Hey guys it has been a while since I have been on, but I wanted to share some info. i have recently confirmed. I have been getting sick of buying "seasoned wood" fromt eh local guys, only to find it sizzles when burned. I went to harbor freight and purchased a centech moisture meter, the 2 prong yellow one. I was surprized, it actually seems to be fairly decent quality. I have wood available to me on my families property, but I do not want o be cutting down to live trees, and stripping the land. I cut down some dead standing oak, the kind with all the bark off, and grey in apperence, and am so pleased to tell you. You can cut down, split and burn in the same day, and the moisture content on average is around 17%, which burns great. I have cut quite a few of these trees up over the last 2 months, around 5 trailer loads, 7 X 14, and half full. All the loads were consistent, and burned well. the bets part I find with it, super easy to split. Hope this helps and it is very green friendly, by not taking any live trees, but actually letting them flourish more with the dead stuff removed.
The best wood to scrounge....
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Glad this has worked out for you.
But don't think that it is all bad to take some live trees down either. For sure I'd cut the dead or dying stuff first if possible, but there are many times it will do your woods good to cut some of the live stuff. It will even help the wildlife.
But don't think that it is all bad to take some live trees down either. For sure I'd cut the dead or dying stuff first if possible, but there are many times it will do your woods good to cut some of the live stuff. It will even help the wildlife.
Backwoods Savage said:
FUlly agreed and I meant to mention that as well. I will take the non vertical trees, if you would, like the leaners, and try to keep the nice trees for my son and his kids and so on...
and for scroungers, just about any farmer, with permission, will let you cut as much dead stuff as you can handle, most landowners are cool with you taking the dead stuff as well again with their permission, and with the no season time, it works out well for some of folks who just dont have the extra cash and still need wood now to burn. I have saved my self a lot of money doing this, and kept us warm, with no fear of running 0ut... especially with all the lost jobs and lay offs and so on, some are not as fortunate this year....
Been burnin "grey" oak since the beginning of Jan. It burns hottttt and for hours fully loaded. I actually dropped 3 of em at work on monday and will be pickin up the logs tomorrow. They'll get split and burnt in the next few weeks.
Another thing to look for about cutting live trees a is, fully matured trees with large defects. Such as hollow trunks, etc. There is a wonderful thing called selective cutting that actually makes your forest more healthy. Once a tree has matured, its life cycle reverses. It actually quits releasing oxygen into the atmosphere and starts to release CO2. Also, if your wood are overcanopied, by which I mean, you have many old large trees and few young trees. You really need to thin the herd. I could talk for hours on this topic, but I won't bore you. You get the hint.
I collect mostly downed branches from oak trees. These can vary from 4 inch rounds to 2 inch. They are great rounds to fill the voids when you load up the stove.
I also look for felled trees because they add up. Like others, I am burning stuff that I collected last spring and glad I did it because I am almost out of the cord wood I purchased.
I also look for felled trees because they add up. Like others, I am burning stuff that I collected last spring and glad I did it because I am almost out of the cord wood I purchased.
I just cut up a whole bunch yesterday, and even got about a half cord of back up from just the branches and a few rounds. burned it last night and stayed warm for free..lOL, and to address the issue of dead and live wood, I also look for the weak and diseased trees, hallow trunks, and leaners. my property was part of the coal mining era, and most of my trees are less than 100 years old, so I don't really have a huge issue with too mature trees here, but I have done a lot of reading on selective cutting for my deer management program, and it kinda flourished into my wood collection obsession now..LOL, so I can enjoy the wildlife, they can enjoy our property more fully, and we stay warm, and our trees get healthier.. the way I look at "cleaning" up the woods is all plus plus plus.... I hope this helps all you guys out there, like my self, dealing with the wood man, and his form of seasoned wood..LOL I did the moisture meter last night also on the the ffesh splits and it was a nice 16% moisture content, and judging by the fire, I would have to agree..LOL
wendell said:
basicallt the grey standing dead oak, I am referring this thread too.... LOL I average about 18% from the day I split it...oh yeah, the other nice part I forgot to mention about the barkless grey, NO bark in the house... yeah less sweepeing..
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