Pre-burned wood...

[mhambi]

lol I didn't know what else to title it. Sounds kinda like 'dehydrated water'.

As some of you may remember... we had a large wildfire this summer. It moved through fast and furious, leaving acres upon acres of trees that need removing. This is mostly gambel oak and utah juniper. They're charred on the outside, but mostly just the bark layer, with lots of good btus underneath. Akin to a bacon wrapped steak, these are charcoal wrapped logs.

So my questions are these:

What would that do to the moisture content... burnable this year? or still need seasoning? I know temps were hot enough to melt aluminium and glass, but it would have been short in duration. Moisture content was pretty low anyway this year because of drought.


Other than the mess... would there be any drawbacks to burning it in my Englander 28-3500?

Pros: Lots of it. Easy access.
Cons: messy. Not seasoned enough (?) for this year. ???

 

[CT-Mike]

Buck one up, split it open and use your MM to measure the MC. That will tell you if it is burnable this year or not. Does seem like you would end up with a lot of soot everywhere but I can't see any harm in burning it.

 

[Jags]

Man, that would be a hard one to just "guess" on. Drop one and hit it with the Moisture Meter. Other than the mess, I don't see any downside to harvesting it for fuel. Maybe a little time CSS will help with the mess too. Rain water might just rinse it off pretty well.

 

[shmodaddy]

+1 on the messy My guess is that the moisture content will still be high and require seasoning yet. Only way to know for sure is to cut, split, and measure a piece or two with a MM and let us know what you get.


Sent from my rooted and eclipse running X2--thanks nitro-- if im posting on here I'm probably supposed to be working! I can't help im addicted to HEARTH.COM!

 

[ScotO]

I'd say it'll be just as green as it would if it was still alive. Only the outside of it was charred. Like you already mentioned, a bacon wrapped steak. That moisture was burned off at the cambium layer but not deep in the heartwood. But it don't hurt to split it and check it with a meter, now that we're all curious!

 

[bogydave]

Charcoal . Hardened off wood. High BTU content in charcoal.
I've burned some stuff like that in outside fires, seems to put out allot of heat but not allot of flames.
Might be good to go, good ideas above. Try a burn test in the stove.

A guess, but I think the moisture in the middle will be high until its split & stacked a year.
Fire might have sealed the outside of the wood & hold in the moisture.

Gonna be a "dirty job".
Might want a dust mask for the cutting.
Also may be hard on the chain , dull it fast. Charcoal is dry, tough & abrasive.
Crank the oiler up a notch

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Should be good wood although a bit messy to handle. Wear old clothing and gloves! Cut it, split it and give it a year.

 

[BoilerMan]

Call in Mike Rowe, maybe they'll bring him in to help. As boggydave said "dirty job"

TS

 

[Gark]

Had the inner heartwood not been wet, the fire would have burned through them. It won't be ready as firewood this upcoming winter. IMHO.

 

[amateur cutter]

I agree that it will need to season in all likelihood, but the firewood value shouldn't be diminished. As was stated, a dust mask & keep the filter on the saw cleaned out, & go get all you can. A C

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm really not sure about the answer to your question . . . but I can tell you a personal experience with some white pine that I had bucked up and attempted to burn in an outdoor bon fire.

In my pre-wood burning days I cut down a white pine and bucked it up and there were several large pieces. One day while burning some brush I rolled two or three of the large rounds into the fire . . . they charred up nicely, but never really ignited all the way.

I ended up leaving those charred pieces of wood for a few years until I started burning wood and figured I would split them up and burn them.

Interestingly enough the charred wood prevented the pine from rotting and turning all punky as they were lying on the ground for a number of years. Also interestingly enough when I burned this wood it burned as if I had poured some diesel fuel over the fire. All I could figure is that perhaps the charring of the outside "sealed" in the "juices" -- the pitch, the moisture, etc. and that over time the moisture did eventually drop, but the pitch might have been left behind.

Not sure if this helps in any way . . .

 

[clemsonfor]

ITs gonna be green, it burned untill it went out, maybe an inch or 2 under it it will be a bit drier than it should, but the center was insulated from the heat, wood is an insulator.

It stopped burining as there was not enough dry fuel and heat to dry all the moisture or else it would dry.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

There is one con to cutting those burned trees, the charred bark is pretty hard on chainsaw blades. Expect to be sharpening your saw frequently.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hadn't thought about that but you no doubt are right Carbon.

 

[clemsonfor]

Chainsaws dont have blades!

Sorry i couldnt resist.