slab cut firewood

[saichele]

Does anyone have an opinion or actual comparative experience with slab cut firewood (the log edges from a mill operation) compared to regular split firewood (assuming the same species)?

Things that come to mind - burn time (because the pieces are generally smaller), bark content vs. actual wood, problems getting it to stack and dry, etc.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Rockey]

Ive used it before and it works great. I was a bit luckier though because the oak slabs that I have access to are debarked first. It seasons quicker because it is not as thick cut. Not as much of a mess and you can pack it in real well into the firebox. The best part for me is that I only pay $35.00 for as much as I can load onto my tandem axle 16 foot trailer. If there is a veneer company near you, it may be worth a phone call.

 

[savageactor7]

I know people that burn it with good results...and the price is right. You can get a whole PUtruck load for peanuts...last I heard it was 10 bucks.

 

[RedRanger]

I burn a lot of mill-ends (cedar slabs) mixed in with my douglas fir. The fire lasts a lot longer if mixed with the regular cord wood.The slabs by themselves are also excellent for shoulder season burning. When burning the mill ends by themselves you do have to watch the temps though, they burn hot,clean and fast. Not a problem with my older non-secondary burning insert,but with the newer ones not so sure?

 

[mikeathens]

I buy it at $25/ton (rought $50-$60 per cord) - with the Dakota and 5x10 trailer, I'm usually right on the 2 ton mark each trip. I'm able to pick throught eh pike by hand and get the good stuff excusively - oak, sugar maple, cherry, hickory - and leave the crap behind (poplar). The sizes vary, but on average, each piece is 14"x7"x5". No bark.

I back up to my old timber frame barn and chuck it into the corner of the barn. Seems to season fairly well this way. If I was to stack it, I'm sure seasoning time could be very long. I'm left with a corner of the barn filled about 10 ft high and 15 ft out - sort of like 1/4 of a pyramid.

You can sort of make out the pile in the rear left side of the picture...

 

[mikeathens]

don't know what happend...post came up twice...

 

[begreen]

This may vary with region and wood, but the Chimneysweeponline reports severe stove damage done by burning mill ends. Seems to be highly corrosive.

I'm wondering if those folks were also burning driftwood or if the logs the mill ends came from spent some time in salt water. Has anyone else that burns mill ends for years seen corrosion?

 

[mikeathens]

This may vary with region and wood, but the Chimneysweeponline reports severe stove damage done by burning mill ends. Seems to be highly corrosive.

I'm wondering if those folks were also burning driftwood or if the logs the mill ends came from spent some time in salt water. Has anyone else that burns mill ends for years seen corrosion?

Not a problem here in SE Ohio. This is all stuff coming from private woodlots and National Forest land straight to the mill- this particular mill simply cuts it into beams and then sells the byproduct. There is absolutely no difference between this stuff and cordwood, other than the shape. Maybe out on the coast, some mills salvage driftwood??

 

[saichele]

It may not really matter - I've been buying splits from a farmer/logger guy for years for about $35/face, $350 delivered for a 10,000 pound dump loaded to the gills. I saw an ad on craigslist for the side cuts, but it's 275 for 3 cord, plus delivery. Guy wants $150 extra for delivery, per load (I'd probably buy 6cord this season, I'm down to almost nothing).

In short, it's no deal. Even up, I'd think about it, but no sense paying a premium for it. Sounds like it might be nice to have a cord or so to mix in though.

Steve

 

[North of 60]

Cut slabs have been fine for me. Mine is all pine. Helps me fill the gaps in the stove when she is reloaded. Even though I have 15 -18 cord on hand of timber Ive logged I will still pick up a load like this every second year. You would be surprised how tight you can pack the stuff if you need a long burn out of it. Just make sure your stove is up to par on its gaskets ect...
My CAT stove has preformed the best on it.

 

[jebatty]

I have used slab wood from my own sawmill for 10 years, almost all pine, in first an OWB and now a gasification boiler. I cut the slabs into the lengths I want, stack them off the ground or in the woodshed a little loose or mixed up a bit to get some airflow through the stacks, and dry them as usual. They dry pretty fast due to the large surface area. With good airflow one summer probably is enough.

The extra surface area can result in hot burns, so air control is important. Also, bark, esp pine, due largely to resin content, has higher btu's then the wood, so actually greater heat value in slabs with bark, but also somewhat messier.

 

[cmcramer]

Here in Upstate NY, apple growing country, a local mill uses beech and hard maple to make crates and bins for the farmers. A mill worker sorts the wood that was not quite 2x4 or 4x4 in dimension, cuts it to 14" - 18", and delivers it for $37 per face cord. (The first price increase in 10 years was last summer...)

Best deal in town. Yes, this is smallish sized wood and requires more handling......but for $37 per face cord.........

 

[mikeathens]

Here in Upstate NY, apple growing country, a local mill uses beech and hard maple to make crates and bins for the farmers. A mill worker sorts the wood that was not quite 2x4 or 4x4 in dimension, cuts it to 14" - 18", and delivers it for $37 per face cord. (The first price increase in 10 years was last summer...)

Best deal in town. Yes, this is smallish sized wood and requires more handling......but for $37 per face cord.........

How the hell do you measure 2x4s as a face cord? at 14 - 18" in length, you're probably only getting 1/3 of a cord (if stacked 4' high by 8' long). Thant's like $111/cord. Yikes!

 

[cmcramer]

Around here, a "face cord" is 4'x8' x 16 ". Three face cord = one full cord.

And the wood is a mixture of 2x4, 4x4, and in-between sizes. So I stack it 4 feet high and 8 feet long and call it one face cord.

 

[jrousell]

The going price for a face-cord split and delivered here in upstate NY is somewhere around $45 .

so $37 is a pretty good deal if it is oak and hard maple...

 

[saichele]

Started poking around and found a local mill selling slabs for $20/pickup truck load. Sounds like a good use for the 15 yr old F150.

Steve

 

[Jerry_NJ]

What's the best way to find a "local" mill? The idea of a low cost truck load sounds good to me... I suppose they'd consider a trailer 4'x7xhoweverhigh a pickup load. I did a web search using something like: mill ends, and mills NJ and didn't come up with anything in the neighborhood, maybe there are none.

 

[kenny chaos]

The going price for a face-cord split and delivered here in upstate NY is somewhere around $45 .

so $37 is a pretty good deal if it is oak and hard maple...

Like defining a facecord, "upstate" means different things to different people. Near Rochester, a facecord has been going for $80 delivered.
I see a guy advertising slabs cut to 16' for $30/facecord. Think I need to call him.

 

[Dave_1]

What's the best way to find a "local" mill? The idea of a low cost truck load sounds good to me... I suppose they'd consider a trailer 4'x7xhoweverhigh a pickup load. I did a web search using something like: mill ends, and mills NJ and didn't come up with anything in the neighborhood, maybe there are none.

Got to "search" for dem thar mills by their rightful name, Jerry :lol:

http://www.riephoffsawmill.com/

;-)

 

[Jerry_NJ]

Dave_1

Thanks, I do know about Allentown, PA, Allentown, NJ is a new one on me... just off of exit 7A of the NJ Turnpike I see. This is a bit of a drive from my home, especially given the price of gas. Well, in addition to my Chevy Colorado small pickup I have a trailer, and suppose I could get 1/2 a cord split between the two. I don't know the shape of the "mill ends" or how well they pack, or how heavy they are for that matter.

Do you live in NJ? Have you purchased mill end from Riephoff (sounds a little like "rip-off", ha!)?

 

[Dave_1]

Jerry,

I hear you about gas so this link will help out:

(broken link removed to http://yellowpages.aol.com/sawmills/nj/)

My brother-in-law (bil) did this regularly until he passed away. He would inflate the tires to @ 40 lbs, drive to the saw mill, hand load his ½ ton chevy until it nearly sat on the tires, then took back roads to his house doing 30 mph max. His cost was $5 a load.

You will do well to make the trailer haul @ ¾ of your load since it is easier on any vehicle to pull then tote.

No, don’t live in NJ but did visit RFL Industries (Boonton) in the early `70’s. Does that count? :lol:

During the “oil embargo” we lived in a split level that had a large fireplace in NC. So I had a muffler shop make up 5-6 (memory, getting old) U tube type grate, a fresh air collector box on the bottom of the tubes, powered the fresh air box with a fan, & put up fire screen. Those who came by were amazed at the heat output. But starting a fire was a pain.

Since I then drove by a furniture factory daily, that had a small mountain of wood scrap out back, I asked the foreman how much?

“It’s free, help yourself.“

Which I did & my fire starting problem was solved.

About a year later an engineer at work showed me an ad for a Heatilator. :down:

Good luck with it.

 

[Jay H]

I had a friend who i went to in college who was from Allentown, NJ, it's not far from Great Adventure and I-195 (which is exit 7a).

I'm not aware of any major sawmills up by us, but I haven't tried to burn anything other that raw wood. I did pick up some free 2x4s from somebody near where i work but I will just throw one in when i just want to keep a fire going in between runs... I pick up a lot of the small stuff when I'm splitting and save that as firestarter and for the purpose of keeping the fire going. If you do find a good deal or so somewhere, let me know, I have a Subaru with a hitch on the back.

Jay

 

[colebrookman]

Many of the maple sugar producers around here use slab wood for their boiling. They've been doing that for years and now with the price of fuel they will continue to burn wood I'm sure.