Square wood-oak (with pics)

[maxed_out]

Picked up a load from a nearby fellow that makes pallets and related items. he has a pretty big pile of scraps. these are red and white oak. Great stuff to handle and stack when square. Most are 4 by 6 inches and should pack into the isle royale nicely when they are ready. Super clear grain.

First time I ever got a load and didnt get dirty or have to fire up the saw!

 

[Archie]

Nice deal. I guess you'll need to be a bit more careful (as opposed to splits) throwing them in the woodstove so you maintain some air space between the pieces.

 

[loon]

that guy sure does know how to work a splitter :cheese:

nice load!

loon

 

[Duetech]

Looks almost dangerous to me. A person could get hooked on that stuff and begin to think it should all be that way and then what could lyou do to burn calories? Soon colleges will have to have classes just to educate the newer generations that wood actually comes from trees and not process mills. Kind of like milk comes from cows and not from stores. If I were you though I would try to find some viable means to keep this fellow convinced how much of a favor you are doing for him getting that stuff off of his premises and disposing of it. I would just be flabbergasted finding one of those in my area. :lol:

 

[gzecc]

I would probably only use one or two of those per fire. How dry are they?

 

[smokinj]

I like using those pieces on really cold days...Gives you a nice chance of victory

 

[Thistle]

Great score. Not as much as in years past,but I still get up to 2 loads per year of native hardwood dunnage used in hauling steel beams,rebar, & other building materials to construction sites on flat bed semi's I'm working at. Normally 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" to 6" x 6" 4 ft to 10 ft long.

Over the years I've found anything from Cottonwood,Hard/Soft Maple,White & Red Oak,Hickory,Douglas Fir,American Elm,White Pine,even a few pieces of low grade knotty Black Walnut.One of the best finds was about 100 ft of 3" x 4" & 4 x 5 Black Cherry that was with a load of beams from a mill in Pennsylvania summer 2007.I still have most of the best clear pieces.Most of what I get is R/W Oaks,Soft Maple,occasionally Cottonwood.

Roughly 80% of this stuff gets burned,always looking out for clear defect free pieces that eventually might be table legs,candlesticks & similar items.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

maxed_out, that will be excellent firewood! We have a neighbor who does this same thing and has done it for many years. Although these are short pieces, with oak I doubt there will be a problem with overheating. You could even consider splitting them to hasten seasoning.

 

[Flatbedford]

You could even consider splitting them to hasten seasoning.

That's what I was thinking. Spitting those with a good maul would be super fast and easy. It would also make them less uniform in shape so that air could get around them and hasten the seasoning and burning.

 

[maxed_out]

Thanks guys. I'd say they are super fresh maybe cut a month ago, pretty heavy. One piece was marked "03-10-2011"... I was gonna throw the MM on and let you know. I'm pretty far ahead now so I was thinking just stack em up and see how long it takes.

you are right I could get really hooked on this stuff, no fuss no mess.

This load stacked up to 2x4x5...about a solid 40 cubic feet...1/3rd cord+-. So I guess we know how much green oak can fit in my little toyota's 6 foot bed.

 

[Flatbedford]

That's a pretty good haul for a smaller truck. 1/3 cord of green Oak should be about 1500 lbs.

 

[maxed_out]

Flatbedford, Yes it was heavy. this is the 4x4 with HD suspension but it was bottomed.

 

[ohlongarm]

I used to get the exact same thing in Amish country in Ohio,I also have a Toyota Tacoma4x4 put an extra leaf on the rear and used pallets to build up the sides so as to be able to get more wood in the truck,easily got 100plus cubic feet in the truck doing it this way.The Amish charged me 15$ a load,when the new owner took over 3 years ago he upped it to 45$ haven't gone back ,made a connection with a tree cutter WHO doesn't sell firewood the skys the limit. By the way the stuff burns awesome and is so clean.

 

[maxed_out]

ohlongarm, Wow 100 cu ft in a tacoma! thanks for letting me know how it burns. Did you split it? or leave them whole? How long to season?

 

[Dune]

My only concern would be stacking for good airflow. A tight cube isn't going to season very well.

 

[weatherguy]

My only concern would be stacking for good airflow. A tight cube isn't going to season very well.

I threw seven splits in the stove once and Ill be damned if they didnt fit together like a puzzle and make a perfect cube, I left it like that in the stove for about 15 mins and it didnt really catch, just a little flame on the outside, no air in between. I ended up pulling them out and throwing back in in a different order so air could flow between the splits.
I would either split those cubes or throw 2 on the bottom then a layer of splits and a couple more on top of that.

 

[thewoodlands]

Nice load of btu's, how long or will it need to be seasoned?



Zap

 

[maxed_out]

Hey Zap, its oak so its gonna be a while. One thing its got- a lot of surface are so we'll see. We have a covered spot that gets a lot of wind-I'll MM it and keep folks posted.

 

[Loco Gringo]

I would actually PAY for that. What a find.

 

[bogydave]

I'd have a tough time burning all of it. I pick the good ones & rip into boards & make something.
Paint the ends & save a few for a couple years, square them up & turn on the lathe. Lots of stuff.
I guess it's good fire wood too, but Oak is high $$ dollar here.
Awesome score.

 

[okotoks guy]

That's what I'm shooting for with some White Birch. I'm knocking the sides off the rounds and
making blocks. They are not perfectly square obviously,but that allows for good air flow in the
stacks. There is lots of surface area to disperse moisture as basically all of the bark has been
removed. For some reason I just love splitting the wood like this. It takes quite a bit more time
at the splitter,but I think the effort is worth it. I now have 2 pallets of birch blocks that look too
pretty to burn! LOL!

 

[DBoon]

I've split some of my hickory pieces that way - end up with 4" x 6" pieces that I use for overnight burns - I put them in the back of the stove. If I put two or more squared off pieces in my stove, I separate them with some bark strips to get airflow around the chunks for a good start to the burn.