I am trying to get a full year ahead, and then two full years ahead, now that I have this boiler and I am going through more wood from heating house, garage, and DHW. I think I have been through 8 full cord since October 1. Getting wood needs to become a higher priority.

Split it very small and stack loose. I would burn it!

White ash . . . cherry . . . white birch . . . softwoods . . . silver or red maple . . . get as soon as possible, split as soon as possible, loose stack as soon as possible.

If your buddies run across any standing deadwood, grab it . . .

Probably wouldn't hurt to start working on some kindling . . . pallets work well in helping to get a fire going with wood that may or may not be marginal.

infinitymike said:

Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be putting my request in for some ash, maple and cherry.

Actually last friday my friend called me and said he was taking down a maple, probably 1.5 cord.
I had to say no because I just wasn't set up to take it. I had to move 2 trailers in the driveway to get it where I normally process.
Believe me it was really hard to say no.
Oh well I should of had him dump it any way. It would have been a little more work but worth it.

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Send your friend my way!! I'm out of wood to split....I'd like to save him the dump fees...

I've found black birch to dry surprisingly quickly, and it burns great. It can be a bear to split, though, if it grew on the edge of a field or in a yard. Then it may have lots of knots and a nasty twist.