So I have 3.5 year old white and red oak. Red burns like a dream. But the white one gives me a really hard time. It almost doesn't want to burn. Wood was cut split and stacked over 3 years ago. Does any of you expirience problem with whit oak?
White oak
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White Oak is a dense wood...more so than Red Oak and takes longer to season...have you checked the moisture of the White Oak? You may be surprised....I have had White Oak and Locust and Hedge that was well seasoned(below 20%)be hard to fire off BUT once it did it was a beautiful thing....your moisture meter will tell the tale.
No I didn't. I am pretty sure it's dry. You just have the feeling when you touch it, but anything is possible. I guess I used wrong words it just doesn't ignites as easily as red oak. Once it starts going it goes and lasts longer than red oak.
I love me some White Oak! I just loaded my stove on a hot bed of coals with some 3 yr split White Oak and it is taking off...not as fast as lesser woods...it tested in the mid to high teens....I am about 3-4 years ahead on this batch...going out in the morning to cut up some 4ft dia. logs...a Red Oak,White Oak and Pin Oak that were deemed not good enough to sell...perfect cord wood!
Yes that's exactly what happened to me. On a cold start takes forever to start burning but put it on hot bed of coals and it goes nice. Perfect wood for overnight burn
I cut a bunch of small locust out of a grove a couple years ago and split it down fairly small and a s a result it is pretty dry now and I will use it as "kindling" for a cold start...once that nice bed of coals is ready then I load up the White Oak...I never try to cold start with the White Oak or Hedge
Good for you! I am blessed to have a wide variety of hardwoods to choose from here....and I usually choose Oak of which we have several varieties here.
I am about 4 or so years ahead. Now I can afford to be a snob. So I decided that the only woods from now on for me will be red oak and maybe some pine.
Probably 90% of what I burn is white oak.
Three years after being cut, split, and stacked is the minimum to season. I suppose a moisture meter is nice, but if you hold the end of two logs or splits and bang them together seasoned white oak makes a characteristic "ring" rather than the dull clunk of unseasoned.
It can be hard to get going. My Jotul Oslo prefers smaller splits for cold starts and nothing larger than four inches on a hot reload; three are better. My Englander is not near as picky.
This works to my advantage overnight. A single six inch split, or better yet a log at the back will easily go 10 hours.
White oak leaves few unburned coals and produces little ash. It also produces more btu's per cord than almost any other commonly available wood here in the Midwest.
Three years after being cut, split, and stacked is the minimum to season. I suppose a moisture meter is nice, but if you hold the end of two logs or splits and bang them together seasoned white oak makes a characteristic "ring" rather than the dull clunk of unseasoned.
It can be hard to get going. My Jotul Oslo prefers smaller splits for cold starts and nothing larger than four inches on a hot reload; three are better. My Englander is not near as picky.
This works to my advantage overnight. A single six inch split, or better yet a log at the back will easily go 10 hours.
White oak leaves few unburned coals and produces little ash. It also produces more btu's per cord than almost any other commonly available wood here in the Midwest.
Got me some white oak from saw mill at 10x10x20” long to the glass in my princess. Wow 24 hour burn at moderate rate! Hard stuff!
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Yeah, white oak isn't the greatest to start a fire with.
I'm gonna have a bunch of it to burn in three or four years as the gypsy moths and winter moths here stressed quite a few of them to collapse.
With some of these warmer days I've been burning more pine for short hot burns and my stash is going quick.
I'm gonna have a bunch of it to burn in three or four years as the gypsy moths and winter moths here stressed quite a few of them to collapse.
With some of these warmer days I've been burning more pine for short hot burns and my stash is going quick.
I want to say that white oak rocks as a over night burn wood. I put 3 pieces in my stove at 10 pm. It didn't fill my firebox maybe 75%-80% capacity and I woke up at 6:30 to 72df house with a nice bed of red coals and some chunks of wood that I had to poke so I could reload. Temp this morning was mid 20s so I think it's pretty impressive.
Yep. Same here. Good stuff. I burn a lot of it, and it needs at least two years to season properly. 3 should be fine.
I never cold start with white oak by itself. Either I add it to an existing fire, or put it on the bottom and start a top down burn with something else, like ash or hackberry.
FaithfulWoodsman
Minister of Fire
White oak is my favorite hot burner. I love hedge and black locust, but they seem to need a little more time drying and nothing else smells so good when spitting.
Paulywalnut
Minister of Fire
I think white oak is like locust, it does well with a less dense wood. Once going it's great.
hickoryhoarder
Minister of Fire
What I find is that two years after being stacked, white oak weighs more than red oak. This tells me it takes longer to season. There are also a number of trees that get sold as white oak (legitimately) -- rock chestnut oak, swamp chestnut oak, and chinkapin oak. Maybe these dry at different rates.
The Chestnut Oak and "water" Oak take longer to season than White Oak in my experience...what we call Water Oak here is very moisture laden wood when fresh cut....when splitting it water almost runs out of it....I avoid it.
White oak does seem to take a bit longer to season, but with equal volumes and moisture content white oak will weigh about 10% more than red oak. Not surprisingly, white oak has about 10% more btu value as well.
I am into a stretch of white oak from one of my bins. Mine is aged 2+ years. It feels heavy and burns slow...must still need to dry a bit. Takes a little more to get going, but once it does it throws a lot of heat and burns a long while. Not my favorite wood to work with but does a nice job keeping me warm.
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