Some Standing Dead Oak

[Alex C]

This weekend I had my BIL come take down two oaks that are on my property. One was completely dead, rotted at the very top, no foliage. The other was dead at the top, but some green foliage still came out on the first limbs from the bottom. After about two hours of myself and two friends taking the x27's to the rounds, we had the whole lot of it split. I never in a million years would have thought oak could split so easy. Could have used my fiskars hatchet. The wood was red in color and seemed SOAKED. the next day I looked at the pile, and it seemed 100x more dry. The wood is in no way rotted and has really nice grain. Can it be expected that these splits will dry out faster than if the trees had been alive? these splits remind me in looks (color, grain) and weight of some of the stuff I had bought last year that burned excellent in the stove. I'll post pictures of it when I get the rest of the cleanup done.

 

[Monaco]

The wood turned from red to pink pretty quick didn't it? I just cut up an oak like this. It did look soaked when I split it open.

 

[barmstrong2]

Last summer, I hired a climber to cut a huge, dead, standing oak at my home. This tree was 40" across at the trunk. It hasd no green for 4 years and, like yours, it split easily and with a nice, deep red color, moist to the touch. I figured out would need at least one season, so I stacked it off separate from my other firewood. Well, it was a long, cold winter and we burned through the firewood faster than expected. So, I started mixing some of that oak in. To my surprise, it was totally ready to burn. I just stacked the rest of it yesterday with this year's firewood. We got better than 2 cord from that oak.

 

[lindnova]

Red or pin oak splits real nice. My experience has been that it still takes a year or 2 to dry. If the bark is on or the sapwood is rotting it holds moisture, but does seem to loose it faster than green wood once split and stacked.

 

[barmstrong2]

Of interest, deep in the center of that tree, about 15' up, I found an old clothesline pulley.

 

[billb3]

Can it be expected that these splits will dry out faster than if the trees had been alive?.

Yes.
I've cut 13 cords of the same condition ( completely dead ) the last two years and despite the trunks being soaking wet ( water oozing out when splitting ) if split it dries right out real quick. Did for me stacked and covered anyway.

Of interest, deep in the center of that tree, about 15' up, I found an old clothesline pulley.

Does it still work ?

 

[Alex C]

The wood turned from red to pink pretty quick didn't it? I just cut up an oak like this. It did look soaked when I split it open.

Yes, the wood turned color very quickly.

Well, it was a long, cold winter and we burned through the firewood faster than expected. So, I started mixing some of that oak in. To my surprise, it was totally ready to burn.

I had the same situation last year. That was some of the best burning wood I had.

 

[barmstrong2]

Does it still work ?

Nope. Stuck tight.