ID please / Seasoning question

[rudysmallfry]

Pretty sure this is Red Oak. Stuff splits like butter. Nothing like demon Maple where my axe just bounces off half the time. While this tree has been down for a long time, the fresh splits are measuring 27% moisture freshly split. What time frame am I looking at to get down below 20%.

 

[Kevin Weis]

A summer in the sun should finish it off.

 

[gzecc]

I split red oak small (arm size). I once had RO that took 3 summers. It was in a bad location.
Stack in single row loosely stacked.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I stack oak very loose. Just curious how long it takes to get from 27% to 20%.

 

[Caw]

The big pile in the first pic looks like oak. That second picture does not though. Might just be the brown coloring throwing me off. It also has very thin sapwood whereas oak usually has more... Like you see in the first pic with some of the rotten pieces.

It it is indeed oak 27 to 20% will take 1-2 years depending on split size and how good your location is. I burn primarily red oak and give it 3 years CSS. Takes patience but nothing beats it when it's dry.

 

[Stinkpickle]

Oaks can be rough. I would stack it and ignore it for two years.

 

[rudysmallfry]

Well I've always wanted to try the german stacking method. Guess I'll make a pretty round Oak pile to sit in the sun for a few years and get working on that demon Maple.

 

[patrickk222]

pic 1 is red oak and number 2 is locust

 

[stoveliker]

I see some orange in the bark in the second pic. Locust is possible. But could it be sassafras? Does it smell like rootbeer? Locust is heavy, sassafras surprisingly light in weight.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I see some orange in the bark in the second pic. Locust is possible. But could it be sassafras? Does it smell like rootbeer? Locust is heavy, sassafras surprisingly light in weight.

It's all quite heavy. I'm not sure I'd call it a rootbeer smell. Just that awesome sweet freshly cut wood smell. Very fragrant stuff. There is one piece I keep forgetting to take a pic of. It's actually purple in the middle.

If part of that is Locust, will that season more quickly than the oak?

 

[stoveliker]

I don't think locust seasons quickly. But I'll be burning it for the first time next year when it's 3 years old.

At the top of the pic I see some cut bark that is yellowish. That is what I would think as locust. The orange stuff is quite unlike the locust I have seen.

But the roughness of.the bark in that piece looks like locust to me.

The wood seems a bit too beige/brown to me for locust though. (Hence sassafras again.) I believe locust will light up when shining uv light on it at night.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I don't think locust seasons quickly. But I'll be burning it for the first time next year when it's 3 years old.

At the top of the pic I see some cut bark that is yellowish. That is what I would think as locust. The orange stuff is quite unlike the locust I have seen.

But the roughness of.the bark in that piece looks like locust to me.

The wood seems a bit too beige/brown to me for locust though. (Hence sassafras again.) I believe locust will light up when shining uv light on it at night.

Do we even have sassafrass in Connecticut??

 

[stoveliker]

I presume so. It's everywhere here across the Sound from you.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I presume so. It's everywhere here across the Sound from you.

Interesting. Now I'll have to go out and smell my wood and see if it's root beer.

 

[stoveliker]

I am thinking you have a mixture in that last pic.
The cut bark of the two pieces where we look onto the split surface does not look consistent with the one below that. Orange versus yellow.

The orange ones are too beige inside for locust and consistent with sassafras. Nicely straight grain too. Easy splitting.
The one where we look onto the outside of the bark does look like locust to me.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I am thinking you have a mixture in that last pic.
The cut bark of the two pieces where we look onto the split surface does not look consistent with the one below that. Orange versus yellow.

The orange ones are too beige inside for locust and consistent with sassafras. Nicely straight grain too. Easy splitting.
The one where we look onto the outside of the bark does look like locust to me.

Yeah it all split like butter. I felt very powerful until I got back to the Maple today.

 

[stoveliker]

Lol. Well, I can't smell the pic, can't feel your muscles, and handle the pieces. Locust is not particularly hard to split, but not as easy as sassafras. So my guess is still that there is sassafras in the pile, possibly in addition to locust.

 

[gzecc]

I second Sassy. Not Locust.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I second Sassy. Not Locust.

Is it good for burning?

 

[stoveliker]

Not nearly as the god-wood that's locust. Sassafras burns. Nothing wrong with it. But it's light, lower BTU, and it sparks a lot.
I burn it similarly as pine. Midwinter you want locust (burns like coal, or so I'm told).

 

[gzecc]

lower quality hardwood.

 

[Doublebogey]

I’ve cut and split a BUNCH of locust… a TON of it. That second pic looks like locust to me.

 

[Caw]

Another thing to consider about red oak - it has a vinegar like tart aroma when freshly split that persists for quite a while. Some people love it, others hate it, but it's a very distinct smell. I can smell it emanating from my stacks when I drive by on the tractor sometimes up to a year later.

 

[Woody Stover]

Looks like Assafras, with that orange underbark. One sniff should seal the deal.