Wood delivery day today . . .

[snowleopard]

. . . and I'm feeling a little uneasy about it. Nine cords is a lot of wood, and I've still got a lot of snow around here, which limits where it can get put. I think I have a working plan for where the wood can go while it seasons, but the glitches turn up in the doing--so we'll see.

I want to get at least the first three cords split now so it can start seasoning asap. It's birch, and my recollection is that green birch doesn't like to split very well. Any advice? Also, about how long does it take you to split a cord of wood by hand? I've been doing it as I go along this winter, w/a lot of help from my son. I've considered renting a splitter--but would rather not if this is feasible to do by hand without it dragging out forever.

I'm making the purchase now, because it looks like fuel oil is on a run-up, and when that happens, the wood haulers raise the price of firewood--or so I've seen in the past. And I want to take advantage of as much seasoning time as I can. We've got a lot of sun and some breeze right now, and I think getting those extra weeks of seasoning will make a difference come fall. I'm hoping to get some last-year-cut wood later this summer--but may have to burn this stuff come winter.

Advice welcome, encouragement also welcome. Hoping I haven't bit off a bit more than I can chew here.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Congratulations on getting the firewood snowleopard. It really makes me feel good to see so many members finally getting ahead on their wood supply.

Not sure of your birch (which type of birch) and the burning nor splitting characteristics so can't help there unless it is white birch. That splits easy and is a decent burner. It dries fast after it is split and is easy to light.

You no doubt are right about the cost going up and even now with the price of fuel going up, it costs more to run the trucks and saws and other equipment. So getting the wood now is great for many reasons. Also splitting as much as you can as soon as you can will only help you in the long run. 9 cord is a good load but if you just keep at it you'll find you can do the cutting and splitting reasonably fast.

Can't help you at all on the snow.

Good luck.

 

[snowleopard]

Well, Dennis, you learn something new every day. I've always heard this referred to as paper birch, or plain old birch, since it's the only kind we have here, but I looked it up, and it's also known as white birch. It has all the characteristics you describe, so I think we're talking about the same thing. The bark makes *great* firestarter, too.

Also learned that the tree which I have been referring to as cottonwood isn't cottonwood, it's balsam poplar. There are only six species native to this area: white spruce, black spruce, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, larch (tamarack) and paper birch. I'm trying to stay away from burning spruce because I think that it's prone to creosote buildup.

If I were to get out there with some wood ash and sprinkle in on the snow, I'd get some serious evaporation going on. It's a good kind of spring--we've got sunshine, breezes and cool weather, and when this happens, the snow just kinda goes away up in the sky--we don't get the floods and mush and such. Keeping my fingers crossed here.

And yes, the Gospel according to Hearth.com is sinking in:

Get your wood early.
Never pass up a good scrounge.
Split/stack/season.
If you try something weird, keep data and then you can call it an experiment.
Put the winter's supply of wood in the shed.
You don't have to share--you get to share.
A wood thief is a dirty-down-low-rotten-no-good life form.
Wear a funny hat when you split your wood.
No pix, didn't happen.

Thanks for the post.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You learn fast!

On the birch, for sure get it split ASAP before it rots. If not split that stuff can rot pretty fast but once split, all is well and it does dry fast. You'll like it.

I was in back this morning looking around and am still amazed as we have very little snow left; just some patches of snow. Yet, there is very little water in our woods. By now it should be so that we don't even want to go back there. I still think we'll pay with a long wet spell very soon. If not, the water table is might low and will stay there.

 

[nate379]

I'm not a tree expert, but isn't balsam poplar the main family of many different poplar trees, cottonwood included?

 

[snowleopard]

I'm not a tree expert, either. Here's what I think we have (blue is the category, red is the species. To further complicate things, cottenwood and balsam poplar tend to hybridize where their ranges meet).

Populus section Aegiros [8] – black poplars or cottonwoods. North America, Europe, western Asia; temperate
Populus tremuloides – Quaking Aspen or Trembling Aspen (North America)


Populus section Tacamahaca – balsam poplars. North America, Asia; cool temperate
Populus balsamifera – Ontario Balsam Poplar (Northern North America) (= P. candicans, P. tacamahaca)

 

[firefighterjake]

Well, Dennis, you learn something new every day. I've always heard this referred to as paper birch, or plain old birch, since it's the only kind we have here, but I looked it up, and it's also known as white birch. It has all the characteristics you describe, so I think we're talking about the same thing. The bark makes *great* firestarter, too.

Also learned that the tree which I have been referring to as cottonwood isn't cottonwood, it's balsam poplar. There are only six species native to this area: white spruce, black spruce, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, larch (tamarack) and paper birch. I'm trying to stay away from burning spruce because I think that it's prone to creosote buildup.

If I were to get out there with some wood ash and sprinkle in on the snow, I'd get some serious evaporation going on. It's a good kind of spring--we've got sunshine, breezes and cool weather, and when this happens, the snow just kinda goes away up in the sky--we don't get the floods and mush and such. Keeping my fingers crossed here.

And yes, the Gospel according to Hearth.com is sinking in:

Get your wood early.
Never pass up a good scrounge.
Split/stack/season.
If you try something weird, keep data and then you can call it an experiment.
Put the winter's supply of wood in the shed.
You don't have to share--you get to share.
A wood thief is a dirty-down-low-rotten-no-good life form.
Wear a funny hat when you split your wood.
No pix, didn't happen.

Thanks for the post.

Here's my "funny hat" . . . a trapper hat made by sister in Alaska out of beaver and sheep . . . a bit large for my head though . . . and I'm obviously not wearing it while splitting wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jake, you get to play with that snow machine some more this Spring before putting it to sleep for the summer.

 

[firefighterjake]

Jake, you get to play with that snow machine some more this Spring before putting it to sleep for the summer.

Considering playing hooky on Wednesday to go ride with a few coworkers . . . I'm torn by the desire to get one more ride in . . . and the desire to not use up too much vacation time. I'm 12 miles shy of breaking the 1,000 mile mark this winter so I might give in to temptation . . . but leave the hat home.