How long are they good for...................

[WoodMann]

Most all of you are familiar with my ongoing saga of all the dead trees in the area nailed by the bark beetles. THey'ra all dried and hardened, question is- how long can they stay standing like that and remain suitable for firewood? I'm thinkin' about askin' some neighbors if I can remove some of their dead trees B4 they fall, as a favor- of course........................ "

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Always difficult to tell just how long they will stand. But you must always be aware of storms bringing them down, so if they are in someone's yard it is best to take them down rather than allowing Mother Nature to do it.

 

[WoodMann]

Thatnks, Dennis. Nature has taken some of them down already. THere's no danger of these falling on a house or anything- thry're just out there, doting the landscape with the other live trees that made it. I'll try an get a pic up to illustrate everything better........................

 

[snowtime]

We had a forest fire here in80. The trees were dirty for about 2 years Iguess the snow and rain took the lose black off. After that they were great for 15 years. The trees didn't really rot much during that time and were our sole wood for heating. After that the roots started rotting and you had to be real careful when falling but they were burnable for another 5 or 6 years. I gave up on them when they started becoming to dangerous to cut.

I do not know what the difference between a fire kill and a beetle killed tree would be as far as wood burning goes. I suspect the beetle trees would not last as long because the burnt trees were in a sense sealed by the fire and this also made them good fence posts.

 

[billb3]

vertical wood pile can't be too much different than a horizontal one.

I've got some red oak here that has had no bark on it for two or three years (some longer) that I haven't gotten to.
Hard as stone so not high on my list. They eventually fall over. I can still put a ladder aginst them to put a guide rope. 3 or 4 people could probably pull that rope and yank the roots and all right out of the ground.
White pine gets infested with bugs and woodpecker holes fairly quick when left vertical. Fine with me, I don't need it. I'll cut some, but not much.

 

[stanleyjohn]

I would cut some of those dead trees.Just keep a good supply of sharp chains for the chain saw!if that wood cuts like the dead wood around here!it wont be very easy to cut.