I was pretty sure that I would run out of good wood before this winter is out. I was ready to start scrounging the woods for branches that had fallen when I found a big stack of split oak that I had stacked in place out there about three years ago. It was in kind of a shady area just off one of my paths. I remember the tree was pretty punky when I dropped and split it. I inspected a few splits. Some were thoroughly rotted but some looked pretty good. The splits that were from the core of the tree, and not on top of the stacks,
had NO punk or rot. So, I took my trusty Fiskars hatchet, sharpened it, and shaved off the punk down to the good core wood. There was a good cord in that stack but I managed to salvage a little over half a cord of good, dry wood. I resplit one of the big pieces and found it to read 17% MC. That'll work. And combined with the other seasoned wood I have, should get me through this winter.
RE: pic below. All front row plus half the back row is the salvaged wood.
had NO punk or rot. So, I took my trusty Fiskars hatchet, sharpened it, and shaved off the punk down to the good core wood. There was a good cord in that stack but I managed to salvage a little over half a cord of good, dry wood. I resplit one of the big pieces and found it to read 17% MC. That'll work. And combined with the other seasoned wood I have, should get me through this winter.
RE: pic below. All front row plus half the back row is the salvaged wood.