Well......... drat!

[Shari]

I've got around 4 cord of wood I hadn't planned on burning this year (c/s/s in 2011).

I've still got around 2 cord of wood (c/s/s in 2010) that I "thought" I was going to burn this winter - but - that's not gonna happen. I brought some sticks in from the 2010 stacks the other day - spit/sputter/stall is all I can get. Drat!

In addition to the above I've got around 3/4 cord of 2008 apple that I know is burnable. Shoot - I wanted to save that for the BBQ.

If I just burn straight apple I might not make it through the season. Sounds like I will have to mix the apple and the 2010 wood. I hate mixing wood. I'm a "Grab & Burn" type of person.

I did find a surprise in my apple stack - some birch. I've never kept birch, at least on purpose, for more than a year as it goes to punk around here. It seems to be okay - not punky - probably because it was on the bottom of the apple stack with it's bark up. I stripped off some of the birch bark for future firestarters for my "mix".

On the plus side we just got dumped with about 12" of snow overnight. I'm glad I brought up 1/2 cord to the house before the storm. My back is not glad about all that 'sledding in the wood' in one day though.

In the meantime, hubby's in his recliner, kicked back, watching tv enjoying the woodstove while his broken leg heals.........

 

[pen]

What kind of wood was in that 2010 stack?

Can you come up with a reason for why it didn't dry?

pen

 

[Shari]

Pen,

Good question..... I would have thought 2+ yrs. would have been enough.

80% is hard maple the rest is oak. Oak I could possibly understand why it's not ready but the maple.......? There might be a couple of reasons:

The two cord are set at right angles to each other. One cord is open to the wind/sun on both sides and is setting N/S. The rest of the cords that I burned this year were also set N/S.

The other cord is open only on the south side, wooden fence to the north, the rack sets E/W. Now, this second one I could possibly understand not being ready because it doesn't get a lot of wind through the stack.

BUT I think the main reason is I had a ton of chunks that I tossed between both cords - the chunks probably blocked too much air flow. I scrounge rounds so the lengths vary a lot and I do a fair amount of sawing = a fair amount of chunks each year. I'll probably have to figure out a different stacking/storage for the chunks in the future.

I'm still going to cherry pick from the tops of these 2 cords as those pieces are grey/split ends/etc. and do seem to burn okay.

Lesson learned - when stacking on pallets keep the centers open for air flow.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'll probably have to figure out a different stacking/storage for the chunks in the future.

I've got some chain-link fence. I'm going to cut some pallets in half, lengthwise, so they are ~20" wide, then put fence walls with t-posts along either side of the pallets. I should have enough fence to make a 20"W x12'L x6' high chunk bin. Air should move through the chunks pretty well, I would think.

I thought about tossing in a Native American casino joke but I'd better not...

 

[Shari]

I've got some chain-link fence........

Oh sure - I gave away about 25' of it a couple of years ago when cleaning up the yard.

That sounds like it should do the job.

I've got a "Junk Man Friend" that may have what I need........... thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Gasifier]

Shari. Is that wood you are saying is not dry enough out in the stacks all winter?

 

[Shari]

Yes. I don't have a woodshed - city lot/can't build one here so I cover the stacks I will use during the winter. What gets me is we have a 10x20 covered patio - city code won't even allow me to stack wood under cover of the patio. I'm probably 'in violation' of having two 2'x4'x4' covered wood racks on my front porch - but so far no one has said anything.

 

[oppirs]

You sound like you know what your doing. If you must use Apple, use it. Forget the smoked meat. Green wood apple works better for me in smoking.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Shari, it sounds like you have it pegged as to why it did not dry better. As for the oak, it does not surprise me in the least. We won't even attempt to burn oak until it has been in the stack 3 years or longer.

Good luck.

Oh yes, on the birch. It will turn to punk really fast....unless you split it right away. That birch bark really holds in the moisture and that is why it will turn punky. if you split the birch right away, it will keep for many years.

 

[nate379]

Real fast? Seems to keep for several years before it's getting bad. Alaska Birch special?

 

[Shari]

Real fast? Seems to keep for several years before it's getting bad. Alaska Birch special?

I've had birch go punky in less than 6 months if left in the round. I don't get much of it around here but I do enjoy the bark for fire starters.

 

[northwinds]

My brother-in-law has lots of birch in northern Wisconsin. If it sits on the ground in the round for six months or more, you might as well let it sit. We pile it up for bonfire wood.

 

[ScotO]

Shari, I've found that silver maple and red maple season quite fast (usually are great in a year or even less, sometimes) but as for hard maple and norway maple, they can take a long time to season (sometimes up to two years in certain climates). I'm not surprised to hear you are having some trouble with that stuff. I agree with oppirs regarding the apple wood. Green apple wood is best for smoking, if you gotta use the applewood you have, use it.

 

[milleo]

Dennis your back.....

 

[Shari]

Oh yes, on the birch. It will turn to punk really fast....unless you split it right away. That birch bark really holds in the moisture and that is why it will turn punky. if you split the birch right away, it will keep for many years.

Well, maybe I won't turn birch away in the future.

Stack it with bark up, right? That's the way I had it stacked and it seems to have 'survived' to be burnable wood.