They say ash is good to burn right after cutting.

The trouble with most of the northern & high elevation hardwoods. If not CSS soon after death, it decays fast.
Not that cottonwood & aspen are hard woods, but are on the hardwood list.
Birch the same, gotta be Cut & Split , or it will be punky in 2 years.

+1 on the wood seller's claim of "seasoned", few say dry & ready to burn
I think to most of them, seasoned means "split yesterday"

I see it all the time Dave. Around me there's wood for sale on every corner. Mostly labeled "face cord" and ready to burn and you can see the pile of rounds in the guys backyard. In fact, I know of one person who has his splitter set up in the front yard and sells his wood as he splits it.

My own opinion is many people have never burnt good, dry, seasoned wood. I do realize not everyone has the ability to store 3 years worth of wood but I bet these same people would notice a huge difference in burning properly seasoned wood.

Another perfect example is running the evaporator during sugaring season. I'm trying to burn as hot as I can possible get it and will load the evaporator every 10 minutes or so. If I was to put in 1 year old oak , I can guarantee that I will lose my boil and wouldn't be able to load for a much longer period of time. If I load with seasoned wood, stack temps and boil will be waaaay up there!

+1
There are "those who know & those who don't"
& some that never will

It all depends upon the situation. Around here that rarely happens but sometimes it does. Just rare.

Good Lord, I hope not! There should be a few years left in this old body.

Lots of places in CO with very low humidity; lots lower then MI and yes, that does help, especially if it is windy, which in my experience, CO seems to have an abundance of.

If it is not cut up and dried it isn't ready to burn in my book dead alive in between or otherwise !

Pete

Well just add fuel to the fire, Ash dead standing then downed into rounds last Fall on the ground, so Just for grins , as I am just getting around to splitting now, I tried some in the stove, yep it burns but so will any wood eventually, but this ash was still too high in moisture and really held back the NC30. So like any other wood got to be dried down under the 20% or better to be of any use heat wise in my book.

It's generally quite humid here during Summer, but it's hot too. Last year I found a bunch of dead standing Red (Slippery) Elm and most of the wood except for lower in the trunk was already in the 16-18% range and burnable immediately, contrary to what Dennis has found. It could be that different species dry at different rates, or maybe the fact that most or all of the bark was off of the Elms let them dry more completely, even with high humidity.

Okay.....here we go....just dropped some Ash over the weekend...lit the stove...threw on some Oak and Cherry splits....stove reading 600*...threw in a 3 inch round of just cut Ash.....not at all impressed

Same here, usually around October the ads start popping up on CL and the racks start appearing on lawns. "Seasoned firewood" all sold by the (face) cord-I almost NEVER see anyone actually call a face cord a face cord, they're all "cords" here.

We'll probably buy some every year or two from a local guy, he's got a good price delivered. We'll stack it for future years so we have stuff for longer burns (seems all of our scrounges are softwood like pine and box elder). He even said it was fresh split and probably could use a year to season before being burned when we picked up a few (face) cords from him last year. Haven't touched it yet this year, we just stacked it last year after he dropped it in the driveway.

I have some one year old dead ash that burns just fine, from a dead start I can have the stove top up to about 500 in 20 mins., not sure what I will gain by waiting 2 more years, dont get it and never will.

Nope oldspark. Looks like we were born to disagree. That's okay though. You are still a nice guy.

Thanks Backwoods, we really dont disagree that much as we both know how well dry wood works. You sir are a nice person also, we all know if everyone follows your advice there wont be any problems with wet wood any more.

Thanks for the info Dennis. I got it .

I will add that the ash I have is Green Ash which drys a little faster than Whte Ash which is what Dennis has I believe.

I wish I could get three years ahead. Think its been about 3 years I've been burning (this will be the 4th) and I have yet to even cut as much as I need in one year. End up having to get some not so seasoned stuff or switch to propane. I want to get ahead just never have been able to. Would be easier with a closer source of wood & without family and commitments and such, and having more weekends off work. So I believe ya, just can't do it though.

Oh and my cousin, like always, is starting to cut wood for this winter (as of 2 weeks ago). Had to throw that in there. But its true. Many people burn unseasoned wood I think its pretty much a fact that it can burn. Just a matter of how much efficiency you expect and how often you want to clean out your flue. He has an old smoke dragon and takes a few 5 gal pail fulls of creosote out. But it doesnt phase him.

Ohio, your doing the right thing by trying to get ahead. Try scrounging in the spring /summer. I've noticed on Craigslist real good " scores" can be had at that time.

Thanks wishlist. I often watch craigslist but have yet to score any free wood yet. Heck in the last week alone I sent out 4-5 emails responding to different ads and not one response yet. I always check right after big storms especially. I live in the middle of no where also, so the ones I do see for free are from the city, an hour away.

I'm really wanting to move, and looking for a place that has enough woods to hunt on my own land and cut firewood without having to get a truck involved. That would be a HUGE advantage, both in cost and time.

Ohio, that would be great if you find your place as you have described. Good luck.

Around here wood drys so fast it can be "seasoned" and still have leaves on it...or at least the guy down the road selling "seasoned" firewood can. I wonder how he does that?????

I would not say it is good to burn then. But Ash can burn better than any other wood I have seen right after you cut it. And when it has not been seasoned for a year or more, I think it burns better than any other wood with the same amount of drying time. The moisture content seems to get better quicker than the other woods. Maybe from the straight grain. I do not know. I would not recomment burning wood that has not been dried for at least 6 months. Obviously, the longer, the better. But I have also had good luck with Ash for many years when I did not get ahead a whole year. I split it smaller and stacked it in the early spring and stacked out in the sun and where it gets some wind. Splitting it smaller certainly makes a difference in drying. But, I have burned White Ash and White Pine like this and have good luck. I have now been getting ahead for one year. And hoping to get further ahead this year. I have most of my my supply for next year with the recent 10 face cord purchase. Then two years ahead from then on out. Hope to get a good amount cut in the next 3 or 4 months after the ground freezes.