I'll be buying firewood from the marketplace & I don't know much about how wood looks split open, no leaves, branches etc to help identify. I'll be posting some different woods to request your expert opinions. Here's the first one, Thanks!
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What Species?
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Looks to me like red oak. The punky 1-2” on the outside of the splits is from oak wilt.
NickW
Minister of Fire
Fresh split. That probably won't be ready to burn for a couple years if it is oak. Even if it was standing dead...
Thanks, They say it's "Mostly Hickory". Funny thing is we have so much oak around here in MO that I know that most of the wood pictured above is a darker reddish/brown than red oak is. I think there may very well be some small amount of Oak mixed in this stack though so you're probably right there.
Shockingly, they are selling cords for $125 so I really plan on buying a bunch of this stuff & wanted to check in with you folks. From what I read online is that Hickory has a higher BTU than Oak. Only burn it on the coldest days?
They're claiming it's seasoned 1-2 years. I'll need to ask them if that includes any standing dead time. To me "seasoned" is split wood stacked for at least 1 year. Is that what you say?
NickW
Minister of Fire
Nice! A full cord of oak or hickory runs around $400 here.
Yes, seasoning begins when split and stacked. Logs in a pile are absolutely NOT seasoning. Google firewood BTU charts with seasoning times to get an idea of approximate seasoning times for different woods. Sometimes dead standing the branch wood will be pretty well seasoned, but trunks virtually never are. I took down a dead white ash trunk a few years ago that was standing in a wide-open area delimbed for at least 5 years that still measured 42% mc.
High BTU good coaling woods like oak and hickory are great for overnight burns or daytime when it's not super cold or you're not around to reload. Daytime super cold if you're home or evenings when you need a heat burst but not a pile of coals lower quality wood is better to not be fighting coal mountain.
Yes, seasoning begins when split and stacked. Logs in a pile are absolutely NOT seasoning. Google firewood BTU charts with seasoning times to get an idea of approximate seasoning times for different woods. Sometimes dead standing the branch wood will be pretty well seasoned, but trunks virtually never are. I took down a dead white ash trunk a few years ago that was standing in a wide-open area delimbed for at least 5 years that still measured 42% mc.
High BTU good coaling woods like oak and hickory are great for overnight burns or daytime when it's not super cold or you're not around to reload. Daytime super cold if you're home or evenings when you need a heat burst but not a pile of coals lower quality wood is better to not be fighting coal mountain.
Make sure they are selling full cords. That’s more of a face cord price.
“They” may not know what they’re selling either. Firewood sellers are notoriously inaccurate and incompetent with their jobs and tend to be uneducated on proper seasoning times etc.
I am always unsure from photos, but this looks like black cherry to me.
Wow! That's got to be tough! I've seen a high of $300 but $150-$225 is common for Oak from my recent Marketplace searches.
Right, it needs to be stacked & that's my plan regardless of what I get. I see other burners that just have a tarp't wood pile but that's not right. That mc you mentioned is proof it needs to be split & stacked!
Good to know. While I've seen a few "Mixed" wood cords for sale it's normally Oak. I'll just have to reduce the re-load for the stove in the shoulder seasons?
Good reminder, I won't buy anything that mentions those terms like "Face cord". This ad says it's "One Cord". Here's a snippet of the ad...
"One cord of split firewood (mostly hickory), aged one to two years, cut to approx 18". You pick up for $125, we deliver for $150."
That's my worst fear! HA! I know it happens & unfortunately I'm still learning as I go. Makes for some interesting times. Whatever wood I buy I'm going to do darn near everything I can to capture all its ID traits to better understand what I'm burning for knowledge. I sent the seller a message before I posted this topic & stated "are you sure it's hickory" & they said "Yes".
Thanks! I just got done scouring the internet & black cherry is a lighter tone "red" while the pic above is a darker "red". Doesn't mean you're wrong, just means I need to do more digging once I pick some of this stuff up. We are starting to get our early rains now & need to wait for some dry time to go fetch it. Once I get it back here I'll post more pics for you all & myself. Thanks for your suggestion.
The issue is that many folks call a cord(4*4*8') what is in fact a face cord (one stack of 4*8').
So them listing it as a cord doesn't mean you'll get 4*4*8 ft of wood.
So them listing it as a cord doesn't mean you'll get 4*4*8 ft of wood.
NickW
Minister of Fire
Right! A full cord is well stacked 4'x4'x8' (128 cubic feet) not a pile.
After opening the photo and blowing it up, @River might be right about it being cherry.
Oak in MO might be ready to burn after 2 summers stacked outside in a sunny, windy location and properly covered; but 3 years would be better. Oak is notorious for slow seasoning. Cherry might be ready by next burning season. If you have or get a moisture meter, make sure to check on a room temperature fresh split parallel to the grain.
I haven't purchased firewood in years, but when I did it was truckloads of logs for $100-$125/cord. Then I got some scrounge sources. Now I have more than enough wood here at the new location right on the property and scrounging logs improperly dropped at the township brush pile.
I access the forum through my phone so I can't see what you are burning in. Is it an EPA stove?
After opening the photo and blowing it up, @River might be right about it being cherry.
Oak in MO might be ready to burn after 2 summers stacked outside in a sunny, windy location and properly covered; but 3 years would be better. Oak is notorious for slow seasoning. Cherry might be ready by next burning season. If you have or get a moisture meter, make sure to check on a room temperature fresh split parallel to the grain.
I haven't purchased firewood in years, but when I did it was truckloads of logs for $100-$125/cord. Then I got some scrounge sources. Now I have more than enough wood here at the new location right on the property and scrounging logs improperly dropped at the township brush pile.
I access the forum through my phone so I can't see what you are burning in. Is it an EPA stove?
5'x10' trailer I'll use has 11" side walls so if I fill 1" above the sides completely filling up the 5x10 trailer should equal around 66.5 Cu feet. Now, I have my 8' bed & I looked up the measurements of my 2007 F-350 long bed. It says 77.8 cubic feet. Total up the two & I can haul around at least 144.3 cubic feet which is 1.12 cord of wood.
Stacked wood... 🪵😎
I heard it has a pleasant smell? Just lower BTU's.
I plan to start stocking up for the 26-27' winter & the next 1-2 years after that. That would be nice but I have no idea how much wood I'll use. This first year I just want to scramble & grab a bunch of cords of wood. Say 10 minimum?? 1835 square feet (interior) 1949 house. Stove is going into the basement. Englander 500 sitting in the garage waiting for things to continue coming together.
That's one way to keep costs down. I've heard that some folks have done that. Once you find a good cheap source it's nice. I live in town & have no other family outside of my brothers place to source wood but that will have to wait until later.
That is correct, It's the Englander 500 blue ridge EPA 1.6 Grams/Hr, Ash hole in the center front, big ash tray, good size window & ash lip. I know very little about wood stoves but thought this was the best "Budget" stove to get me started. Around $1800 to the door from Menards.
Yes, After I buy some of this wood I will certainly post more. Those pics are from the sellers ad.
Doh'! You're right, I kept putting in 1.33 instead of 1.0 for 1 ft.
They tell me it's been seasoned for 1-2 years already. Dried white Oak should be around 4100, Red Oak a bit less, & Hickory a whopping 4500 pounds! It's a 2,000 lb GVWR trailer that I just had new D rated trailer tires, bearings packed, & new grease covers put on. Tires are rated much higher than the trailer so that's good but everything else? I've had this trailer for over 10 years & it's a 2002 model. I'll just run it until it doesn't I suppose.
50 cu ft of Hickory would be 1,757 pounds. Not quite adequate so I'll need to go slow & watch everything. White Oak would be 1,601 pounds & Red Oak 1,524 pounds. I don't know how much this single axle trailer weighs as I've never scaled it. Looks like my Hickory runs will be slim though!
I do have a 2007 F-350 dually but that would be too many trips to not make it worth it w/o the trailer.
It’s also a cost to process. I’m going to assume they didn’t ourchase logs, but got the wood free. It still takes hours to cut, split, and move that much wood. I doubt they have a firewood processor to keep them from touching it.
And then they’re going to deliver it for $25 over the cost of the wood itself? Please do! Put it over there!
😅
The ad says delivery within their city area. I'm about 35 miles from them so no $25 deliveries for me.
The wood in your photos is not too dark to be cherry. It appears to be wet, and that will make it darker. The sapwood has the characteristic white, powdery look of cherry. Cherry bark is unmistakable -- and the little bit of bark I see has the right appearance (from this distance).
It looks like black cherry's range includes all of Missouri. When I lived in Iowa, I do not remember seeing it, but maybe I wasn't looking in the right places. Here in northern Indiana, it is very common. It is probably my most-burned species many years. I just split and stacked (in the woods) some this afternoon. I have some in the cookstove as I type this.
Another characteristic feature of cherry is its odor. It smells sweet, to me. Kind of like cherries.
Let us know what you find out.
When I dig my knife into live cherry, it doesn’t smell good to me. At least not like the other tree with similar bark, black birch. That smells like wintergreen.
