2014-2015. What's in your stack?.....

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Jealous of all that purty wood! I've got about 2 cords of honey locust, black locust, red and white oak, a bit of poplar and some black walnut. I'm looking forward to seeing how all that honey locust burns.. I've always been an oak man until I scrounged and got a truck load of of this honey gold!
 
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Just MM'ered my stash.

All the pine & 1 cord of larch @ 13-18% fresh split. Already in the basement.

The stock pile is maturing from 18-24% on randoms splits ==c
 
Mostly doug fir here, about a cord in the shed - last time I checked (about six weeks ago) it was at 24%, so fingers crossed it will be ready in time. Also another half cord of mixed hemlock and what I think is probably birch from a garden tree that fell down last year. And another cord of red alder and bitter cherry that was cut down early this summer - hopefully I can save that for next year - it was at 38% last time I checked.

Lots more alder falling still to do - I need to work out a way to keep everything sorted. I'm skeptical of just top-covering here (it rains sideways often in the winter), so maybe I can rearrange the shed into more sections. Or get hubby to build the new deck so that I can keep things dry under there ;lol.
If I were you, I would retest that 24% wood and see how it's going and if need be split it smaller so that it dries out quicker if your planning on using it this year. I did that to some splits and it worked out well for me, especially if your still getting warm sun.....
 
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Just MM'ered my stash.

All the pine & 1 cord of larch @ 13-18% fresh split. Already in the basement.

The stock pile is maturing from 18-24% on randoms splits ==c
Isn't it nice to have a stockpile that is maturing? It takes some work but the 3 year plan really works starting after the second year.......
 
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Any guesses on species?

I just split some scrounged wood today, and I now know why he was so happy to give it away. There's a little mold in it and on the ends, and every piece of it had this real twisty grain in it. It seemed like every chunk took way too long to split. After the first two or three, I just gave them one whack with a Fiskars x25 and then got a Home Depot wedge in there and whacked it with a 4lb Home Depot hammer until it gave way. After a few more that way I found that approaching the branch/knot was best done from the straight end (if there is one). At first I thought I could just pound through them with the wedge, but that just didn't work. Then I got out a five foot wrecking bar to break through any final resistance. A picture of this pile is going to tell a thousand words.

It seems like just yesterday I had a Cold Steel tomahawk and was splitting 1x3's from the construction junk pile.

Thank all you gents who have helped me to see the light and feel the heat. I am sore and tired, and it feels SO GOOD to take a peach nectar bar out of the freezer after working hard for a couple hours. The cold tangy sweetness took every other thought out of my head for a good minute.
 
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Isn't it nice to have a stockpile that is maturing? It takes some work but the 3 year plan really works starting after the second year.......

It is nice to have a stockpile.

Unfortunately we don't have any hardwood to burn.

Fortunately our softer wood seasons in Half the time.

Yeah Iam on a 3 year plan. IDE be on more if I had enough covered storage.
 
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Any guesses on species?

I just split some scrounged wood today, and I now know why he was so happy to give it away. There's a little mold in it and on the ends, and every piece of it had this real twisty grain in it. It seemed like every chunk took way too long to split. After the first two or three, I just gave them one whack with a Fiskars x25 and then got a Home Depot wedge in there and whacked it with a 4lb Home Depot hammer until it gave way. After a few more that way I found that approaching the branch/knot was best done from the straight end (if there is one). At first I thought I could just pound through them with the wedge, but that just didn't work. Then I got out a five foot wrecking bar to break through any final resistance. A picture of this pile is going to tell a thousand words.

It seems like just yesterday I had a Cold Steel tomahawk and was splitting 1x3's from the construction junk pile.

Thank all you gents who have helped me to see the light and feel the heat. I am sore and tired, and it feels SO GOOD to take a peach nectar bar out of the freezer after working hard for a couple hours. The cold tangy sweetness took every other thought out of my head for a good minute.
That wood is hard to id with no bark on it, Nford know his stuff, if I had to take a guess I would say its maple from the color inside. Hard work pays off....
 
Is that it......that's all the wood burners we got on here.......
Now that wood is up for the season, it's nice to know I got
Maple, red oak, black locust,a little beech and cherry....
Keep working on the 3 year plan + y'all....
 
I'd guess some type of conifer based on the way the branches seem to be arranged. The stuff in log form looks like box elder perhaps?

There's some pine in there and some oak limbs, and some I just have no idea. There's some chestnut, but not much.
 
Mostly oak here that I cut 2 years ago.

I have a mix of oak, bay laurel and eucalyptus ready for 2015 - 2016. Now to build a woodshed...
Cool, do you dry those bay laurel leaves and use them? Chefs have used them for centuries....
 
There's some pine in there and some oak limbs, and some I just have no idea. There's some chestnut, but not much.
How much do you burn every year?
 
Cool, do you dry those bay laurel leaves and use them? Chefs have used them for centuries....

We bought this place a year ago. Prior to that I never saw a bay tree. Now we have them all over our property.

My wife has used them in soup and I brought some to a coworker that did the same.

The firewood smells like the Bay Leaf spice jar. My wife read somewhere that ticks don't like bay so we are glad they are here.
 
Not only what you have for the upcoming year but......
What is your moisture content ..... MC.... For the upcoming year.......
 
My moisture content? Hmmm, since we're all "ugly bags of mostly water" I'd say pretty darn high. Oh, the wood!
... I checked before stacking it a couple of weeks ago; some was in the teens, some in the thirties, and some was so saturated my meter read over-limit. Hoping with the little time we have left, the sun and wind will make enough of it usable to get through this winter. (it was supposed to be seasoned for a year, but it was left in a big pile uncovered until delivered to me)

Update: just pulled three random medium sized splits from the stack, split them each three or more and got readings across all that range from 16% to 23%, but that's a vey small sample. I know I had a fair amount that was off the MM scale (I tried to put most of that near the bottom course when stacking, knowing it wouldn't be for this winter), and some in the mid 30s%. Damn sure that ain't ready to burn yet, but looks like I may get enough useable from the delivered six cords for this year (only shooting to cut my oil use in half my first season with the stove).
 
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I need to MM mine. But I know for sure that I've got some 2-3 year old red oak, some 4 year old black locust, some 2 yo Bois D'Arc, some white pine that was css this past spring, and some assorted junk. Kids wanted to light the stove a few nights ago when it got down to near 50. :) Not quite ready yet, but its coming.
 
I have about a cord of very dry Red Maple, about two cords of one-year old Red Maple, and about a cord and a half od three-year old oak (White, Black Chestnut, Red). I burn a little under four cords per year so I am in OK shape, but I'd like the one-year old Maple to be two-years old. I need to get farther ahead.
 
My current sub-20% woods are:

1 cord Bradford pear
1 cd. black locust
1 cd. Doug fir
~1.5 cord "grab bag" woods: various amounts of bigleaf maple, ash, white oak, alder, red cedar, sequoia, pine, cherry, etc.

We only burn about 2.5 cd. a year, so in good shape... I actually hope to hoard most of the locust for another year or two; I'd like to have a permanent "emergency" stash of around two cords+ of BL, since it lasts almost indefinitely.
 
Yes.... The time is coming for you to start your first fire this season, I have very small splits of cherry, red oak and maple ready to go..... How about you all....
 
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I'll be feeding my stove LAMB this year - Locust Ash Maple & Beach. Have some oak for it to snack on as well.
 
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Can't wait! But I'm holding out. When do you typically start? Late October?
They calling for 50 with high winds and rain, if I open the windows, the kids and wife will be begging for a fire by the time I get home from work, a new yearly ritual that I now love.....(long story there. Lol)....
 
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