Am I Obsessed...???

[HisTreeNut]

I have been told I am obsessed with wood and might be too particular.
My older brother came down for a visit and was able to rent a splitter for the weekend but is only having to pay for one day. He had the kids move all the wood rounds into a big pile so he could split it.
I get home & see the big pile of split wood & wood needing to be split, and asked, "You are keeping the oak & pine separated right?" and to which my wife said to him, "I told you he was going to say that! You saw how the wood is on the pallets."
My brother said, "It doesn't matter because both woods take 2 years to season. I said, "No, pine takes 12-18 months and oak takes 2-3 years. And now I am going to have to sort the wood either before it gets stacked or as it gets stacked because the kids don't know the difference between the two that well yet. Also, I don't care to sort wood after it is split. It wastes too much time." He said, "It's not a big deal to sort wood."
I said, " I know it is not, but the trees were already sorted by the tree service. Al the pine was here, and all the oak was there. We just had to cut the pine, then cut the oak. The kids could have been stacking it all along once a pile was made. You created more work than what was needed."
The response, "You"re a little obsessed and too particular."
Am I really???

 

[Ashful]

So, let me understand this. Your brother rents a splitter, and spends a weekend splitting wood for you, and you're giving him a hard time about how he sorts it?

I stack all species together, and give them all three years to season. That said, I only split hardwoods, and would never waste my time on a low-BTU wood like pine.


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[Sconnie Burner]

I'm a mixer too. But will seperate the softer woods from the hardwoods, not by species though. Pine is for the fire pit. Cottonwood, boxelder, and poplar go together. Silver maple, birch, and cherry go together. White oak, red oak, red elm, and white elm, and sugar maple go together.

I'm staying far enough ahead that all wood gets 3 summers to dry. I tried to seperate by species and just kept ending up with too many half filled stacks taking up way too much space. Most of my wood has been scrounged so its a mix to begin with or its one or 2 trucks loads of this and that.

I guess I would call myself semi-obsessed. Definitely wouldn't mix the oak and pine though.

 

[HisTreeNut]

Lots of smiley faces guys...a little tongue in cheek humor & brotherly banter there.
My brother, wifey, & I have been having a good chuckle over it.

 

[begreen]

I separate scarce dense hardwood from softwood, but more by btu value. Right now I am stacking an alder and doug fir mix on one side of the shed. The other side has locust and madrona with a smattering of holly and eucalyptus. Unless it is a very cold winter, 80% of the time we will be loading and burning from the softwood side.

 

[jatoxico]

If its a few splits here and there I don't bother. I'll just pull out what I want along the way but yeah, if its a decent amount I want the pine separate! I use it at certain times, for certain reasons. Tell him if he doesn't get his act together you're not going to allow him to split your wood for you any more!

 

[Lcback]

If someone is going to split my wood for me They can pile it how ever they please. And if my kids were old enough to stack for me. Man your living the good life!
I mix everything up. I like to have a little of everything in the house

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[HisTreeNut]

Generally, I just sort softwoods from the hardwoods. The only pallets that are one wood only are the pine pallets because the pine tree that fell on my property had a 36" diameter and was 50'-60'-ish tall. I will have enough shoulder wood for a couple of years now.

@begreen, how does eucalyptus & holly burn? I have tons of holly weeds on my property but a couple of holly trees we are not sure we want to keep yet. Won't get a lot of wood out of them but it might save their lives for a couple of years.

Tell him if he doesn't get his act together you're not going to allow him to split your wood for you any more!

I know the nerve of that guy...renting a splitter, cutting my wood any old way, and not the way I would do it! He's so lucky I am letting him continue to split my wood.

And if my kids were old enough to stack for me. Man your living the good life!

Isn't that why you have kids though, so they can do all the chores and parts of the to-do list you don't want to? I will be in my 60's before I may have to stack wood again...and hopefully the grandkiddos will want to help by then. It is a good life.

 

[johneh]

"You"re a little obsessed and too particular."
Am I really???

In one word YES

 

[StihlKicking]

I am particular with thing as well. That being said if someone wants to split my wood for me they can mix it however they want ![emoji28] I'll sort it out later.


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[Jay106n]

I generally do separate woods, but I don't go crazy with it. I just like to know what is what. However, I do like to mix in softwoods into my hardwood stacks, this way I always have some very dry softwoods for starting fires when I dig through the hardwood piles years from now.

So no, you're not obsessed, you just like it done a certain way. But with that said, the work was being done for you sooo yeah......take it for what it is and stack it.

Glad to see you guys got a laugh out of it though. Spending too much time on Hearth!

 

[firefighterjake]

Asking folks here about wood and whether you are obsessed is kinda like being in the nut house and asking the other patients if you are sane or not . . .

I mean . . .

a) we've had long debates on the merits of splitting wood with a splitter horizontally vs. vertically
b) we've had long debates on which brand chainsaw to buy
c) folks stop one step short of bar coding their wood piles, but often date them as to when they were cut, split and stacked
d) some folks have named their woodstove

Yeah . . . asking us if you are obsessed or not is akin to asking the crazy cat lady if there is such a thing as having too many cats in the home.

 

[billb3]

I
The response, "You"re a little obsessed and too particular."
Am I really???

You have a system that works.
They effed it up.
It's not the end of the world effed up .

I keep my oak, pine and everything else separate because picking and sorting from the pile in the dead coldest days of Winter sucks.
I also don't have a lot of oak right now ( for this coming Winter ) so have been rationing it for the overnite burn.

 

[TheAardvark]

Asking folks here about wood and whether you are obsessed is kinda like being in the nut house and asking the other patients if you are sane or not . . .

I mean . . .

a) we've had long debates on the merits of splitting wood with a splitter horizontally vs. vertically
b) we've had long debates on which brand chainsaw to buy
c) folks stop one step short of bar coding their wood piles, but often date them as to when they were cut, split and stacked
d) some folks have named their woodstove

Yeah . . . asking us if you are obsessed or not is akin to asking the crazy cat lady if there is such a thing as having too many cats in the home.

Asking folks here about wood and whether you are obsessed is kinda like being in the nut house and asking the other patients if you are sane or not . . .

I mean . . .

a) we've had long debates on the merits of splitting wood with a splitter horizontally vs. vertically
b) we've had long debates on which brand chainsaw to buy
c) folks stop one step short of bar coding their wood piles, but often date them as to when they were cut, split and stacked
d) some folks have named their woodstove

Yeah . . . asking us if you are obsessed or not is akin to asking the crazy cat lady if there is such a thing as having too many cats in the home.

I write dates on different stacks. It lets me be sure its seasoned 2 years with no doubts.

 

[Ashful]

Asking folks here about wood and whether you are obsessed is kinda like being in the nut house and asking the other patients if you are sane or not . . .

I mean . . .

a) we've had long debates on the merits of splitting wood with a splitter horizontally vs. vertically
b) we've had long debates on which brand chainsaw to buy
c) folks stop one step short of bar coding their wood piles, but often date them as to when they were cut, split and stacked
d) some folks have named their woodstove

Yeah . . . asking us if you are obsessed or not is akin to asking the crazy cat lady if there is such a thing as having too many cats in the home.

You skipped the most perennial of all wood stacking debates, bark up vs. bark down.

 

[begreen]

Holly burns great. It's nice firewood. Eucalyptus does too, but the thick limb wood is almost impossible to split. I just leave 4-5" limb wood unsplit and age it longer. It's high in oil content so be careful burning small splits. So far I have only burned limb wood that comes from trimming our huge tree. The limbs get huge and pendulous and need cutting back ever 5 yrs. Folks from down under would have more experience splitting and burning the trunk wood.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Yup. Too particular. But hey, if it makes you happy, do it!

While different woods season at different rates, I usually just stack all of mine for 1-3 years, mixed together. This gives me some match stick dry wood and then some that is less dry. I find that each day, having a mix of wood is beneficial, rather than having it separated out and having to manually mix the wood I am bringing in.

 

[jatoxico]

You skipped the most perennial of all wood stacking debates, bark up vs. bark down.

Nothing to debate, only one right choice.

 

[begreen]

Yer barking up the wrong tree! Go naked, no bark at all.

 

[jatoxico]

Yer barking up the wrong tree! Go naked, no bark at all.

Hippie!

 

[Poindexter]

I think i would let it slide, sort as i stacked, and buy the miscreant a nice Xmas gift, maybe a 30 yo scotch.

 

[johneh]

Hippie!

Flower child of the 60s Woodstock for ever

 

[HisTreeNut]

I think i would let it slide, sort as i stacked, and buy the miscreant a nice Xmas gift, maybe a 30 yo scotch.

He is a miscreant... Doesn't like scotch, and not a beer drinker either...Likes wine coolers of all things.
We will be celebrating his birthday & I figured I smoke a pork butt on the grill & get the wifey to make him a carrot cake, which is his favorite.
Speaking of wood...behold the power of the mighty, mighty Fiskars! ! !

Actually, not the Fiskars, bur the rented 22 ton splitter. He started at noon & I jumped in after I ate lunch after Church. About 8 hours later with s small break for dinner, done but for a couple of rounds that were heavy and wetter than anything.
Going after some pallets tomorrow... Gonna be stacking.

 

[Jags]

I think this is a "teaching moment". You need to have him practice more frequently.

 

[StihlKicking]

Asking folks here about wood and whether you are obsessed is kinda like being in the nut house and asking the other patients if you are sane or not . . .

I mean . . .

a) we've had long debates on the merits of splitting wood with a splitter horizontally vs. vertically
b) we've had long debates on which brand chainsaw to buy
c) folks stop one step short of bar coding their wood piles, but often date them as to when they were cut, split and stacked
d) some folks have named their woodstove

Yeah . . . asking us if you are obsessed or not is akin to asking the crazy cat lady if there is such a thing as having too many cats in the home.

Hi I'm Michael and my heaters name is Timothy............