Good morning all. After 30 years of dreaming of having my own home and a nice woodstove to curl up in front of I've made the dream happen. Anxious to heat my home in the 1st year, I spent $300 on an old Garrison model one. Although there is no parts, she's in great condition, and I monitor it closely to avoid any baffle issues. My question is about firewood. It seems as if I purchased this house too late in November to really burn with this year. I have a couple code of partially seasoned firewood that does not burn the best so I take it inside for a week before throwing it in the stove. I plan to start felling trees off of my property in hopes to having some decent wood next season. I've noticed the ash seems to dry the quickest. Is would it be logical for me to harvest all my ashes 1st in preparation for next year's Winter?
Getting my feet wet.
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.Yes, ideally wait until we get a bit more snow pack (enough to cover all the rocks with several inches of snow) and then drop the ash trees. Ash as you mentioned is a good candidate as sadly the Emerald Ash Borer is moving into southern VT. Your choice is drop them now when they are healthy or wait until they die off and become a widow maker hazard. Its not a matter if EAB will hit your land its when so might as well drop them now and let the other wood species get 5 or 10 years more growth before the inevitable ash die off
If you drop them on a snow-pack it is a lot easier to buck the wood in place as the snow-pack gives you a bit of margin with the saw blade. Cutting snow with a sawblade does not dull it, but cutting dirt or rock does. Once dropped pick a couple of stout trees on an east to west axis that get sun. 10 to 15 feet apart is a good distance and then take few straight limbs and lay then down on the ground and start stacking one row deep. Ash splits really easy and if you leave a good diameter stump for a splitting block and use a Fiskars X-27 on a cold day, it should split with one hit (unless there is crotch or branch.If you can cover the top f the pile so that melt water runs off to the side, it will dry quicker. By spring that Ash will be starting to dry. Saws run better in winter and dropping tree is easier as no leaves to deal with so its easier to make brush piles. If you drop them in early winter, the wood is a bit drier as the tree maintains less water in it until late winter when the sap starts to rise. If you wait too long and the snowpack gets too deep, then it gets too hard to move around.
Note that White BIrch will also dry relatively quickly but ideally you need to buck it and split it immediately. White birch rots standing so unless they are in the way, if the top is dead do not waste your time. If you have to leave the birch without splitting, run you saw down through both layers of bark the length of the log. If its more than 12" diameter, do it twice. That will buy you several months before the rot moves in but it really is best to cut and split the same day. Note when handsplitting birch dont try to split it down the middle on the first hit. Instead hit it off the center knocking a 2 to 3" wide flat spot off the outer diameter. After that it should split easier.
Red Maple can also dry quick, if that is what you have, drop away. Sugar maple on the other hand will take a while to dry but makes nice firewood. Red maples frequently grow in clumps, ideally pick the best tree and cut all the others in the clump being very careful not to cut the bark of the one you are keeping. GIve it 10 years and the remaining tree will be a good tree
If you drop them on a snow-pack it is a lot easier to buck the wood in place as the snow-pack gives you a bit of margin with the saw blade. Cutting snow with a sawblade does not dull it, but cutting dirt or rock does. Once dropped pick a couple of stout trees on an east to west axis that get sun. 10 to 15 feet apart is a good distance and then take few straight limbs and lay then down on the ground and start stacking one row deep. Ash splits really easy and if you leave a good diameter stump for a splitting block and use a Fiskars X-27 on a cold day, it should split with one hit (unless there is crotch or branch.If you can cover the top f the pile so that melt water runs off to the side, it will dry quicker. By spring that Ash will be starting to dry. Saws run better in winter and dropping tree is easier as no leaves to deal with so its easier to make brush piles. If you drop them in early winter, the wood is a bit drier as the tree maintains less water in it until late winter when the sap starts to rise. If you wait too long and the snowpack gets too deep, then it gets too hard to move around.
Note that White BIrch will also dry relatively quickly but ideally you need to buck it and split it immediately. White birch rots standing so unless they are in the way, if the top is dead do not waste your time. If you have to leave the birch without splitting, run you saw down through both layers of bark the length of the log. If its more than 12" diameter, do it twice. That will buy you several months before the rot moves in but it really is best to cut and split the same day. Note when handsplitting birch dont try to split it down the middle on the first hit. Instead hit it off the center knocking a 2 to 3" wide flat spot off the outer diameter. After that it should split easier.
Red Maple can also dry quick, if that is what you have, drop away. Sugar maple on the other hand will take a while to dry but makes nice firewood. Red maples frequently grow in clumps, ideally pick the best tree and cut all the others in the clump being very careful not to cut the bark of the one you are keeping. GIve it 10 years and the remaining tree will be a good tree
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