This week I picked up a bit of crab apple from a CL posting. According to poster it was cut sometime last year.
Today I processed my haul to stack and store. It had a mixture of branch pieces (1" and up) as well as the larger pieces that maxed out at perhaps 12" or so. I don't know if it was just a small trunk or perhaps they had gotten rid of the trunk before. Some pieces were cut short - 16" length and others were up to 10' long. Oddly the smaller pieces were the short ones for the most part.
This was my first time dealing with any sort of apple wood. Interesting stuff I'll say. I can't wait to start burning it as I have heard so many good things about the heat output! some observations though...
First - the stuff sure seasons unevenly. It seems some of the larger pieces were not just green - they were still alive! There actually were some sprigs of new growth coming out of one piece. I don't know if perhaps the end of it was on the ground giving it moisture or what, but that was a surprise to me. Other pieces were dry enough that I think I could burn them today (I didn't stick the moisture meter on any as I plan to wait another year anyway).
Splitting - The dry pieces with knots were a royal pain to split! I pulled the wedges out for a couple pieces. The green pieces were a completely different story though. First one I hit I was shocked when the halves went flying and the axe was buried in my chopping block. So... future note - split apple green if I have a chance
Besides ease of splitting that green apple sure smelled nice.
In the end I managed to get it all stacked - there were some pieces of misc other wood in that haul, but it is mostly apple. I didn't measure it (yet) but am estimating I ended up with about 1/4-1/3 cord of it so there is enough there to get a nice taste of it in 10/11 season - assuming the green pieces are ready by then.
Today I processed my haul to stack and store. It had a mixture of branch pieces (1" and up) as well as the larger pieces that maxed out at perhaps 12" or so. I don't know if it was just a small trunk or perhaps they had gotten rid of the trunk before. Some pieces were cut short - 16" length and others were up to 10' long. Oddly the smaller pieces were the short ones for the most part.
This was my first time dealing with any sort of apple wood. Interesting stuff I'll say. I can't wait to start burning it as I have heard so many good things about the heat output! some observations though...
First - the stuff sure seasons unevenly. It seems some of the larger pieces were not just green - they were still alive! There actually were some sprigs of new growth coming out of one piece. I don't know if perhaps the end of it was on the ground giving it moisture or what, but that was a surprise to me. Other pieces were dry enough that I think I could burn them today (I didn't stick the moisture meter on any as I plan to wait another year anyway).
Splitting - The dry pieces with knots were a royal pain to split! I pulled the wedges out for a couple pieces. The green pieces were a completely different story though. First one I hit I was shocked when the halves went flying and the axe was buried in my chopping block. So... future note - split apple green if I have a chance
Besides ease of splitting that green apple sure smelled nice.In the end I managed to get it all stacked - there were some pieces of misc other wood in that haul, but it is mostly apple. I didn't measure it (yet) but am estimating I ended up with about 1/4-1/3 cord of it so there is enough there to get a nice taste of it in 10/11 season - assuming the green pieces are ready by then.
