River Wood

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hempdiddy

hempdiddy

Member
Jan 27, 2014
22
Detroit, MI
Is it possible to burn wood harvested from logs lodged in the river behind my house? I have three 2' diameter dead trees that have been sitting in the river for years. Can these logs be dried out and used?

I have a stove insert that I'm focused on gathering fuel for this summer.
 
Im not sure how many btus you would get out of it for stove use. What i can say is we have a river that runs through our property. I have taken trees out of it before and after months of drying used them for bonfires with no problems. Cant remember how fast they burned but they did indeed burn. Maybe blend it in with better wood. One or two pieces here and there.
 
Isn't that sinker wood worth lots of bucks to sawmills? According to Ax Men, it's highly sought after.
 
Due to effort vs. reward there is probably little information on this and my best guess is it will depend on time in the water, relative water temps, species, etc... Give it a shot - you may find it is great and a great resource for you based on your location and ability to get I out.

I have been diving in Torch Lake and there is many lifetimes of old growth wood supply under those cold waters but I think if you could get it out you would be way further ahead selling the rare, highly sought after old growth sinkers.

Log jams not so much :)
 
Should be fine. You might be sharpening saw chains a lot if the wood has silt embedded in the logs. Semi-chisel chains will be better than full chisel. Split it up and let it dry and stick it in the stove.
 
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Several years ago I was given a whole soft maple that was downed the year before and sitting half submerged in a swamp. It was totally waterlogged when I split it up. A year and a half later the splits had dried out nicely and it burned fine.
 
If the wood is still solid and not punky, itll dry eventually just like any other wood
 
Phoenix Hatchling said:
Isn't that sinker wood worth lots of bucks to sawmills? According to Ax Men, it's highly sought after.
Click to expand...
bigbarf48 said:
If the wood is still solid and not punky, itll dry eventually just like any other wood
Click to expand...
Wood sitting a few fathoms deep in dark cold will be a far cry different than wood sitting at / near the surface. A tree fallen across a lake or stream will go punky and rot in short order. Decomposition of wood sunk deep will be extremely slow, particularly in salt or brackish water. Sunlight and oxygen are the enemy, when combined with water supply.
 
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