What Kind please?.... It was my first time.... Cutting Oak

[lowroadacres]

Yesterday my 15 year old son and I started into a new bit of wood lot a couple of miles from home.

I know the wood is some form of dead fall oak but having read over and over again on hearth.com about the various types of oak, the merits of oak (lots of heat) and the dangers of oak (long drying times) I finally took the plunge.

Please help me determine what sort of Oak I am dealing with here. These four trees from one cluster have been dead for several years with one tree still standing while the other 3 are downed. The bark is loose all the way along until the smaller branches.

To my surprise the trees we started into yesterday actually split relatively easily considering the horror stories I have heard. Now compared to Ash it took more effort with the maul but still it came apart much easier than we anticipated.

There is lots more in this woodlot and we are going to get at it a bit at a time with ash still our preferred fuel given the drying time differential and the proximity of the Ash being within a mile of our home.

 

[Dune]

Hard to tell. I wouldn't worry too much though, it clearly has a good head start on drying and should be good within a year.
The top half of the trees will likely burn well by the fall if properly stacked off the ground.

 

[weatherguy]

I split quite a bit of red oak with my Fiskars til my shoulder flared up, splits pretty easily. What kind of oak is that? Bur Oak?

 

[lowroadacres]

Not a clue what type of oak it is. That's why I am asking

 

[jackatc1]

To me it looks like what we call rock oak.

Very high BTU!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_prinus

 

[weatherguy]

Not a clue what type of oak it is. That's why I am asking

Sorry, missed that line in your post, I think its burr oak.

 

[TreePointer]

How about a picture of twig with leaf buds from that tree or similar tree in the area?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It is different from the oaks we have here but my bet is that it is in the red oak family. Yes, it will split a bit harder than ash but still not hard splitting.

 

[NH_Wood]

Not sure what you have, but not sure why you think that oak will be very hard to split. I only get red oak here and it mostly splits easy. I haven't heard a lot of complaints for the other oaks (red or white oak groups) in terms of splitting. Regardless, looks like you'll have a good pile of BTU's! Cheers!

 

[Wood Duck]

I think it looks like Bur Oak, and I wonder if there is any other oak likely to occur in Manitoba.

 

[jackatc1]

On second look I have to agree with Wood Duck!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bur_oak

 

[lowroadacres]

Now that I have gone back and looked at things I am thinking Burr oak it is. I would love to get buds and leaves to show but there are none yet. Soon there will be buds and I can get dried leaves maybe.

On the splitting side I just know how dense oak is and because it can be hard on a chain I assumed splitting it was going to be a chore.

Now the drying time part is going to be the frustrating thing if it is as long and as hard to truly season as many of our hearth.com members say it is.

 

[weatherguy]

Now that I have gone back and looked at things I am thinking Burr oak it is. I would love to get buds and leaves to show but there are none yet. Soon there will be buds and I can get dried leaves maybe.

On the splitting side I just know how dense oak is and because it can be hard on a chain I assumed splitting it was going to be a chore.

Now the drying time part is going to be the frustrating thing if it is as long and as hard to truly season as many of our hearth.com members say it is.

It is, I found that out the hard way, I dont stack my oak in rows of three because I want all the wood to get the wind, I put it in my sunniest and windiest spot.

 

[ScotO]

What you got there is what we refer to as rock oak or chestnut oak. Other than that thick bark, that stuff is great firewood, gather up as much as you can...

 

[Woody Stover]

Now the drying time part is going to be the frustrating thing if it is as long and as hard to truly season as many of our hearth.com members say it is.

Bur is in the White Oak group. I just got my first batch of White Oak stacked so I can't say for sure, but I believe it is supposed to dry a bit faster the Red Oaks.

 

[jackatc1]

Woody I second that, I find that white oak does dry faster than red.
And standing dead for for two or more years, it would not suprise me to be ready this year.
If spilts are not to big, and dry windy weather,particularly the tops.