Big Score(scrounge)!

[mudbug250]

A neighbor down the road, just bought a tract of land behind his house and is clearing it off. Tons of big trees just lying there. I stopped and asked if I could get some. He said get all I want. I was able to get 60 rounds of pin oak and pecan.There are about 20 pin oak rounds that are 24" or bigger in diameter and 40 rounds of pecan around 16"in diameter. I need to go back and get some more, as he is starting to push everything up into burn piles. But I could pull out the good stuff if needed I guess.

 

[ScotO]

Yeah get in there and get all you can! That pecan is some premium smoking wood, I'd be chunking that up into nuggets and using some of it for cooking, sell some of it too! Great score

 

[Jack Straw]

Sounds like a lot of wood for Mississippi, how much do you use a year? Great score!

 

[mudbug250]

I don't burn very much, probably about 1.5 cords a year. I don't exclusively heat with wood, just have an open fireplace that I start up when I get home to keep the front of the house warm till bedtime then the central heat goes on. I already had about 3.5 cords already split and stacked, so hopefully this will put me at 5 cords. I am already several years ahead, but you know how this wood thing is. The more the better!

I am just gonna split and stack the pecan but keep it seperate from the rest of the wood. We borrow a big smoker (Southern Pride) several times a year for fundraisers and it takes big sticks.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Burning pin oak you definitely need to be several year ahead! I've not burned pecan but it should be prime for sure. Good for you for getting this wood.

 

[bogydave]

Nice score.
Get it split & stacked & let the seasoning begin.

 

[mudbug250]

I got about half way through the big pin oak rounds yesterday afternoon before it got to dark to split, then stacked about half of what I had split. Those big rounds sure do put out a lot of splits. Most of the time I only had to go about an inch in with the wedge of the Huskee and then pop. It split very clean.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Right. That is how lots of wood can be split and hence my belief that cycle time for hydraulic splitters is highly over-rated.

 

[PA Fire Bug]

What? No one asked for pictures yet?

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

pics would be appreciated

 

[Realstone]

Where does pecan sit on the BTU charts?
Nice score BTW

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Fruit and nut trees are always good firewood. I'd have to look at the chart to see where it ranks but it should be high.

 

[weatherguy]

Where does pecan sit on the BTU charts?
Nice score BTW

It doesnt have a btu number on this chart but is rated excellent

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

 

[Woody Stover]

Where does pecan sit on the BTU charts?
Nice score BTW

I think it is in the neighborhood of some of the Hickories...good stuff.

 

[Realstone]

Is it just my perspective, or does the BTU content of trees generally go up as you go further south? Fruit & nut trees get scarcer the further north you get. Softwoods and weed trees get more abundant the further north you get.

On another note, I've often wondered if it is possible to genetically modify trees for higher BTU's. Imagine a rock maple or even a cottonwood tree with 50% more potential thermal energy.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

On the other hand, oaks are plentiful in the north as are beech, locust, hickory, ash, apple, etc, etc. One thing I always considered is the trees in the north have to be a hardy tree because of the harsh winters. I have nothing to back that up with but it has always been in my mind that it is so. This in no way means they are superior in any way to trees in the south. For example, look at all the yellow poplar that has been harvested in the south and as Realstone mentioned, fruit and nut trees are abundant in the south.

 

[mudbug250]

I tried to post pictures last week. It it kept saying the files was too big. So I am gonna try again. The are some pictures of the pile today as I was splitting and pictures of my wood splitting set up. Notice I am keeping the pecan and pen oak seperate.

 

[mudbug250]

Still saying files too big. I have tried pictures with camera and with iphone. Any suggestions?

 

[DexterDay]

Still saying files too big. I have tried pictures with camera and with iphone. Any suggestions?

What Operating system do you have on your computer? Do you have windows paint? "Edit" the pic and reduce the size of the photo....

Large files must be compressed or "cut" to fit.

 

[mudbug250]

Thanks Dex! Let's try this.

 

[mudbug250]

Success!

 

[DexterDay]

Nice.....

 

[mudbug250]

So I am about half way through my original pile of rounds. I definitely kept the scraps from splitting the pecan wood. Will use that for smoke in my gas smoker.

 

[mudbug250]

Notice the old home made splitter in pictures 2 and 3. I got it for free, and tried to resurrect it, but it ran off of tractor hydraulics and was a poor design as far as the deck goes, 1/4 plate welded to the beam, then wedge welded to plate. Needed a lot of welding. So I decided to leave it dead. Keeping it around in case I need some replacement lines. It has two good cylinders on it, one for splitting and one for the log lift. Don't need a log lift now since I can split vertical and horizontal.