Dead Standing?

[JP11]

I'm working on my storage now. I'm planning to have the vigas by summer.

I've been spending my energy cutting blow downs along my driveway at the moment. I have lots of stuff that I keep noticing (without even venturing out off the driveway) that is dead and still standing.

My question.. Are these blown over, and dead standing trees going to be appreciably drier than stuff that I would cut otherwise? I don't have plans to cut a lot of "good" trees. I would like to cut a 8' wide trail along one property line (about 2700 feet) so there's gotta be a fair amount of wood along there. I realize that year 1 is going to be the toughest. I need to cut twice the wood this year to get ahead. I'm really planning to clean up 70 acres of blow downs and get rid of a lot of dead standing stuff. Just wondering if buying something C/S is likely to be needed.

JP

 

[Jags]

If your not planning to burn till next fall, I would bet that your standing dead should be fit fuel by then. Get it cut, split and stacked in the sunniest, windiest place you got and I think you will be in good shape.

 

[gzecc]

Sometimes the dead standing tops are good enough to burn right away, especially if the bark is gone. You know when you bang the branches together. They sound like baseball bats. As you move down the tree, the moisture content increase though.

 

[Kenster]

Trees might have been blown down because they were already dead or weak. Or they could have been very healthy and just met up with the wrong wind. If they were healthy when they were blown down and have not been down very long, they'll be almost as green (wet) as a live standing tree.

A standing dead can give you a good head start on the drying process depending upon how long the tree has been dead. In particular, the limbs may already by nice and dry and burnable right away or in the very near future. I have taken down trees where virtually all the limbs have fallen off but the main trunk is still oozing water.

Both your blow downs and your standing deads are where you need to start though. I will never cut down a healthy tree for future firewood. I just have too many alternatives.
With your large acreage I'm almost certain that you can come up with a lot of dead and down wood that will get you through much of the winter without your having to buy wood. I can almost guarantee that any wood you have on your property will be much dryer than what some vendor will sell you as "seasoned" wood. Don't be afraid to burn wood that is not pretty. Do what you can to get through this winter and get after all those blow downs and standing deads. Get 'em split and stacked out in the open, UNCOVERED, and a lot of it may well be ready for next winter.

 

[JP11]

Thanks

My initial idea is to C/S/S on pallets. Individually wrapped a bit (either around the edges with chicken wire or a bit of stretch wrap)

Then I can pick up wood a pallet load at a time with the forks on the tractor (hey, you got a cab tractor with a stereo you wanna get some seat time in ) and flop the wood inside. Figure with the radiant floor, and the residual heat from boiler.. wood should dry a bit inside too.

JP

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks

My initial idea is to C/S/S on pallets. Individually wrapped a bit (either around the edges with chicken wire or a bit of stretch wrap)

Then I can pick up wood a pallet load at a time with the forks on the tractor (hey, you got a cab tractor with a stereo you wanna get some seat time in ) and flop the wood inside. Figure with the radiant floor, and the residual heat from boiler.. wood should dry a bit inside too.

JP

Chicken wire = good.

Stretch wrap = not so good.

Normally I also would try to give some space between the stacks . . . I stack on pallets . . . typically two rows with some space in between . . . but based on what you are describing I would simply stack them . . . just don't wrap it in stretch wrap to allow the wind to works its mojo on the wood.

 

[firefighterjake]

Oh yeah . . . also agreeing with Jags and Gzec . . . there is a chance some of the standing dead would be good right now . . . most likely it would be good by next Fall . . . I know I burned a lot of standing dead bark-less American elm in my first year with just a few months of seasoning and it burned fair . . . it burned much better after a year . . . but it did well enough with just a few months.

 

[babzog]

I cut some standing dead poplar this fall (was leaning on my phone line). Stuff went up like a match held to paper! It was sooo dry and hard! Surprised the heck out me so much when I cut it (that it wasn't rotten) that I saved it for shoulder season burning.

 

[Kenster]

I've found that if a standing dead trunk is dry enough to be just a wee bit punky, it's usually good to go ahead and burn. A little punk, as long as it hasn't been freshly rained on, acts like a fire starter!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Definitely agree with other posts. Congratulations to you for thinking ahead on the firewood. You won't be sorry for that for sure. Also on the drying, yes, windy spot and yes if you wrap with chicken wire but never use anything like tarp on the sides of a wood pile as that will trap moisture in and the idea is to get the moisture out. Somehow they still have not designed many stoves that will burn water worth a hoot.

 

[JP11]

It just took a little math.

Compared the cost of my biodiesel blend to buying wood.

To make it even... I would have needed to be able to buy dry wood for 195 a cord to make it work. Knew there was no way I'd find dry wood. Figured rushing to get the boiler in this year was dumb on many levels. I've got 600gal of the bio. That will mix up about 4 tanks of fuel. So that's 1200 gal of oil or so.

Now in reality.. I'll run out of biodiesel mix before winter is over... but it just didn't make sense to rush the boiler install. Storage tanks should be ready first of the year. They are first.. then expansion and plumbing and circs and thermometers. Then boiler and connect it all. Finally wall the tanks in and blow in insulation. Figure It ought to be all done about August.

For now.. I'll put my motivation into wood gathering and reading the boards.

JP

 

[benjamin]

Chicken wire vs stretch wrap? chicken wire is definitely better, but I'd find some 2"x4" welded wire. Welded wire is much thicker and much stronger than chicken wire and it won't get ripped apart by snagging a branch when you're carrying it around. Then the only question is how tall and will one side open up? or do you tip them over? or limit the height?

Maybe fasten three sides to the pallet and leave the fourth hinged as a door, form a loop on the door and the adjacent piece and use a small rod that you'd have to pull out the top.

Or maybe staple each end of the wire to a 2"x2" and use 2-3 deck screws to hold the door closed. Open it with a cordless drill.

Maybe the chicken wire is easier after all?

 

[JP11]

figuring the chicken wire is just for keeping the stack together. Only going about 150 yards from where I'll store the wood to the house. It's half gravel drive and half paved.

planned on just winding a few staples into it. Have to just wait and see how it works.

I liked the look of those ABS shipping crates.. have like 2 foot high sides. would love to come across some of those. Figuring I can probably stack 3' high on a standard pallet. Stack the pallets 2 high. plenty of sun where they are going. It's all just an idea now. I'll just have to see how the forks on the tractor perform with it.

JP