Can I revive my firewood?

[mrscott25]

Hi guys,
New member here and just had the wood stove intalled last week (avalon pendelton insert) so I am just learning how to get things going.

I have lots of questions about how to make this thing work best, but wanted to post this one in the wood shed catagory.

Ok, here goes. I have approximately 5 cords of White Birch that I cut down in the fall of 2009. Most of this birch is 6-10" rounds and has been laying in a not so neat stack on the ground (uncovered) since that time. It was limbed and cut into about 4 foot pieces and then thrown in a stack. It was never meant to be firewood, I was just clearing dead and nuisance trees at the cabin in 2009.

Fast forward two years....

I now have the wood insert at the house and am wondering if the wood will work or not. I went to the cabin last week and cut and split about a cord of the wood. Most of the wood has some water staining inside and is still fairly wet. As it is now, it is not much good in the stove and just smolders rather than burn unless I put the stove on high and even then I don't get much heat.

I am in Alaska so most of this wood sat under snow for about 7 months a year.

My question is if I should cut and spilt the rest of it, stack it, cover it and let it sit for a year to try and salvage it? Or after all that time and the water staining I found would I be better off to pile it up, add some diesel and just get rid of it and start from scratch.

Any advice is appreciated.

Scott

 

[stejus]

Could be punky inside. When you split it, was it soft and spongy or was it still hard. If spongy, it will not through off much heat.

 

[mrscott25]

The wood has some spongyness (is that a word?) to it. It isn't discolored like typical rotten wood though. With some effort I can take bits of it off with my hands and peel strips of it off. Will drying wood that is starting to rot (but not completely rotted) do anything but take up valuable space in my yard?

Scott

 

[Shari]

Well, down here in the Lower 48 I don't cover until the year I plan on using it - usually 2-3 yrs. after it being split/stacked off the ground. I haven't burned much birch but I do know it goes punky fairly quick if not split/stacked off the ground & it only takes about 1 yr. After 1 yr. it burns like newspaper - quick and not much heat. I will let others chime in here with the "To Match or Not To Match" it but will add the bark makes wonderful fire starters.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum Mrscott25.

Birch should always be split soon after being cut. The reason is the bark which won't release any moisture. That means the birch will rot from the inside out. Many times here we find that birch will die but stay standing. Cut it and we soon find that almost all of the wood is punky already. Birch should be cut when it is still alive then split and stacked. This way it will be great wood for Alaska.

 

[ansehnlich1]

sounds like it's punky to me. punky means spongy. if good and dry it would burn, but would burn quickly and not give off a whole lot of heat. i understand birch to be a quick to rot wood.

 

[mrscott25]

Well, sound like were going to have one heck of a bonfire at the cabin this new years Thanks for the info regarding the need to split birch quickly. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that the bark doesn't let moisture out. Eskimos used to make boats out of birch bark, I guess that should have been a hint for me.

Thanks for the advice. Think I will order a cord of split wood and start a new stack before the snow melts. Hopefully I will have something ready for next season.

Scott

 

[nate379]

Split it, cord it and it will be fine next year.

I have 4 or 5 cords off birch that had been cut and on the ground for close to 3 years, 4-10 ft lengths. It was fine when I cut and split it. Sure there was some that was junk, but most of it was fine.

Let me know where all this wood is, I'll come get it!

 

[Wood Duck]

I'd take the chainsaw and start cutting it to length. Probably some will be mostly punky and you can bonfire it, but I bet some will be solid and you can cut, split, and stack it for next year. if you have a shed that would be a perfect place for wood that is starting to go bad.

 

[doogiegh]

Yes to what Wood Duck said.

You had wood, some cut to length, sitting in your back yard ready to go. It's just wet. Get it split, if you see real spongy stuff, rip it out and keep the good part. So what that you'll burn thru the wood quickly in a year or 2 when it does dry out. The only cost of it for right now is your time and the cost of running the splitter..

 

[Battenkiller]

I don't know about Alaska, but down here with our long, humid summers white birch rots pretty quickly if it isn't split. The bark is practically impervious to water, so the fungus has at it and it decays from the inside.

In Alaska, however, the conditions might not be as advantageous to fungal growth as they are here. I'd put a saw to it and decide then. Being buried under snow would never allow it to rot, so maybe it is just soaking wet. Regardless, if it has already gone punky there is no reviving it. The microbes will have robbed your wood of fuel energy for good.

It's up to you decide how much good is left in it. ;-)

 

[gerry100]

You might save some time with the solid pieces by ripping the bark w the saw ( ie cut a deep groove hte length of the piece).

Then you can pull the bark off and save some spliiting)

 

[bogydave]

You may have some punky middles. But split everything 3" or larger.
My first year with the new stove, it's what I had, Some was real good, some was punky. (I burned it all but the rotten soft stuff)
I didn't get a year to let it dry real good but it's what I had & "you burn what you got"
Lots of free pallets in Anchorage, get it split & stacked on pallets. Some of the smaller diameter stuff & the outside pieces may be good to go.
Like most here said, birch will rot inside in the round , gotta split & stack it pretty quick to get good BTUs out of it.
At $250+ per cord in Anch, worth the effort to see if some is good stuff.
Don't cover the sides, the more air to it the better.
Check your chimney monthly

Almost forgot:
Welcome

 

[gpcollen1]

I find that stuff burns ok outside but not in my stove. did that with some black/sweet birch unintentionally...