Hickory in the Truck

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Danno77

Minister of Fire
Oct 27, 2008
5,008
Hamilton, IL
Dodge is currently full of another load of wood. For those counting, that's three.

This load is hickory, and it is so heavy I can't believe it.

Let this thread serve as my confessional about my wood status for this year: I'm still working on this year's wood. I have a cord that is fairly well seasoned. Another cord that seasoned partially whilst in the round and just got split in the last day or two. and finally I am working on another cord. I think my two cords of "seasoned" wood will be good enough, although another half a year would have been nice. I need at least another cord.

I have in my possession this load of hickory. I also have a cord or so of unsplit rounds that consist of a small amount of maple, a good amount of elm, and some walnut - this cord of wood has been sitting in 16-18" long rounds for about 8 months. Then i have what would be a shortbed load of maple that I cut about a month ago, it's sitting in 16-18" rounds as well.

What do i need to get first? Hickory is awesome wood, I hate to "waste" it, but I figure I'll get more BTUs out of it than the SLIGHTLY more seasoned mixed stuff. I know I'm not in a good position right now, but as I see it I'm gonna have about 5 cords of wood with what i have right now. I expect to use 3.5ish, whether it's seasoned or not. It's a backup source of heat, so the furnace will have to work harder to make up the BTU difference. I just guess tyhat I want to know which 3.5 cords to burn and which 1.5 to save for next year.

I'll keep getting more wood when I get a chance, but the stuff I'll end up with will primarily be more black walnut, hickory, and MAYBE a dead and down for two years Oak tree that is 35" through and back where it's hard to get to until the underbrush and weeds start dying and laying down. By next summer I'd like to have all 3 years worth of wood seasoning in my back yard.
 
I'd feed the hickory into the hot stove a split at a time. Especially at night, one decent size chunk of unseasoned hickory will last quite a while. You won't waste that much heat long as you have a nice hot fire and give it enough air in the beginning. Once it hits the coaling stage, it will last for a very long time with the air shut down.
 
If you can find some standing dead elm without any bark on it use that. The bottom of the trunk will be wet but the middle and higher are usually ready to burn and easy splitting.
 
Chargerman said:
If you can find some standing dead elm without any bark on it use that. The bottom of the trunk will be wet but the middle and higher are usually ready to burn and easy splitting.

I don't know about easy splitting but I have used alot of dead barkless elm. You can split it and throw it right in the boiler If it has been without bark for a while it will be nice and dry.
Same goes for box-elder if it sits a bit the bark falls off and it seasons quickly.
 
I fully agree with the dead elm. As long as the bark has fallen, most of it splits pretty good and doesn't get all stringy. That makes it a very good firewood.
 
well, I don't have any standing dead Elm, but I do have some that's already bucked to stove length, it just needs splitting. Some of it's been noodled into halfs or quarters, but still needs splitting as well. Maybe that stuff is dryer than i think. It had to be noodled because the stuff was so wet and soggy it was impossible to move it because of weight. I just knew it was so wet last spring that I figured it would be some time before it really got down to a reasonable MC.
 
yeah, i would mix that hickory in for overnight burns as long as you already have a nice coal bed going.



as far as dead down wood goes - if that oak is white oak it will probably be ok. red oak rots a lot faster than white if its laying on the ground. hickory actually also gets punky pretty quick if its laying on the ground.
 
FLINT said:
yeah, i would mix that hickory in for overnight burns as long as you already have a nice coal bed going.



as far as dead down wood goes - if that oak is white oak it will probably be ok. red oak rots a lot faster than white if its laying on the ground. hickory actually also gets punky pretty quick if its laying on the ground.
that downed oak is white oak and a little rot isn't gonna hurt much because it's so big. I've noticed that the "rate of rot" on Red oak is A LOT faster than white, too, but I was never sure if it was my particular trees or a general rule.
 
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