Just ran out... Now what?

reminds me of a landlord's horror story. Less than savory tenants went into the attic, started busting up the catwalks and purlins

Well, I was thinking. They are always giving away pianos on CL. Pianos have a lot of hardwood in them....

you are correct as well. That's the species. I don't know western oaks, us eastern foresters just don't learn them. But I will take your word for it being valley oak. I may google it tomorrow. I guess I missed your point??

You asked if our "eastern oaks were the quercus genus"? I answered with my response..."all oaks are Quercus", which is true. The latin names for oaks is (the way we learned in school) is family Genus species. White Oak would be Fagaceae Quercus alba or your "valley oak" would be Fagacea Quercus lobata", taking what you said. Northern Red oak is Fagacea Quercus rubra. Seeing the pattern, all that changes is the species with each tree.

Slabwood from a local saw mill? A C

If I ran out and since I have oil Id pay the $300 for kiln dried from a reputable dealer, not sure if theres any in your area, hope this guy delivers the goods for you, thats not a bad price for seasoned and a lot cheaper than the oil man

We bought less than seasoned and mixed with ecobricks all last year.

That is my assumption. Temperatures in the teens and low 20s all next week. If it is not in the best condition, I will burn it with pallet pieces. that is the best I can do.

As an aside, since he has so much wood, if I get a measurable cord out of him, I plan on buying some of his cheaper green wood and really getting ahead. The grapple load I bought is splitting up great and it seems I might have nearly 4 cords out of that once I am done.

Of course all the logs are covered in snow at the moment, so I guess I have to go brush off the wood.

Close to this place?

http://hartford.craigslist.org/zip/3485146864.html

Another possibility, but probably for next yea r's pile...http://hartford.craigslist.org/zip/3485146864.html

I'm roasting Pin Oak from Irene (CSS almost immediately after that storm) now. It ain't perfect (cold starts can be a bee-yatch) but If I keep the stove hot is burns pretty decent, no soot on the glass or inside of the stove, even get decent secondaries. It will require more primary air than what your used to burning dryer wood, but the alternative isn't pretty.

"You burn what you got."
Be nice to have some more than 5 weeks seaoned though.
But like said, it'll burn if really needed
Good luck

chazcarr, I'm in the same boat as you, ton of wood for next year but am out this year. Im in the same area so let me know the quality of wood that guy you called has to offer. Maybe I'll give him a call too.

Makes me wonder if anyone on this forum is in the wood business and if there's a place for us to get in touch with them (classifieds?). I'd feel more comfortable buying from someone here than off of CL.

Thanks.

I'll let you know. He is supposed to come tonight, sometimes they don't even show. They may scope the place out before hand, see that I obviously take my woodpiles seriously and keep moving. It is a hassle for sure.

That lot in Windsor seems like a nice bit of work, but I still have no trailer or truck, so no good to me at the moment.

There was someone who sold slabwood, but I cannot find his add anymore. It was ready to go stuff.

Tried that last night, took about an hour just to get the fire going. Damn thing seemed so dry but started hissing immediately and never really stopped. Only get it up to temp by constantly putting small bits of pallet into the box every 20 minutes or so.

I just threw in one of those bricks to see how it performs......within an hour, stove temps dropped by 100*, and the brick was a smoldering mass....threw in a piece of Hickory to try and burn the rest of it. I do have some 14 month old Oak I gonna try, but I really don't want to go there.

Mix the two. I've only used Ecobricks and Wood Brick Fuel. Ecos were excellent when mixed with splits, Wood Brick Fuel was junk. I've also only burned exclusively Ecos a few times, and they do seem to work better with splits, or at least a few at a time. My longest burns were accomplished by putting a split on each side n/s and 3-4 ecos in between with another small split across the top e/w.

i can burn 14 month old oak fine, i mean its got more moisture but it burns?? Are yall trying to burn splits as big as your leg with just like a superceder or paper and twigs to start it? You need to make some kindling of that oak say .5-1" in diameter size and build a log cabin or teepee out of it layering it so that air can get to it, once it catches you will burn that 1.5 yr old oak fine!!

Currently burning Irene Pin Oak. Can be a bastard to get going but with liberal doses of air and patience it does go, and burns hot/clean once the stove gets up to temp.

I am not advocating this but i would burn even 4-6 month split oak if i had to to stay warm vs buying $3.50/gal fuel oil Not saying i do it either just saying it can be done, if you change your burning habits to compensate for the green wood.

I wood burn it. Keep your eye on the chimney.

When we did some kindling last season out of some pine we got, we split it then placed it in a crate with openings in the sides in front of our air purifier (it blew air across the wood constantly). Dried out pretty quick that way.

the log cabin or teepee suggestion was for actually building the fire not drying, sorry. I type slower than my brain..sorry.

So I had the wood delivered from CL and the reaction from me is mixed. I'll lay out the pros and cons:

PROS: He delivered it in a modified extended bed pick-up that he built a "cord box" onto it. The interior dimensions were exactly 4x4x8. He even had a few logs in the cab of the truck to make up for the wheel wells. So I go an actual cord (I measured it myself when it was stacked in the truck). Also this is good wood. So far 90% solid oak. I know because we hand unloaded the truck together and I saw maybe two or three pieces of some other type of wood. Also to his credit this stuff was definitely seasoned for at least a year.

CONS: I mentioned this was oak right? Seasoned about a year? And if you can't tell by the picture these are HUGE splits. I will need to split these again maybe up to 4 more times to get the size wood I prefer. So of course what that means is super high moisture on the inside of fresh splits. When put in the stove, it sizzles like bacon. I could use some of these splits as end tables they are so big. Needless to say it will take some splitting and seasoning to get these things truly ready to burn.

Overall, I am able to split these small and get a roaring fire going using supercedars. Then I place these logs around the hearth to dry them out and they will burn completely. Not a lot of secondaries, but that is expected. Will have to get the chimney cleaned soon as well burning these. I am mixing pallet wood in with them.

One side note, this guy also sells this same cord of wood green for $150 a cord with up to three cords delivered at a time in an enclosed trailer he has. It is already split and stacked in his hard, and seems like a good deal for an honest cord of oak, so I will probably be ordering that to get ahead and make sure this problem never happens again. He comes this way often because he supplies the wood to the local wood oven pizza place. It is already a better deal than the grapple load I bought and am still working on.

Nice to see credit given where it's due.