Standing Dead Trees

[cptoneleg]

Here is another one I hear all the time Cut standing dead they are dry you can burn them right now. When I joined this forum yes Dennis I bought one of those MM.

I found this standing dead 99% sure Red Maple as most of bark fallen off Looks to have been dead for yrs MM read 33%, To check my MM I went to woodpile pulled out an Ash split about 16 months ago re-split MM read 18%.
The wood was starting to get punky, the reading was made at bottom. This is pretty typical of standing dead that I cut.

Helped a neighbor (on halves) cut up a big Oak that stood dead 3 yrs fell over laid for 2 more. Neighbor says as we are splitting should be good and dry, pulled out MM 38% same reading I get when I cut doen a live Oak. ( come to think of it that must be the highest reading on it never saw it higher.)

 

[CTYank]

With those trees, my bet is that you could have used your digital moisture-meter.
Touch an index finger to the butt end, and say "It's really wet." Hell, just look at the wood- it's really wet.

At least it goes away on exposure to sun and wind. Just lots heavier to haul.

 

[maxed_out]

Capt, you are right on the money. Same experiences here.

 

[smokinj]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

 

[cptoneleg]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

Same here smoke, but point is someone is always giving advice to someone about the standing dead trees all seasoned out dry and ready to burn, on my tree farm they need about the same amount of time in a stack as anything else.

LOL :zip:

 

[smokinj]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

Same here smoke, but point is someone is always giving advice to someone about the standing dead trees all seasoned out dry and ready to burn, on my tree farm they need about the same amount of time in a stack as anything else.

LOL :zip:

Think its more that there out of choices, just an option...Heck I had the boys out yesterday on dead lying oak. Its wet and sure it would have peg the MM. Split it at 3-4 inch squares and hope you dont need it. lol Until you can get ahead (Some always wait to long) you just got to do what you got to do. Dead standing or already fellin tree's would be my start. (If I had no other choice) Oh and they dont. There rolling the dice but still probally better than anything they will buy in Jan. :cheese:

 

[woodsmaster]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

Same here smoke, but point is someone is always giving advice to someone about the standing dead trees all seasoned out dry and ready to burn, on my tree farm they need about the same amount of time in a stack as anything else.

LOL :zip:

I've been cutting dead standing white ash. The moisture meter says 24% - 25% on the trunk pieces and dryer on the limbs. After split a few weeks in the sun and it's good to go.

 

[Thistle]

Cut roughly 3 cords of Red/Black Oak deadfall & assorted blowdown in mid April that'd been on the ground for 5yrs easily.Started splitting & hauling it out this morning,still north of 25%,some has to be 30%.I've cut various green Oaks in January or October,neither was much wetter.We did have about 22 inches of rain here from April through the end of June,some of that outer punky sapwood was like a sponge.

Good thing I wont need any of this for 4 yrs at least. :lol: Just finally getting caught up cleaning up the woods.

 

[DexterDay]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

Same here smoke, but point is someone is always giving advice to someone about the standing dead trees all seasoned out dry and ready to burn, on my tree farm they need about the same amount of time in a stack as anything else.

LOL :zip:

I've been cutting dead standing white ash. The moisture meter says 24% - 25% on the trunk pieces and dryer on the limbs. After split a few weeks in the sun and it's good to go.

Around 25%-30% on Ash here, too. But on Oak its much Higher.. Species, Location, and Conditions (Rain, On the Ground) all play there part. Unless its the Top Twigs. Its gotta season like all the rest of the wood. Gotta Love Ash.. Hate the EAB.. But sure has made for some good wood (unfortunately)

 

[golfandwoodnut]

It all depends..I cut several dead Oaks from gypsy moths last summer (they have been dead for 20 years) and that wood was dry (17 percent on the MM and lower). If you have punky maple, it may never dry. Maple seems to punk up kicker than most. Normally I don't count on any wood being ready without sitting in the stacks for at least a year. But it can happen right off the stump in some cases. I know Dennis said the Ash he cut this year will be ready, although I am sure he won't need it.

 

[cptoneleg]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

Same here smoke, but point is someone is always giving advice to someone about the standing dead trees all seasoned out dry and ready to burn, on my tree farm they need about the same amount of time in a stack as anything else.

LOL :zip:

I've been cutting dead standing white ash. The moisture meter says 24% - 25% on the trunk pieces and dryer on the limbs. After split a few weeks in the sun and it's good to go.

I have no Ash on my place but I did have about a cord last yr love the stuff. And I burned a little last yr but have some left, thats why I spit an Ash spit if I have doubts about the MM

 

[smokinj]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

Same here smoke, but point is someone is always giving advice to someone about the standing dead trees all seasoned out dry and ready to burn, on my tree farm they need about the same amount of time in a stack as anything else.

LOL :zip:

I've been cutting dead standing white ash. The moisture meter says 24% - 25% on the trunk pieces and dryer on the limbs. After split a few weeks in the sun and it's good to go.

Around 25%-30% on Ash here, too. But on Oak its much Higher.. Species, Location, and Conditions (Rain, On the Ground) all play there part. Unless its the Top Twigs. Its gotta season like all the rest of the wood. Gotta Love Ash.. Hate the EAB.. But sure has made for some good wood (unfortunately)

The scramble on and lots of newbies will be asking this question: Answer look for ash first then dead standing and fell-en trees. No big sercet to it. Oh clean your chimney once a month. This has been going on sense the beginning of time! :coolsmirk:

 

[jeff_t]

I don't have a moisture meter, but I've cut plenty of dead ash that burned really well. I've also cut plenty that definitely wasn't ready to burn. I cut one the other day out of a pile, and the water just poured out. It had a crack that ran much of the length of the tree, must have been rain collected there. Also cut another that had moisture weeping out the ends of the rounds by the time I got them loaded on my trailer.

So yeah, standing dead isn't always guaranteed dry, but at least there is a possibility. It's probably the best place to start if you're in a jam.

 

[Jam Master]

Have cut elm that has been dead for 2 years with no bark and burned it the same day. When hit together it sounds like 2 baseball bats and has absolutely no hissing during burning. Have cut oak that's been dead for 2 years with no bark and had water splash my face when splitting, needed another 2 years to season properly.

 

[quads]

Like I've always said, dead oak is the only thing I cut, and in my experience the trunks are usually wet (I have no need for a moisture meter, I can see that it's wet). I give it just as much seasoning time split and stacked as I would green oak. Often the limbs are dry enough to burn ok, but I don't sort the wood, just stack it altogether and wait 3 years.

 

[Woody Stover]

Last Winter I had to cut up a dead/down Ash to make it through. Was 25% but I got it down to 20% in a couple of weeks, split and stacked in the house with fans on it. I need down around 16% on my meter for wood not to hiss. I also got some dead standing Black Oak and was able to burn anything up to 8" diameter; It came in at 16% MC right off the tree. There just wasn't a lot of it in comparison to the amount of wetter trunk wood.

I'm scrambling right now, trying to get everyone dry wood. Hitting dead/standing White Ash, which is ;usually about 25% max. Stuff I split a couple weeks ago is looking drier already. I'm hoping for a long, warm Fall this year. :cheese:

 

[Thistle]

Like I've always said, dead oak is the only thing I cut, and in my experience the trunks are usually wet (I have no need for a moisture meter, I can see that it's wet). I give it just as much seasoning time split and stacked as I would green oak. Often the limbs are dry enough to burn ok, but I don't sort the wood, just stack it altogether and wait 3 years.

Same here.I've had a moisture meter for almost 17 yrs,its for checking air-dried lumber I've either milled or found elsewhere though.

Quite often everything I cut up to 6"-7" can be bone-dry, but everything bigger is usually quite wet (as much as fully green tree),whether its standing or on the ground several yrs.Since this is for 3-4 yrs down the road I just stack it all together,unless at least 1/2 is ready to burn right now.Once in a while I get lucky & have unsplit logs 12"-14 very dry,not too often though.I've seen them rot from within if I dont get them cut/split in time.Especially Red Oak.

 

[laynes69]

I never had any problems burning standing dead trees in our old furnace. When I upgraded to a EPA furnace, they burned and seemed dry but didn't perform like the seasoned wood had. Even if it feels bone dry and sounds dry, it's cut split and stacked to further season. Makes a bit of difference. We have many dead ash and elm trees to be cut. I haven't had time so I have bought wood from my bil. What I cut standing dead this winter will be burned next winter.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

I've found that MC is all over the map with standing deadwood. Yes, some branches and top parts are going to be better for burning sooner. Sometimes the bottom trunk still needs a year or more, especially if it's Oak.

One type I really love is standing dead Cherry. Most of that is going to be dry to begin with. That which isn't will season real fast after splitting. I got lucky and got hold of several deadwood Cherry trees this past week. The ones that were standing are good to go. The ones that had ground contact are probably going to need about 6 months after splitting.

As part of my recent haul I also got some dead Red Oak that had lots of ground contact. In fact, some of it was pulled from a creek. It's about as heavy as it gets. Will probably need 1+ year to season after splitting. Oak just needs lots of time.

 

[billb3]

I've found the same as Quads:
Standing dead ( vertical, not horizontal)oak is dryer where it is exposed to the elements more, especially wind.
Closer to the ground is always damper.
Even the difference in weight is quite noticable.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Heck around here your 2-3 years ahead and just dont worry to much about it, or your busting your butt just to make it for this winter! Either way its just a rotation game, and hope your game is Good! :cheese:

Same here smoke, but point is someone is always giving advice to someone about the standing dead trees all seasoned out dry and ready to burn, on my tree farm they need about the same amount of time in a stack as anything else.

LOL :zip:

Thanks for posting about the standing dead tree. Too many think they can cut standing or even downed dead trees and get good wood. Sometimes yes; sometimes no.

That soft maple is one prime example of an exception too. You can fell a soft maple, leave it lay for 1-2 years and it will all be dry. Leave it more than 2 years and you have some very punky wood on your hands. This is the only wood I am aware of that you can leave in tree length and it will dry very well.

 

[Woody Stover]

One type I really love is standing dead Cherry. Most of that is going to be dry to begin with. That which isn't will season real fast after splitting.

When I was hauling up a load of Ash a couple of days ago, I noticed a Cherry, about 8", that was broken off half way up, and another that had blown over and is held off the ground by the root ball. I'll grab those on your recommendation; I need as much dry wood as I can get my hands on at this point.

 

[smokinj]

One type I really love is standing dead Cherry. Most of that is going to be dry to begin with. That which isn't will season real fast after splitting.

When I was hauling up a load of Ash a couple of days ago, I noticed a Cherry, about 8", that was broken off half way up, and another that had blown over and is held off the ground by the root ball. I'll grab those on your recommendation; I need as much dry wood as I can get my hands on at this point.

Always start with what is down and or dead standing of anything but oak if your in a pinch! Common sense! Split it stack it....MM will dont teach you these but a stack of wood will.

 

[cptoneleg]

You know "Common Sense isn't that Common anymore" By the way that standing dead soft maple I only split and cut 2 rounds and it got too punky I will just leave it in the woods. I'm not cutting wood for this season anyway.

 

[oldspark]

Never had much luck with the soft maple either, gets punky in a hurry, if I cut it green I have control over it, not one of my favorites.