nola mike said:
Cool, just what I wanted to know. There's plenty of dead men walking around. I had been trying to cut stuff already on the ground, and it's either wet or rotted. I stumbled on pallets when I needed to get rid of my stove packaging, and thought I had a bright idea. Went on CL, took apart a bunch and loaded my truck up for free. Endless supply of them around here, and they burn awesome.
Mike, you just learned one of the keys of finding good vs. poor wood. When a tree falls, if the log lays flat on the ground, it won't last long before it turns punky. However, if you find some leaners or anything that is off the ground (sometimes the limbs keep most of the trunk up off the ground), then usually it will be good unless it has just been there for too long.
Warning though. Just because a tree is dead does not mean it is ready to burn! You will likely find that out quickly. For example, we cut a lot of dead elm and we wait until all (or almost all) the bark has fallen from the tree. The top branches usually will burn okay right away but we always leave the trunk an extra year before trying to burn it. Here's another hint. If you find elm that is dead with the bark fallen off, do not listen to folks when they say to stay away from elm because it splits so hard. If you wait to cut after it is dead like this, most of it splits pretty decent and makes better firewood too.
Most oaks that are dead will tend to have some punk around the outside of them. Pay no attention to that as those will still make good burning. A little punk and oak seems to go together.
Try to get the hardest of the hardwoods if at all possible.
If you cut any green standing trees, white ash will dry probably the fastest of any tree you will find. It is low moisture to begin with and dries fast. Makes excellent firewood and now there is a glut in many areas because of the Emerald Ash Borer that is killing all of them.
Good luck.