O
oldspark
Guest
Thats cool, should keep you in wood for a while, nice pictures but I am not sure what it is either but I bet we find out soon.
Next to last photo, beech on right and black birch on the left. Top photo looks more like maple to me.Im not experienced with wood ID but the first pic I don't think is oak, Im sure someone on here knows better than I
It looks like I'm going to head into the season without enough properly seasoned wood. I work from home, so I burn 24/7. I think I'll need about 5 cords to make it through the season. Here's what I have...
- 2 cords in my wood shed outside - fully seasoned (12-18%) moisture content.
- 1 cord in my garage that I just bought. I put it in there because I bought "fully seasoned" wood. It looks seasoned, gray in color, but it's not. - 24% MC (I'm not happy about that one).
-1 cord that I bought last spring stacked under a tarp in my yard. 19% MC
- 1 cord that I just scrounged last week from a free wood ad on Craigslist. It's old, a bit punky, and was sitting outside uncoverd for a couple years. MC is about 21%.
- 2+ cords that i just got free from the utility company who is clearing trees above the lines. These trees were alive last month and I'm still in the process of splitting and stacking. This will be for next year...hopefully. MC 25%.
Should I save my good stuff for the coldest months? Should I mix the good with the bad? I'm not sure what strategy to use. That's where you guys come in.
Thanks.
I would have thought the same. Last year I had bought kiln dried because I couldn't get seasoned wood. I also had a cord of wet "seasoned" wood I bought. The seasoned wouldn't burn, but the kiln dried burned very hot and fast. Mixing them seemed to work the best.Most times kiln dried won't be as dry as that which has been stacked outdoors. However, this is much dependent upon how long that wood has been stacked and where and how it was stacked. But, both will burn just fine. For example, at Woodstock we burned both kiln dried and outdoor dried. Both did just fine even though some thought the outdoor dried would be way too dry. Methinks it opened a few eyes!
Beech, maple, tulip poplar.
All this time I thought I had a lot of oak on my property. Apparently not. So, after a quick online search, of the 3, beech is the best burning, then maple, and then the tulip poplar?
I need to learn my trees. Looking at just the bark, the tulip and the maple look identical. Any tricks of the trade to ID those 2 when the leaves aren't on the trees?
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