next years wood

[chris2879]

I am trying to get my wood for next year. This will only be my first full season burning. There is some oak on Cl that I can get, but will that be dry enough if it is cut and split soon. My guess is no.

My other option is to fell some trees at a friends house. If that was dine by the end of April and the wood was CSS by then, would that be raady for next year. This is of course depending on the type of tree. What would he the best trees to look to fell that only take 6 Mo to be burnable?

 

[Dieselhead]

Ash...........

 

[KarlP]

White pine or silver maple split in April should be good in October. You'll just need about 50% more wood than you'd need if you were burning oak.

 

[thewoodlands]

[quote author="chris2879" date="1300401033"]I am trying to get my wood for next year. This will only be my first full season burning. There is some oak on Cl that I can get, but will that be dry enough if it is cut and split soon. My guess is no.

If you can get some Cherry (c/s/s) and get it stacked in the sun plus the wind that should give you enough time.




Zap

 

[shawneyboy]

Ash, Pine, Maple, all may.... MAY.... be ready in time. Get the oak as well for the following year.

Shawn

 

[Rick Stanley]

I too always seem to be behind on the wood gettin'. My wood is cut right here on my own property, marked by a forester, cut and yarded and processed by me. So, besides being behind, I like to cut everything that's marked in an area while I'm there, so, while cutting the softer hardwoods and aspen types first makes sense for burning 6 mo seasoned wood, it doesn't make sense to keep running back over the same piece of ground more than once. So I too, always seem to find myself with a mix of species that was cut in March.
All of the suggestions made here already, are good ones. I would only point out that if you are cutting now and Winter doesn't really get crankin' till December, then that's closer to 9 months. Plus, if you split your denser species (oaks, beech, sugar maple) a little finer AND you can arrange your storage pile so they are burned last, it's been my experience that you'll end up with some VERY nice burning Oak during a very cold part of the heating season. That can be nice

 

[woodchip]

Ash, Pine, Maple, all may.... MAY.... be ready in time. Get the oak as well for the following year. Shawn

+1
If it's cut now with the sap down (it will be rising soon so don't hang about) you can shorten the seasoning time as you don't have to dry out all the new sap.
Cut some into slightly smaller splits, that will help seasoning speed, however, small splits burn quicker and you might be cursing next Fall if you have a cold snap and you are constantly reloading..........

Worth looking for some standing dead wood now, it will season well over the Summer........
The sap is starting to rise over here in England, so I'm concentrating on dead wood, let the living trees grow for another Summer.

 

[smokinj]

I would not be picky until you have a 3 year supply. You dont have choices until you make choices! One year Unseasoned oak puts off heat. probably better than anything the dealers are selling.

 

[midwestcoast]

Take the Oak if you can get it. Split it smallish and stack in a single row off the ground a few inches in as much wind & sun as you have ASAP. By mid Jan it will have had 10 months to season and will likely burn well, (maybe not tinder dry). Nearly any other species of wood you get split & stacked properly now will be good to go by burning season. Others have given most of the fastest drying species. Concentrate on getting 2 seasons worth this year so you won't have to worry about short drying times again.

 

[chris2879]

Thanks for the helpful responses. A post on Cl came up this morning for free maple. I m hopefully going be able to get that. Me adjective my father in law might get a log truck of wood in June for $220 for 3 cord. Is that a good price? This will be good for the following season.

 

[Wood Duck]

Under $100 per cord is a pretty good deal in most places. It might be a really good deal in Mass., as long as you are willing and able to put the work into processing. If you can get wood cut and split soon you will be way ahead of most people. This forum gives you the impression that everyone is years ahead, but in fact most are not as still manage to generate heat with their wood stoves.

The way you stack the wood will make a large difference. I would split rather small. My stove does fine with the largest splits no larger than 4 or 5 inches square on the ends, and much of the wood more like 3 or 4 inches square on the ends. Small wood seasons faster, so split small. Stack the wood with plenty of air circulation - a single row is probably best, and lots of air gaps is another good idea. Cross stacking - one layer going north/south then the next layer going east/west - might be worth the time and effort. We tend to discuss seasoning time without talking about how and where the wood is stacked. One year stacked loosely in a windy, sunny spot is probably a lot better than two years seasoning in a pile in the shade.

The best part is that next winter you'll probably do fine and THINK you have well seasoned wood, then the following year you will get a pleasant surprise when you burn wood that is actually seasoned.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I am trying to get my wood for next year. This will only be my first full season burning. There is some oak on Cl that I can get, but will that be dry enough if it is cut and split soon. My guess is no.

My other option is to fell some trees at a friends house. If that was dine by the end of April and the wood was CSS by then, would that be raady for next year. This is of course depending on the type of tree. What would he the best trees to look to fell that only take 6 Mo to be burnable?

Chris, rather than ask what would be the best tree, how about stating what choice of trees you have to cut and then everyone could answer your questions much better. For example, I could tell you what I would cut if I were in your situation but I am in MI which is a long ways from you so my answer may have no bearing on what you have.

On that oak that is on CL, it all depends upon what stage of seasoning it is at right now and how it was stacked, etc.

What ever wood you do cut, get it split as soon as possible. You have to burn it soon, so that says you need to split it small but still should leave a few larger splits for night burning wood. Stack the wood off the ground and do not try to be really careful with your stacking. That is, stack it loosely so air will circulate a bit better. Stack it out where it will get the most wind on your place. Stack it in single rows about 4' high at most (stacked loosely it will not be as strong of a stack and you don't want it to tip over). If you can stack it so it gets both wind and sun that is great but wind is the most important.

 

[firefighterjake]

Of course the best wood to get would be wood that has been cut, split and stacked somewhere off the ground for the past few years . . . but the chances of you stumbling across a Craigslist ad like this is pretty slim.

So at this point your next best option would be perhaps to get some wood now or wood that was cut this winter . . . and get it bucked up, split and stacked in the wind and sun . . . and as mentioned . . . it MIGHT be ready to go come Fall . . . but even then it will not be as good compared to wood that was cut, split and stacked last Fall.

That said . . . around New England . . . live trees that season pretty quickly include white ash, white pine and silver maple. Your best option however would be to find some standing dead wood . . . I was in a similar situation to you and was just starting to think about wood around this time . . . ended up taking down several elms that were dead from Dutch Elm Disease on my property. Lucked out . . . these trees had been dead for some time as the bark was pretty much stripped off, they were small and quite dry which meant that splitting many of them was much easier than experiences since then when I have split fresh elm which can be a miserable experience if you do not have a hydraulic splitter.

Also you may want to look around for a source for free pallets -- 1) It gives you something to stack your wood on and 2) In your first year of burning typically the wood is not all that good even if you think it is (you will learn this if you try burning wood that you have seasoned for over a year in Year 2) . . . cut up pallets will help you get the fire started and will help "drive" out the moisture in the wood that is partially seasoned.

Good luck.

 

[bogydave]

MOTO here is " You Never have enough wood".
GET ALL you can get, any type you can get. then look for more.
Get some today, tomorrow, next week, next month & next year.
If you end up with 3 years supply, lots sitting there drying out, You will have enough to burn the oak last (in 2 years).

This years wood is nice to have, next years is even better, year after that, you begin to relax.
But; by then your addicted, (& in shape) so no problem from here on out

If you have too much c/s/s, call somebody close with a wood stove,
they'll come get it out of your way for free.