Best Season to Fell

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bpirger

Minister of Fire
May 23, 2010
632
Ithaca NY Area
Is there a clear best time of year to fell trees for firewood, from a water content point of view? I'd think winter is best....though I see no lack of professional hardwood timber cutting in the summer. Best time for skidding would be frozen ground and light snowfall. That might be 1 week of the year! LOL Though this year it might be longer...if the ground would stay frozen and snow would come!

Is spring cutting going to give the wettest wood? No leaves is easier as well.

So perhaps my question is also, is there a known amount of increased moisture content in Spring cutting, before the leaves arrive?
 
I don't have an answer to your question. I cut as much firewood as possible whenever I have the chance. I think it's more important to process the wood and get it stacked and have a long drying time. Right now is always the best time to cut wood no matter what time of the year.

Actually, I am skidding a lot of wood now because of the ice/snow on the ground soooo now is a great time to cut wood!
 
Hi -

I really don't think I've noticed a difference. The Emerald Ash Bore has lilled plenty of trees for me these last 6 years but the ocassional Maple, Oak, etc... that I take all seems to act about the same.

I do like to slpit any green trees right away, especially so for those cut in March or April.

Mike
 
I think there must be more water content in the wood in spring and summer. However I don't think it would make a big difference and I wouldn't wait until fall to cut firewood if I had time in spring or summer. You'll always be farther ahead cutting as soon as possible than you would be waiting until the season when wood reaches optilmal moisture content. For the sake of the forest floor I think winter cutting over frozen ground has the big advantage of far fewer ruts in the forest floor created when you haul the wood. Rutting up the forest floor can allow invasive plants to take hold - you rarely see invasive plants in undisturbed forest floor. Probably summer and fall are second choice and spring the worst time to move wood, at least in the east where spring is generally the muddiest time of the year.
 
Winter. Less moisture on your brow and cleaner wood. Easier access on frozen ground.
 
I agree with all of the above - the best time is when wood is available and you just cannot have too much firewood. I prefer winter for the temp and frozen ground to do as much cutting and hauling. I am of the belief you can always put more clothes on but in the summer you cannot take enough off!! I hate the heat of summer and would rather have 90+% of my wood at least in the open yard ready to be CSSed by spring. I just don't want to be in the woods hunting those piles of bucked logs in July regardless of moisture content.
 
I like it when the leaves are off the trees. I hate dealing with brush, and brush with the extra weight of leaves is even worse.
 
Not how I understood this but what I found in researching:
From Professor Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
It is correct that the MC of a living tree does not change more than 2% from season to season. However, as noted, the moisture does move more in some seasons than others.

The movement is in reference to sapwood vs capillaries. So it appears you can cut whenever you want. For me, it is mostly about the spiders. Winter time you don't find spiders. Winter is when I cut the most.
 
I heard somewhere that if you cut a tree down in the summer and leave the branches/leaves on it until the leaves wilt that the leaves will pull a significant amount of moisture out of the wood - something like 30%. Makes the wood lighter to haul out of the woods.
 
I have seen trees scored at the base with a saw. That may be exactly what they were doing; killing the tree but leaving it standing to dry out like that.
 
BobUrban said:
I agree with all of the above - the best time is when wood is available and you just cannot have too much firewood. I prefer winter for the temp and frozen ground to do as much cutting and hauling. I am of the belief you can always put more clothes on but in the summer you cannot take enough off!! I hate the heat of summer and would rather have 90+% of my wood at least in the open yard ready to be CSSed by spring. I just don't want to be in the woods hunting those piles of bucked logs in July regardless of moisture content.

I'm with Bob! Whenever you can get it. I do alot of cutting year-round as a side job, and I'm busy even in the rain and snow. But it is definitely easier in the winter when the leaves are down, a LOT easier to clean up the branches!!
 
I suspect that winter time would be best . . . no bugs, no leaves and the water content may be down a bit.

That said, I cut down the wood when it is convenient for me, when I have the time and when I can easily get to the wood which could be any time of the year. By the time I process my wood and then burn my wood three years later it really doesn't matter when I cut the wood down in terms of moisture content . . . I can deal with most of the bugs (the exception being Maine Black Fly Season) . . . leaves are no big deal for me (they just help me ID the tree better) . . . and I can always put on or take off more clothes (it just isn't a pleasant sight with me running around naked on those really hot, sultry days in the summer ;) )
 
Catspaw said:
I heard somewhere that if you cut a tree down in the summer and leave the branches/leaves on it until the leaves wilt that the leaves will pull a significant amount of moisture out of the wood - something like 30%. Makes the wood lighter to haul out of the woods.

Yup, its true, and thats what I like to do. I don't like doing a lot of cutting when its warm, but iif I have trees I want to take down for firewood, I cut them in summer and let them lay for a month or so. The leaves will stay green on the trees for a week or two so you know they're sucking the water from the trunk.
 
I remember when I joined the forum, I asked close to the same question.
I remember the answers were:
NOW, The sooner the better, ASAP.
I've learned that:
1. As soon as you can & when you can is the best advice. Maximize the time it's CSS & seasoning.
2. If you are going to schedule your wood cutting, or tree felling, (& can allow a full year or 2 for seasoning) late fall or winter, less water in the outside layer & bark. Cooler weather , less bugs.
(Most avoid hunting season in the woods.)
Once yo get ahead & are cutting for use 2 burning seasons from now, I like the fall. Summers are busy time & winters many times are to cold & roads to the cutting area are ice & not plowed/sanded.

When "ASAP" meets "When you can"
 
One more thing to consider.
If yo cut in the spring as the sap is running strong, the bark will come off most trees pretty easy.
In the fall, the bark is stuck on pretty tight.
 
Catspaw said:
I heard somewhere that if you cut a tree down in the summer and leave the branches/leaves on it until the leaves wilt that the leaves will pull a significant amount of moisture out of the wood - something like 30%. Makes the wood lighter to haul out of the woods.

That theory has proved to be wrong. Those leaves will take very little moisture out of the wood.
 
We usually begin the wood cutting following rifle deer season, which means December 1. We usually end cutting by March 1 but have cut some in March a few times. We do not like to cut in the summer because of the heat and the bugs and let us not forget the critters and birds with nests, etc. By cutting in winter we also avoid a lot of slapping and also some sweating. Also in the winter months most of us can make use of the extra exercise too.

btw, we have a good number of soft maple and we usually cut some and we usually notice after about mid-February when we cut, the sap runs. Earlier if we cut, the sap does not run.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
btw, we have a good number of soft maple and we usually cut some and we usually notice after about mid-February when we cut, the sap runs. Earlier if we cut, the sap does not run.
GET DA BUCKETS READY!!...
 
I cut pretty much year-round whenever work schedule and weather cooperates.Anything from 10 degrees to 90 above.Draw the line at working in snow over 6" deep,hail & lightning & those ugly few July/August days with 115 heat index though.Dont mind a nice light rain shower in Spring or Summer,very refreshing.
 
Not sure about the moisture of the tree but I know that I lose too much water when cutting in the summer. I was cutting last weekend and enjoying not sweating.
 
Scotty Overkill said:
Backwoods Savage said:
btw, we have a good number of soft maple and we usually cut some and we usually notice after about mid-February when we cut, the sap runs. Earlier if we cut, the sap does not run.
GET DA BUCKETS READY!!...

But he said SOFT maple, not hard (Sugar) maple.... ;-)

Ken
 
I try to cut and split (by hand) in the same day. I swear that wood splits better when its freshly cut and cold. Also a good excuse to get out in the woods on cold day. I just need to wear plenty of layers as by the time I have split the wood I am down to a t-shirt. I also hate dealing with branches with leaves, definitely a lot more work to pull leaves with branches to a brush pile than brnaches without, plus they take up less space. If I am in the mood to burn the brush I think the green branches burn marginally better
 
Ken45 said:
Scotty Overkill said:
Backwoods Savage said:
btw, we have a good number of soft maple and we usually cut some and we usually notice after about mid-February when we cut, the sap runs. Earlier if we cut, the sap does not run.
GET DA BUCKETS READY!!...

But he said SOFT maple, not hard (Sugar) maple.... ;-)

Ken
you can still make syrup with soft maple, but the sugar content of the sap is not as high with the silver and red maples. My first year sugaring I used a lot of silvers. Now I am pretty much exclusively using hard maples and a couple reds and norways.
 
If you're interested in regrowth and the tree you're cutting will stump spout, then the best time to cut is fall, winter, and spring before the sap starts to move. That way when the tree starts to grow in spring it is more likely to send up shoots from the trunk that can become a new tree. The roots store lots of energy, and early tree growth is fueled by that energy, then the roots are depleted, and the rest of the growing season re-stocks the roots for energy needed for the next growing season. The tree is dormant towards fall and in winter.
 
I've always preferred to cut when it is cooler weather, makes it easier on me and I don't like messing with the brush when it is leafed out.
As to cutting when the sap is running I don't think it makes much difference. I've cut Osage Orange for bow staves and actually had sap running out of the cut end. Today I cut a small hickory to make clearance for a big standing dead red oak I was taking down and the sap was puddling up and running off the top of the 3' stump.
 
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