To burn or buy?

Moved into a new house last fall, and have been scrambling to get a wood supply built up. Previous owner left me just enough wood to get thru last fall, and then I limped thru the winter splitting up some old rounds he had left lying on the ground. Far from ideal.

Because it was such a light winter, I was able to get a little ahead, and I have one cord CSS'd and seasoning since January. I was able to add another three cords to that this past weekend, from wood I had trucked home over the last month.

A year ago, I'd have just figured on burning that this fall, but you folks have made me realize I might be better off reserving it to dry for the following year. That means I'm short on wood for the coming winter, and may want to consider (gasp!) buying some. Yes?

If so, I need some tips on buying firewood. It's something I've never had to do!

Thanks.

If you are gonna buy, do it ASAP so you can get it stacked and drying for next fall. What ever you buy probably won't be that dry yet, but being stacked loosely in a sunny and windy spot will help.

For sure, never figure you can buy wood that is ready to burn. You no doubt will be told it is ready, but it won't be. Get white ash if possible.

Type of wood you have C/S/S?
Your area?
Wood species in your area?

If you buy & stay away from oak, most will be usable this coming winter. Get it ASAP.
Smaller splits dry faster. Dead standing trees will also be ready to use sooner.

Got a place you could buy some slab wood?

Now is sometimes a better time to buy wood, you can get it cheaper sometimes. Wood sellers are not typically selling much wood now.
It's not time to have a fire, most wait to buy as winter sets in. May find some selling wood cut last year.

When all else fails, you burn what you got, & clean/inspect the chimney often

The wood is a mix, with too many species to name, but large portions of it are:

Poplar - felled 1 year ago, but still very wet when split
Swamp oak - felled last month, still very much green
Cedar - felled more than a year ago, seems fairly dry
Walnut - a mix felled 1 - 2 years ago

It's now split and stacked on pallets on the edge of my woods, double rows with space between, open on the sides and covered on the top with plastic.





I need to find some more pallets, and fell that about-to-fall maple on the right edge of this photo, so I can get the rest of the split wood stacked! You can see the bunches of walnut on the ground in the second photo, some of which was felled several years ago by previous owner, and left sitting unsplit in the mud.

Area is eastern Pennsylvania.

Exactly why I'm asking today, rather than wait for summer to pass!

Slab wood? As in sawn into planks? There are a few local mills that do nothing but oak, typically sold green and rough.

That's the alternative I'm contemplating. I suspect this is the way I'd have gone, if not for this forum! Still might be the way to go for just this year, with an eye on getting ahead for next year.

that stacking area looks alot like mine, less than ideal for sun and wind. I feel for ya.

All good suggestions above.
Look to buy ash
Look for standing dead soft maple, ash, cherry to cut and split asap, split small.
If the wife will let you (mine will not), stack in the open, single rows, lots of sun and wind.
Look for slab wood.
If you can get ahead on CSS green wood, look to trade it for seasoned wood.
Come winter, mix the seasoned with the not so seasoned.
Good luck.

Slab wood is the outside pieces of the log that are leftover after they saw the rest of it into planks. Sounds to me like you've got a lot of wood (Everything but the oak) that's going to be ready for winter.

For me burning wood I collect myself is more satisfying than burning purchased wood. I'd keep collecting and try to make it through the winter with what you can get yourself. You should be in decent shape even without collecting anything new.

Don't know much about walnut . . . a little about oak. Guessing though that the cedar and poplar will be ready for this winter . . . should be good for the shoulder season.

Slab wood . . . depends on the type and size. Around here most slab wood is softwood -- good since it seasons quickly when cut and stacked loose, but bad since it burns up quickly. The Peavey Tool manufacturing plant however sells some scrap -- all white ash . . . unfortunately it's also very small . . . good "biscuit wood."

If you have a choice in buying wood go with white ash . . .

Buy now . . . stack now . . . always better to buy early and have it stacked and drying vs. waiting until the Fall and then you find out that the "seasoned wood" was a tree cut down six months ago, bucked up last week and split the day before . . .

The other option you might want to look into is BioBricks. I was in your situation last fall. I had some good dry red oak that took me into Christmas-time, but the other wood I had was not ready to burn. In the height of the season, I ordered two pallets of BioBricks that I used the rest of the winter. Still have a bunch left. I was very impressed with them. Not as good as split cordwood, but still good.

If you are going to buy wood, this might be worth looking into.

If thats yours woods just keep cutting and you will be fine. Start with downed wood.

Keep going with the wood, some of that should be ready this upcoming winter although Im not crazy about your stacking spot, ideally you'd like full sun, but keep going for future years and you'll be in fine shape.

Interesting. Does being in the shade affect the final moisture content you're able to achieve with unlimited time, or simply the rate of drying? I may be able to move to a location in full sun after this year.

full sun. full wind. you might as well take that cover off for now and let the wind blow thru as much as possible. edit_depending on where you are at I suppose.

JMO

Move your stacks out from under the trees. Single row stack it with 4-6 inches between stacks in the middle of that nice field.

It will be less area someone has to mow/bush hog anyway.

Take the tarps off. Even if the piles get rained on they will dry out very quickly once the sun returns. The tarps are just going to hold in moisture.
Throw your tarps back on when you're going to get your first snow storm.

Unless you buy kiln dried, or get lucky with someone having some split since last fall, all that wood will be at the same point your stash is at now.

A choice between sun or wind, always choose wind. We've stacked wood in the shade many, many times over the years and have had no trouble getting it dry. Of course if you can get both wind and sun, so much the better.

Agreed, Dennis won't steer you wrong. A good wind will dry your stacks just fine. I don't know where you are located but if you include your location if someone else on here is in that area they may be able to steer you to something as far as a good wood supplier or maybe even a place to cut some dead fall. The slab wood around here is pretty plentiful and most is hardwood. If you could come across some of that it would be a good alternative. I get a relatively long burn with slab and it works out really well for my situation.....get home in the evening and load some slab for the evening burn and then good pieces for the night burn and again in the morning.