How good is dead wood?

[freyah]

Hello from the UK

I'm new to wood burning and have been gathering a stash of timber for the new stove arriving next week.

My father in law has offered us a dead sycamore which I understand is a *good thing*

I have a question though, will it still need seasoning or will it be ok to burn in around 3 - 4 months time?

thanks in advance

 

[Jags]

Dead standing does not = seasoned. Depending on species - some trees require darn near as long to dry even when dead, as they do when alive. Sycamore is a fairly high water content wood to begin with. Add the variables of "dead for how long", "where at" (sun, wind, forest, etc.) and it will be pretty tough to give you a straight answer. The best bet is a moisture meter. Depending on its moisture content, you can then get a fairly accurate guess at how much longer it needs to be seasoned.

So I guess my answer is "I dunno". Depends.

 

[smokinj]

LOL Well it sounds like its your best wood, so start cutting and keep cutting till you have more wood than you know what to do with! Oh and Welcome!

 

[freyah]

Aha, thanks, so I can't rest easy yet. I may have to start microwaving some wood after all....(loving some of the crazy and wise info I'm getting on here!)

In the mean time, I'll keep up the log store envy.

thanks

 

[smokinj]

Aha, thanks, so I can't rest easy yet. I may have to start microwaving some wood after all....(loving some of the crazy and wise info I'm getting on here!)

In the mean time, I'll keep up the log store envy.

thanks

The only way out of the woods is to cut down the forest! lol just get to cutting and dont stop til you have around 15 cords.

 

[freyah]

here's another daft question from a newbie, how is a cord measured?
thanks

 

[smokinj]

here's another daft question from a newbie, how is a cord measured?
thanks

16 ft x4 ft high 18inchs wide or 128 cubic foot

 

[Jags]

or simply put:

L x W x H = 128 Cu ft.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Sycamore is said to be very tough splitting. I have no experience with that variety. Still, it will burn well if you allow it to fully season. Good luck with it, and welcome!

 

[firefighterjake]

As Jags mentioned there is dead wood and then there is dead-dead wood . . . just being dead doesn't mean it's good to burn. In my own case I have a bunch of elms on my property that periodically die off from Dutch Elm Disease . . . if I attempted to burn them in the first year that they were dead without seasoning them for a year or so they would just splutter and take a long while to ignite (I know this because in the first year I attempted to burn some elm that was just dead for a year . . . cut and split and stacked for 3-6 months . . . and they would splutter and spit out moisture). On the other hand I also burned some dead elm that had been dead for a number of years . . . bark was fallling off the trees and when split the wood would pop off the splitter with none of that legendary stringiness elm is infamous for . . . and this wood burned great.

So as Jags said . . . it really depends on the species of the tree with regard to its original moisture content and how long it has been dead.

As for a cord . . . 128 square feet . . . growing up in the woods where we would routinely cut and sell pulp wood we always figured a cord as 4 feet x 4 feet x 8 feet . . . but any computation that comes up to 128 square feet works. Now as for a face cord . . . there is no such thing in my book.

 

[freyah]

Yeah I was wondering about the face cord thing....

You guys have got some serious space to do your thing, here in the centre of London, we're trying to squash as much into our back garden as possible. Where you have a pick up and trailer, we have a mini, thankfully father in law is a tree surgeon (or maybe arborist in the us?)

 

[smokinj]

Yeah I was wondering about the face cord thing....

You guys have got some serious space to do your thing, here in the centre of London, we're trying to squash as much into our back garden as possible. Where you have a pick up and trailer, we have a mini, thankfully father in law is a tree surgeon (or maybe arborist in the us?)

Thats a good thing to have!