Out of Wood? What to do?

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Jon_E

Jon_E

Burning Hunk
Feb 24, 2014
135
SW VT
Out of firewood as of this coming Saturday. I have several choices:

1. Dig through the snow to find last year's log length pine and poplar, cut to length, burn. MC probably off the meter. No cost but a lot of time and effort. Probably mostly frozen too.
2. Cut down dead ash tree near driveway. Burn what seems dry-ish. Same problem with MC. Probably a cord of wood in it, it's a forked tree with 4 stems and 16-18" DBH.
3. Burn perfectly good pallets that were set aside for stacking next year's wood on. Don't have enough to last the season. Probably 30 pallets available.
4. Go to Tractor Supply and hope they have a pallet of EcoBricks or similar compressed sawdust available. Spend $.
5. Buy cut, split and probably green firewood, burn it now. Spend $.
6. I know of a sawmill that has huge bundles of pine slabs for near zero $. Still need to transport, cut and stack. Also probably dead green.
7. Turn switch on OWB to propane, walk away and prepare to write a big check to Suburban Propane in the spring.

I'm really opposed to spending money, but with all the snow we still have, numbers 1-3 seem like crappy options.

Given the circumstances, what would you do? I probably need a full cord of wood to get me into April, which is when the whole process starts again, but at least by that time I should be able to harvest wood without so much snow on the ground.

And 8. DO NOT do this again. Fill the damn woodshed before September.
 
3-4-7-2 . . . the times they are a-changing. It may not seem like it now, but soon we'll be getting the warmer days (with the cool nights) and the pallets supplemented perhaps with some bio logs may be enough to get by until Spring.
 
Jon_E said:
Out of firewood as of this coming Saturday. I have several choices:

1. Dig through the snow to find last year's log length pine and poplar, cut to length, burn. MC probably off the meter. No cost but a lot of time and effort. Probably mostly frozen too.
2. Cut down dead ash tree near driveway. Burn what seems dry-ish. Same problem with MC. Probably a cord of wood in it, it's a forked tree with 4 stems and 16-18" DBH.
3. Burn perfectly good pallets that were set aside for stacking next year's wood on. Don't have enough to last the season. Probably 30 pallets available.
4. Go to Tractor Supply and hope they have a pallet of EcoBricks or similar compressed sawdust available. Spend $.
5. Buy cut, split and probably green firewood, burn it now. Spend $.
6. I know of a sawmill that has huge bundles of pine slabs for near zero $. Still need to transport, cut and stack. Also probably dead green.
7. Turn switch on OWB to propane, walk away and prepare to write a big check to Suburban Propane in the spring.

I'm really opposed to spending money, but with all the snow we still have, numbers 1-3 seem like crappy options.

Given the circumstances, what would you do? I probably need a full cord of wood to get me into April, which is when the whole process starts again, but at least by that time I should be able to harvest wood without so much snow on the ground.

And 8. DO NOT do this again. Fill the damn woodshed before September.
Click to expand...
I am in favor of #4. Save the good wood for next season. I have the same problem. Used up all my great wood and now I am running the rest of the season on Envi Blocks and Pallet wood.
 
Probably 7 followed by 4. Might want to call Suburban and see what the market price is right now. I've been getting propane for $1.69/gal in PA (not sure what it is up there). Propane might actually be cheaper than Envi blocks.
 
Burn the pallets, you're outta wood to stack on them anyway. Seriously they're easy enough to replace.
 
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Cut down the dead ash tree and cut up the pallets. The limbs/branches are probably dry enough, or close to it, and mixed in with cut up pallets it should burn okay.
 
jeffesonm said:
Cut down the dead ash tree and cut up the pallets. The limbs/branches are probably dry enough, or close to it, and mixed in with cut up pallets it should burn okay.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. The ash is probably okay on the top half to burn now. If you mixed in some dry pallet wood or some saw dust bricks from tractor supply it would probably be okay.

Then switch over the propane. Hopefully the ash tree and pallets will get you another week or two and then maybe the temps will start changing. Solar heat in windows helps me a lot.
 
7
4
2
Switch to propane, and work on next year, go look for Ecoblocks if you need to burn something but in my area the price is back up to 3.49 per 3 pack.
Cut down the Ash and save all of it(limbs too) and stack it on the pallets for next year.
Cutting pallets up is a total PITA.
Fuel prices arent that bad this year, propane has got to be close to fuel oil in cost. Cheapest Ive seen in years.
 
Combo of 4 & 7 and start working on 1 & 2 as soon as possible to be out front with really dry wood for next year.
 
If it was me and faced with those options, the savings of burning wood would quickly be outweighed by the effort to save. Can't you just turn on the heat?
 
I have burned fresh cut and 2 month CSS ash with no ill effects in my gasser
 
2 and also 6. Both the Ash tree and the pine scraps might be good this year, and if not will be a head start on next year.
 
sportbikerider78 said:
If it was me and faced with those options, the savings of burning wood would quickly be outweighed by the effort to save. Can't you just turn on the heat?
Click to expand...

Yes - but only because it is an effort to collect wood at this point. If there wasn't still 18-24" of snow on the ground, I'd be hunting standing dead in the woods.

Of course, now I'm having problems with my gas burner. I think my igniter's burned up. One problem after another.
 
Check your propane prices, you may be pleasantly surprised.

TE
 
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Number 6 is my vote. I buy some slabs of wood from a mill near my house on occasion. It is cheap (about $100 for a cord) and has been sitting around their yard for one or two years (dry). They will even cut it to length for me and deliver. I get fir though, not pine. Pine is fine though if dry - get your mm and go check it out. If its dry and cheap, that's what I would do.
 
I'm in your shoes too. I have about a cord of not-ready-for-prime-time oak left I could burn but decided to let the propane burn overnight, burn pallets in the am before leaving for work, let the sun and propane take over till I arrive home and burn pallets again until I go to bed. I can cut up a pallet pretty quick with a cheap jigsaw and rough-cut blade. Propane's cheap so I don't feel bad about kicking the furnace on but burning that wet oak would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
 
i say scrounge around your old wood pile for whatever you can find (i could probably clean up damn near a weeks worth of burning from around my processing area) and cut down that standing dead ash. store as much of it inside as you can to try and dry it out, mix in the pallet scraps and burn it. this week is supposed to warm up nicely, so maybe use a nice day or two to go find that cord of decent standing dead.
don't spend money till you've burned the grass in your front yard.

Is getting a half a cord from a friend an option? i barter in firewood all the time.
 
Three words. Salvation Army furniture.
 
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This winter has got a lot of us scraping the bottom of the barrel. I know I'm past my expected usage.
 
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