Here's a Picture of this red oak 85 feet tall I dropped hopefully will get it cut up this winter!
I don't see a picture...the suspense is killing me [emoji3]Here's a Picture of this red oak 85 feet tall I dropped hopefully will get it cut up this winter!
I like the way you advertise a picture, but leave it to our imagination. Clever!Here's a Picture of this red oak 85 feet tall I dropped hopefully will get it cut up this winter!
I don't see a picture...the suspense is killing me [emoji3]
Good. Another 30 or 40 feet of stacks when you're done toiling (playing?).Still facing this challenge this winter.85 feet of red oak.
This stuff would start at $300 a cord maybe more,all is primo,not really wanting to sell,but have thought about it.Good. Another 30 or 40 feet of stacks when you're done toiling (playing?).
At what point do you decide to start selling some wood?
How long before wood starts to go downhill if left uncovered in your neighborhood? I see significant deterioration about 3 years in if I don't get it covered, from bugs and dry rot, etc.This stuff would start at $300 a cord maybe more,all is primo,not really wanting to sell,but have thought about it.
How long before wood starts to go downhill if left uncovered in your neighborhood? I see significant deterioration about 3 years in if I don't get it covered, from bugs and dry rot, etc.
If top covered and at least 4in off the ground at least 5 years,maybe longer never had a rot problem here.How long before wood starts to go downhill if left uncovered in your neighborhood? I see significant deterioration about 3 years in if I don't get it covered, from bugs and dry rot, etc.
I think, if I'm being totally honest with myself, your assessment is accurate. Most of my wood is already starting to decompose before I cut it, and it carries the fungus and bacteria into the stacks where calories continue to be consumed, at various rates, depending on how wet it gets from the weather. Even completely under cover I notice losses from insects and dry rot after a couple of years.Around here, and everywhere to varying degrees, wood left in the weather starts rotting right away, you just can't notice it until it progresses enough to make itself known. And it does accelerate through this process because it begins as spores and then grows up into the wood, following the soft, sweet layers lengthwise. It happens fastest during warm, wet weather.
After one year in the weather in many areas, wood has probably lost close to 10 percent of it's btu value (and it only goes faster from there). That's why it's a good idea to top cover it immediately if significant rain will be happening.
I think, if I'm being totally honest with myself, your assessment is accurate. Most of my wood is already starting to decompose before I cut it, and it carries the fungus and bacteria into the stacks where calories continue to be consumed, at various rates, depending on how wet it gets from the weather. Even completely under cover I notice losses from insects and dry rot after a couple of years.
All sounds right. This is one of those times where real life interferes with perfect. Only times I'm cutting down live trees, they are tulip poplar, maybe a black walnut or two, in the near future. The rest of the time it's dead ones, and when I have time. I'll likely have enough dead oak and ash to last me the rest of my burning life. So, I'll just have to live with losing some BTUs to the ether. Whisky is the same way. Always a little lost to evaporation when aging it in barrels. They even have a name for that, can't think of it at the moment.Absolutely! Those wood sugars contain a good portion of the BTU's. That's why it's so important to cut, split, stack and top cover sooner rather than later. Once the fungi has established it will progress at varying rates of speed depending upon moisture and temperature. Weather wetted wood provides the perfect surface for spores to establish which is accomplished by sending miniature filaments (known as hyphae) up into the soft portions of the wood. Once accomplished, they can lie dormant (or nearly so) during colder weather only to sprout and blossom when the weather warms. The trick to having good, high BTU firewood is to split, stack and top-cover ASAP. Good firewood lights off faster, burns hotter and cleaner, coals better and leaves less ash per BTU provided. The old-timers might not have been experts in mycology but they knew what worked because they depended upon wood as their only source of heating and cooking fuel.
They even have a name for that, can't think of it at the moment.
Whisky is the same way. Always a little lost to evaporation when aging it in barrels. They even have a name for that, can't think of it at the moment.
Got to fret over something! Fretting over this is way more fun than something like taxes, which, come to think of it, isn't a bad analogy.I don't know about the rate of BTU loss due the Fungi. But the way your talking here I getting afraid of leaving my wood out overnight, LOL.
For me, I'd be dragging my splitter out to that tree. Moving those rounds is a hernia waiting to happen.
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