Cutting wood in winter.

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whotheguy

New Member
Dec 22, 2009
81
Idaho
I recently acquired a wood stove that I will hopefully be putting in my garage for woodworking purposes. That's a whole other question as my post in
a different forum thread is creating a lot of trouble for me. I'm sure it will get worked out fine though.

Okay, I live in Idaho and I have access to plenty of trees for cutting....snow levels on the ground being the only problem.

We have a lot of trees here that have been hit with bark beatles. These trees are dead on the hoof and dry. I cut one up a couple weeks ago and it was ready to go right then. But what do you all think should I cut something a bit green, are we talking serious time for it to dry? Like I mentioned, I can cut a lot of trees that look like skeletons but if I get one that's a pinch wet I'm certainly not going to leave it.

Thanks all!!!

Robert
 
If there a lot I would stick to the dead stuff for as long as you can its just better stuff to have wait til spring on the green.


" garage for woodworking purposes" if this is the case it is no longer a garage its a shop whole new set of rules... hope that helps
 
I think the only problem I would have is most of it is Ponderosa Pine. I'm thinking I would need to burn a mix of other stuff to help keep residue and stuff down. Although, I would guess that most of this pine is at least 2-3 years old due to how dry it is even being in tree form. And I haven't noticed much sap, at least since it's cold.

However, I spend about a month living out of an outfitter tent while I'm hunting and that's all the kind of wood I cut while there for the stove in the tent. I do notice a bit more sap during that time which is mainly mid-October through mid-November. I will admit I occasionaly cut up lodgepole, but mainly that's for splitting for kindling.

Robert
 
so is your screen name w-hot-he-guy or who-the-guy? j/k

it's probably a good thing it's pine. I'd try burn the more deader stuff firstest.
 
whotheguy said:
I think the only problem I would have is most of it is Ponderosa Pine. I'm thinking I would need to burn a mix of other stuff to help keep residue and stuff down. Although, I would guess that most of this pine is at least 2-3 years old due to how dry it is even being in tree form. And I haven't noticed much sap, at least since it's cold.

However, I spend about a month living out of an outfitter tent while I'm hunting and that's all the kind of wood I cut while there for the stove in the tent. I do notice a bit more sap during that time which is mainly mid-October through mid-November. I will admit I occasionally cut up lodgepole, but mainly that's for splitting for kindling.

Robert
Click to expand...
I can't imagine burning Lodgepole pine! We pay premium prices for it out here in the Indiana land. Of course we aren't burning it though :) I would love the opportunity to go out there and cut my own poles someday.
 
Danno77 said:
so is your screen name w-hot-he-guy or who-the-guy? j/k

it's probably a good thing it's pine. I'd try burn the more deader stuff firstest.
Click to expand...

Oh, it's plenty dead. Just looking at it wrong would light up. Seriously, it takes next to nothing to get this stuff going. I burn it in my hunting tent with zero problems.
 
webby3650 said:
whotheguy said:
I think the only problem I would have is most of it is Ponderosa Pine. I'm thinking I would need to burn a mix of other stuff to help keep residue and stuff down. Although, I would guess that most of this pine is at least 2-3 years old due to how dry it is even being in tree form. And I haven't noticed much sap, at least since it's cold.

However, I spend about a month living out of an outfitter tent while I'm hunting and that's all the kind of wood I cut while there for the stove in the tent. I do notice a bit more sap during that time which is mainly mid-October through mid-November. I will admit I occasionally cut up lodgepole, but mainly that's for splitting for kindling.

Robert
Click to expand...
I can't imagine burning Lodgepole pine! We pay premium prices for it out here in the Indiana land. Of course we aren't burning it though :) I would love the opportunity to go out there and cut my own poles someday.
Click to expand...

I'm here to tell ya, lodgepole is everywhere and it costs nothing except bar oil and gas to cut. I'm not hardly kidding my friend, it's just so abundant. Only problem I have is I do a lot of up and down motion with the saw for what seems like eternity to get a good load. Should you ever head out west my way, look me up, we will go cut some lodgepole for sure.

What do people in IN do with lodgepole, fences and posts? That seems to be the primary usage here in Idaho.

Robert
 
If you notice my Avatar, we use them for our Tipi's. Several family members have one, it is a fun hobby.
 
And some use them for their lodges at Native American gatherings like the long trip to Arizona earlier this year carting 3 tipis.
 

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whotheguy said:
I think the only problem I would have is most of it is Ponderosa Pine. I'm thinking I would need to burn a mix of other stuff to help keep residue and stuff down. Although, I would guess that most of this pine is at least 2-3 years old due to how dry it is even being in tree form. And I haven't noticed much sap, at least since it's cold.

However, I spend about a month living out of an outfitter tent while I'm hunting and that's all the kind of wood I cut while there for the stove in the tent. I do notice a bit more sap during that time which is mainly mid-October through mid-November. I will admit I occasionaly cut up lodgepole, but mainly that's for splitting for kindling.

Robert
Click to expand...

Robert, if that stuff is dead, you should have no "residue and stuff" to keep down. Lots of folks out there are burning the same thing. The trees are dead so you may as well make use of them however you can and burning them in a stove is an excellent way to do so.

Probably when you are out on a hunt, the outfitters just cut that wood that summer so it hasn't had much time to dry. We used to cut all our wood the day we got to camp and got along fine, although it was not pine we burned. We burned mostly
cherry or ash.

Out there you have the pine beetles. Here we have the ash borers wrecking havoc with our ash trees. I'll give you three guesses as to what we are cutting now.
 
whotheguy said:
I recently acquired a wood stove that I will hopefully be putting in my garage for woodworking purposes. That's a whole other question as my post in
a different forum thread is creating a lot of trouble for me. I'm sure it will get worked out fine though.

Okay, I live in Idaho and I have access to plenty of trees for cutting....snow levels on the ground being the only problem.

We have a lot of trees here that have been hit with bark beatles. These trees are dead on the hoof and dry. I cut one up a couple weeks ago and it was ready to go right then. But what do you all think should I cut something a bit green, are we talking serious time for it to dry? Like I mentioned, I can cut a lot of trees that look like skeletons but if I get one that's a pinch wet I'm certainly not going to leave it.

Thanks all!!!

Robert
Click to expand...

The top halves of long dead standers are usually dry enough to burn, the bottom halves will dry quickly once sawed and split (can't give you a number but it should be pretty quick in ID).
 
Yup, what Bigg_Redd says...ditto to that.

...as long as you have dead trees I'd cut them 1st. But be mindful that if you DO plan on cutting live trees NOW is the best time to at least lay them down while the sap in down in the roots.

For us it's been a great winter for cutting so far...minimum snow allowed the ground to freeze over somewhat. I just got back in from hauling an ice storm fallen ash to our log staging area. Kept my head on a constant swivel because of the wind...I just hate going into the woods when it's windy and only do it when the situation dictates it be done like today.

Was going to cut some dead fallen poplar to burn right away but thought better of it.
 
If it's dead and dry...burn it. If it's live and wet... cut it, split it and burn it next year!
 
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