Does wood dry in the winter in Alaska? Pics

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bogydave

Minister of Fire
Dec 4, 2009
8,426
So Cent ALASKA
Cut in October
Today it looks like it's drying
Alaska birch, (Paper? Yellow? ) (chart said tested to have 23.6 Mil BTU/cord)
 

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If you split Birch, it will dry much faster.
 
LLigetfa said:
If you split Birch, it will dry much faster.

Roger that! True with any wood.
Been thinking the same thing since the snow came & the near 0°f temps.
Now the stack is drifted in. Oil in the splitter don't like cold.
I guess I could take it in the shop, warm it up, get it running & go out there.
But it'll melt come spring, splitter & me both like the weather better then.
I'll think of a few more excuses :)
Don't need it until 2013/14
No room in the wood shed.
less likely to be stolen in the rounds
Looks pretty the way it is.
Retired so I'm to busy.
Need some help here with a few more good excuses. :) LOL
 
bogydave said:
Cut in October
Today it looks like it's drying
Alaska birch, (Paper? Yellow? ) (chart said tested to have 23.6 Mil BTU/cord)



It's cracking because it was so damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn cold!


zap
 
bogydave said:
LLigetfa said:
If you split Birch, it will dry much faster.

Roger that! True with any wood.
Been thinking the same thing since the snow came & the near 0°f temps.
Now the stack is drifted in. Oil in the splitter don't like cold.
I guess I could take it in the shop, warm it up, get it running & go out there.
But it'll melt come spring, splitter & me both like the weather better then.
I'll think of a few more excuses :)
Don't need it until 2013/14
No room in the wood shed.
less likely to be stolen in the rounds
Looks pretty the way it is.
Retired so I'm to busy.
Need some help here with a few more good excuses. :) LOL



Come on Dave show him a picture of your woodshed
 
The birch in Alaska is Paper Birch - Betula papyrifera. Except for Dwarf Birch (which is not a tree) Paper Birch is the only kind of birch in Alaska, I believe.
 
bogydave said:
Need some help here with a few more good excuses. :) LOL
The frost will topple the pile anyway come Spring so you can split it as you restack it.
The bark will separate easier then.

Back in my youth when I measured seasoning time in weeks rather than years, I was scrounging crooked and punky Birch rejects from a local plywood mill. It was pretty much a hand-to-mouth existence so essentially I scrounged the wood in Winter when I needed it to burn. I would burn the butt ends first since they dried through the end grain and give the rest of it a few more weeks to dry, and dry it did to some degree.
 
I believe most the birch that we burn is betula neoalaskana, which is a paper birch.

Wood Duck said:
The birch in Alaska is Paper Birch - Betula papyrifera. Except for Dwarf Birch (which is not a tree) Paper Birch is the only kind of birch in Alaska, I believe.
 
bogydave said:
But it'll melt come spring, splitter & me both like the weather better then.

When's spring, about July 4th for you?

pen
 
I don't split most of my white birch. It dries well in 12 months, and it burns fine in rounds.
But to each his own!
 
pen said:
bogydave said:
But it'll melt come spring, splitter & me both like the weather better then.

When's spring, about July 4th for you?

pen
Norm is April here. Spring last about 4 weeks.
July is fishing season :)
 
NATE379 said:
I believe most the birch that we burn is betula neoalaskana, which is a paper birch.

Wood Duck said:
The birch in Alaska is Paper Birch - Betula papyrifera. Except for Dwarf Birch (which is not a tree) Paper Birch is the only kind of birch in Alaska, I believe.

Yes - I think neoalaskana was a subspecies of papyrifera, but was later split from papyrifera and erected to a valid species. The two are sympatric, and I'm not sure how you tell the two apart. Cheers!
 
zapny said:
bogydave said:
Cut in October
Today it looks like it's drying
Alaska birch, (Paper? Yellow? ) (chart said tested to have 23.6 Mil BTU/cord)



It's cracking because it was so damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn cold!


zap

You might be right, the water inside froze, expanded & split the wood.
Maybe that's why it splits easy with a maul when it's -10°f.
 
cptoneleg said:
bogydave said:
LLigetfa said:
If you split Birch, it will dry much faster.

Roger that! True with any wood.
Been thinking the same thing since the snow came & the near 0°f temps.
Now the stack is drifted in. Oil in the splitter don't like cold.
I guess I could take it in the shop, warm it up, get it running & go out there.
But it'll melt come spring, splitter & me both like the weather better then.
I'll think of a few more excuses :)
Don't need it until 2013/14
No room in the wood shed.
less likely to be stolen in the rounds
Looks pretty the way it is.
Retired so I'm to busy.
Need some help here with a few more good excuses. :) LOL



Come on Dave show him a picture of your woodshed

LL has seen the shed, he's just trying to "brow beat" me into going out there & splitting in sub zero weather. I'm way too much of a wuss for that. :)
 
maplewood said:
I don't split most of my white birch. It dries well in 12 months, and it burns fine in rounds.
But to each his own!

It's got to fit in a wood stove. Some of the rounds are near 20", won't fit in the door. Big stuff. Vertical split only. :)
Not a truck sized oven to heat a gazziloin gallons of water :)
 
bogydave said:
zapny said:
bogydave said:
Cut in October
Today it looks like it's drying
Alaska birch, (Paper? Yellow? ) (chart said tested to have 23.6 Mil BTU/cord)



It's cracking because it was so damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn cold!


zap

You might be right, the water inside froze, expanded & split the wood.
Maybe that's why it splits easy with a maul when it's -10°f.
Well, contrary to many a discussion here on the forum, I think, at least here in IL, in the dry months of January and February, it drys a lot.
 
NH_Wood said:
NATE379 said:
I believe most the birch that we burn is betula neoalaskana, which is a paper birch.

Wood Duck said:
The birch in Alaska is Paper Birch - Betula papyrifera. Except for Dwarf Birch (which is not a tree) Paper Birch is the only kind of birch in Alaska, I believe.

Yes - I think neoalaskana was a subspecies of papyrifera, but was later split from papyrifera and erected to a valid species. The two are sympatric, and I'm not sure how you tell the two apart. Cheers!

Looks like yellow birch to me.
Betula Papyrifera was the name of an old French girl friend
Dwarf Birch was my the name of my small "female" short legged beagle, she was a good hare dog.
:)
 
tfdchief said:
bogydave said:
zapny said:
bogydave said:
Cut in October
Today it looks like it's drying
Alaska birch, (Paper? Yellow? ) (chart said tested to have 23.6 Mil BTU/cord)



It's cracking because it was so damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn cold!


zap

You might be right, the water inside froze, expanded & split the wood.
Maybe that's why it splits easy with a maul when it's -10°f.
Well, contrary to many a discussion here on the forum, I think, at least here in IL, in the dry months of January and February, it drys a lot.

I'm sure you're right,
It's dry here in the winter & I see the change in the wood, weight & the dry cracking.
Wood dries quit a bit in the winter here, even better when split.
 
tfdchief said:
bogydave said:
zapny said:
bogydave said:
Cut in October
Today it looks like it's drying
Alaska birch, (Paper? Yellow? ) (chart said tested to have 23.6 Mil BTU/cord)



It's cracking because it was so damnnn cold!


zap

You might be right, the water inside froze, expanded & split the wood.
Maybe that's why it splits easy with a maul when it's -10°f.
Well, contrary to many a discussion here on the forum, I think, at least here in IL, in the dry months of January and February, it drys a lot.



On my little plot of land here in Virgina, stacked and split wood dryes in the winter, and does not get covered, gets put in woodshed in the fall. I could give a hoot how much it rains or snows on wood I am going to burn in a year or three.
 
Come on Dave, get out there and split that stuff. I thought you Alaskan's were tuff mountain men? :)
 
Freeze dried
 
wishlist said:
Come on Dave, get out there and split that stuff. I thought you Alaskan's were tuff mountain men? :)

The fact of your statement "were" tuff" is true for some of us
Past tense :)
Now not near as tough but hopefully smarter ;)
 
blades said:
Freeze dried

"Freeze dried" is like the saying in Arizona "it's a dry heat"
"It's a dry cold" for sure.
"Freeze dried" fits our dry cold winters. I pump about 4 gallons of water into the air in the house daily with 2 humidifiers & the humidity is 35%.
 
Ya, I doubt there is much worry about that birch rotting during the winter months. How can it rot if it is frozen? Carry on Dave.
 
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