So the couple of fires I've done have been with less than stellar wood, around the mid 20's on the meter. A couple weeks ago I cut a huge ash tree up that washed down the river at my father in-laws place. We hauled it out of the river in early summer and before he knew what it was I asked if I could have it I was surprised he said yes as he heats exclusively with wood and burns 3-5 cords a year. I ran the saw into it not knowing if it was rotten and was pleasantly surprised it was in great shape. So as I split I took moisture readings and had about 20% right off the splitter which surprised me cause the big rounds were 24"+ in diameter, after a week I split a large piece and got 18% and the ends are already checking. The temps are in the low 30's tonight so I thought I would try some out, I've never had the secondaries firing like this and the stove is the hottest it's ever been at 500 ( I have the air shut all the way and it's still climbing hopefully it will level off shortly!) hopefully my other wood will dry enough by the time I get to it in a few months until the. I'm gong to enjoy burning this stuff while scrounging all the ash I can find for next year!
Rare to find a tree that dry when you cut low on the trunk. I wonder what the story on it was? Long time standing dead on the bank and finally fell in the river? Any bark on it?
