I love standing dead oak!

[Gboutdoors]

I have 5 cords of red oak split and stacked for winter 2015-2016. I had 5 cord stacked for this year and had hoped to carry over 2 to next year but that does not look good with all the cold we have been having. So I started to cut down some of the dead standing oak out back yesterday in hopes to have some wood for next year. I know some will say that it can't be but I fell two oaks bucked to 16" and split last night. Took the m/m out and most was at 17-20% and the rounds from the bottom 3'-4' were 21-23%. took some into the stove and it burned great.

Now these trees have no bark left on them and have been dead for more than 4 years at least as we bought the land and built our house back then and they were all dead at that time. I know it takes 2-3 years to season fresh cut oak but has anyone else found dead standing at these moisture readings. This is going to save me for next year and get my three year plan set.

 

[gzecc]

Dead standing is the best oak. The tops are usually almost ready to go. The bottom trunk usually requires the usual 2 yr routine.

 

[razerface]

i cut a lot of it out of my woods. The top i burn immediatly,,,and the bottom 3-4 ft gets thrown on the pile to split and season. Just keep checking with your meter,,,it gets wet quick toward the bottom.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Anyone find that standing dead is denser and gives more heat. Might just be me but the color, weight, and texture all seem different like it's not the same tree.

 

[BrotherBart]

Anyone find that standing dead is denser and gives more heat. Might just be me but the color, weight, and texture all seem different like it's not the same tree.

I have a big standing dead oak that makes a shower of sparks and dulls the chain. Five feet up the trunk. Been standing there since 2004. Hard as a brick.

 

[Applesister]

Chestnut oaks die in my lot, only found one standing and it fell wrong and got snagged. On the ground salvage, sapwood gone and heartwood solid but beetle damaged. This wood drys within a year and burns HOT.
They seem to rot at the stump and come down in heavy winds.
Red Oaks come down from heavy winds(hurricane) and heavy rains and pull stumps with them. Roots attached. These trees have the most water.
On dead ranges 43%- 32%
I have some real big black oaks down with the same deal. Huge crowns, heavy winds and washed out roots.
I have cut up oak that looks like its been laying for years. It burns real nice within the 1 year seasoning range.

 

[blazincajun]

I have a big standing dead oak that makes a shower of sparks and dulls the chain. Five feet up the trunk. Been standing there since 2004. Hard as a brick.

Those old fence posts sure are hard on saws

 

[Free BTUs]

I had 5 standing dead red oaks in my backyard. They have been standing dead for about 10 years. I cut down 3 of them and they were pegging the mm at >50%. The middles are dense as rocks, but still loaded with water.

 

[Woody Stover]

I wish I could have got the whole thing, but at least I got part of a dead-stander, a Red I think, that fell over near my house. I didn't split and check it yet but I can tell by the weight of the rounds....this stuff is ready now!

 

[xman23]

The oaks out back of my house are healthy. The only ones I get are the blow overs and lightning strikes. I recall hearing something about an oak issue. What's killing them?

 

[Woody Stover]

I recall hearing something about an oak issue. What's killing them?

I don't know if we've got a disease here, but drought hammers the Red/Blacks. The cores rot out on a lot of them, too....

 

[Free BTUs]

Don't know what killed those 5, but I have plenty of live ones. I've dropped 4 of the live ones and I need to drop about 6 more (they are too close to my house).

 

[Gboutdoors]

Here on our land in Fairhaven a few years before we bought the land and built our house they had a very bad infestation of caterpillars in the spring that stripped all the leaves. Then that winter there was a really bad infestation of winter moths and the oaks could not recover from this double hit in one season.

Just cut down another dead red oak and my first white oak. I split a few of the white rounds and they were at 20% to 24%. again these are dead standing with no bark left on them for 4+ years. Even the bottom 4-5' were at 27-30%.

 

[red oak]

There's a fungus attacking the red oaks in my area, leading to the trees rotting and being hollow. Still plenty around but not uncommon at all to see standing dead red oaks around here. Yes the tops and branches are usually ready to burn fairly quickly, much quicker than the lower trunk.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

So how are they denser, harder. and more colorful? Is there a scientific reason.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Red oak crowns are so big and sprawling that they will come down quite easily when the soil is wet.

 

[billb3]

7 cords of dead standing red oak
a couple weekends in November, a couple weekends in February
tops around 19/20%, tree base approaches 27% when cut


the wood I cut and split in November is down to 15/16 to 21/22%

 

[TimJ]

nice pile billb3

 

[Gboutdoors]

Billb3 you seem to be getting the same readings as me. Must be that we live in wood heaven or just live right. Are you close to New Bedford area?

 

[billb3]

Stone's throw to Umass
some of the wood comes from Bezerkley

Red oak die-off is a lot worse up that way

4 or 5 years dead standing, some has a little punk, most hasn't, some with carpenter ants in it.
a dozen or so splits with ants in heartwood but not bad at all.

Any ants in heartwood we just split and put to the side so snow and water gets into the galleries and freezes. Drowns and Kills 'em quick. They can barely move in this cold. Bird food.

 

[motorcycle07]

I have been surviving off of dead oak. Last year it was one that I cut on my folk's place that I remember playing on as a kid when it blew over ~10 years ago. I burnt the whole tree last year but I did not have an EPA stove then. This year I fell an oak that had been standing dead for at least 5 yrs if not 10. The tree was a pasture tree so it was huge (~40" base diameter) and had four large (30" diameter) main branches. I do not have a moisture meter. The tops burnt well, but the base of the branches and the trunk was wet to the touch and smelled wet also. Those pieces will not be burnt this year. I do not think we have anything in particular killing them. We just have a lot of old oak trees and I think it was just their time. Large pasture oaks are a chore to process.

 

[Nick Mystic]

I've been cleaning up a section of our property on the opposite side of a ravine that requires a lot of effort to get the wood out, which is why I haven't logged out the dead wood in a few years. One nice oak tree had been hung up at a 45 degree angle in another tree for years and it has remained really solid since it's been up off the ground all this time. When I finally cut it up I was surprised to find it at 15% moisture on a fresh face of a split! This encouraged me to attack a few more oak trees that had been on the ground for a few years and I was happily surprised to get similar results from those tree, as well. The undersides were a little decayed, but 90% of the wood was perfectly dry and solid. This kind of oak has the added advantage of being so much lighter to carry out a piece at a time compared to fresh cut wet oak. I can handle 12" rounds up to 20" long and carry them across rugged terrain to a trail where I can get my wheelbarrow about 100 yards away.

 

[Woody Stover]

7 cords of dead standing red oak
a couple weekends in November, a couple weekends in February
tops around 19/20%, tree base approaches 27% when cut

the wood I cut and split in November is down to 15/16 to 21/22%

Man, you've got me fired up about all the dead Black/Red I've got around here. If I can stack a bunch of tops for my SILs, they'll have some long-march wood for next season instead of the soft Maple and Cherry I've been feeding them the last couple years. Having a hard time getting ahead on those folks...got my hands full feeding our stove plus the mighty Buck.

 

[7acres]

Man, you've got me fired up about all the dead Black/Red I've got around here. If I can stack a bunch of tops for my SILs, they'll have some long-march wood for next season instead of the soft Maple and Cherry I've been feeding them the last couple years. Having a hard time getting ahead on those folks...got my hands full feeding our stove plus the mighty Buck.

Newbie question... What does SIL stand for?

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Sister in law.