What is your opinion of this wood?

[SteveJ]

Just talked to a guy that has oak heartwood for sale - $150 for 1000lbs at http://denver.craigslist.org/mat/674023090.html. The wood is by-product of railroad ties (untreated) and is 5" to 12" thick blocks. The guy selling informs me that 1000lbs of this stuff translates to about 1/4 cord stacked.

I have been burning unseasoned beetle killed pine in my Seton W-130 all winter and have gone through probably 12 cords.

Just wondering if anyone has burned oak heartwood in a gassifier and how the shape and size of the oak heartwood would perform.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[jebatty]

At $150 for 1000 lbs, equals about $525 per cord (red oak about 3500 lbs/cord). While it may be high quality, it is pricey, and pound for pound, heat value is about the same. If I had them, I would give them a try. Would not buy them at that price.

Is a RR tie about 8" square? so your blocks are 5"- 12" long? No experience with your boiler, but I think at least the shorter blocks would do well and maybe the larger also. I would not pack them in tight, or would put a couple in with other wood

 

[EricV]

That's pretty pricey, I bet he is pricing for the wood working crowd, wood turners etc.

 

[JustWood]

My company saws rail ties ( 6x8 and 7x9 mostly beech) and we end trim them before shipment. I burn them in my furnace after about 3 years of seasoning. I don't split them because of the large door on my furnace. We sell loads of them for $150/cord . I think his price is high but I'm sure Denver is a pricey market.

 

[chrisfallis]

Last summer I went on a tour of that RR tie plant in Denver where I think these cut-offs originate. I saw a pile of oak cut-offs and I even joked about raiding the "scrap" pile to get some nice wood for my fireplace. The chunks that I picked up and played with were heavy, even for oak. They even smelled wet, if you know what I mean. I think that the moisture content is really high as the ties are milled from fresh out of the forest logs. The RR ties, after being cut to size, site on site for a year or two to air dry before they are creosoted. I'll bet the cut-offs are half water. Do you want to pay that much for what you are not burning?

 

[Eric Johnson]

Ties (like most other lumber products) are milled from green logs. Then they're loaded into a pressure chamber where creosote, or some alternative preservative, is forced into the wood, replacing much of the water.

 

[SteveJ]

Thanks for all the great info...

Would it be worth it if the moisture content was 25% or less?

I will probably tell him to forget it.

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[jebatty]

The effective per cord price for red oak was based on 20% MC. It's your money, though.

Remember, as a rule of thumb all wood has about the same btu's per lb. 100 lbs of pine has about the same btu's as 100 lbs of oak. The oak will be more dense and therefore for the same volume, oak will have more btu's than pine.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

At $150 for 1000 lbs, equals about $525 per cord (red oak about 3500 lbs/cord).

If we assume the other Jim's calculation above was correct . . . :grrr: So far I don't buy wood, but most people around here buy logs by the tri-ax load. I hear $600-700 as the typical cost. I also hear most people figure about 7 full cord to these loads. So you have logs delivered for 100/cord (I bet that price will be history before snow flies this year) and cut it to the length you want, or you could pay 525 a cord and get all kinds of lengths wich may hang up and bridge.

I know WAY less than the other two guys who talked about the RR ties above, but I will tell you I am VERY surprised to hear of ties made from oak. And why are they untreated?

Yes, I think oak is very nearly the perfect firewood, but no, I don't think its worth 5 times other wood.

Just my two cents

 

[JustWood]

At $150 for 1000 lbs, equals about $525 per cord (red oak about 3500 lbs/cord).

If we assume the other Jim's calculation above was correct . . . :grrr: So far I don't buy wood, but most people around here buy logs by the tri-ax load. I hear $600-700 as the typical cost. I also hear most people figure about 7 full cord to these loads. So you have logs delivered for 100/cord (I bet that price will be history before snow flies this year) and cut it to the length you want, or you could pay 525 a cord and get all kinds of lengths wich may hang up and bridge.

I know WAY less than the other two guys who talked about the RR ties above, but I will tell you I am VERY surprised to hear of ties made from oak. And why are they untreated?

Yes, I think oak is very nearly the perfect firewood, but no, I don't think its worth 5 times other wood.

Just my two cents

Ties have always been made from oak due to it's resistance to rot. It's been just the last 10-20 years they also use other dense hardwoods.
The reason the blocks are untreated is the tie company trims each end perfectly square before treatment. Therefor what is left is various length blocks

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I've lived on the wrong side of the tracks most my life, yet never knew they were made from oak. I quess the treatment pretty much obsucred my view.

I can go home now today, knowing that I learned something!!