OK, I am clearing for my house, and stacking wood in 4' to 8' lengths. It will be shortened and fractured (the cottonwood at least) w/in the next few years, and kept dry till burned. Building will take 2 or 3 yrs, and I am sure I will have access to more trees that I will want to snag to stock pile. I know the wood will burn 20 yrs from now, but at what point does it start to lose its horsepower appreciably? I don't want to get too greedy and keep wood if it is going to dry rot, when I could have sold it. Thanks. j
when does wood deteriorate?
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I've found wood that was buried behind junk in my barn for probably 20 yrs, and its hard as a rock. It gave off super even heat with a very long burn time. As log as it stays dry it should keep fine. If your storing it outside make sure its off the ground at least a foot, and very well covered. If its enclosed under roof I believe would keep indefinitely. About the only problem I could see from their would be termites...
DJinPa
DJinPa
It probably depends on wood type and where it's stored. I burned some of my neighbors soft Maple that was in his wood shed for 10-15 years. Some of it looked good, some looked punky, and I thought it burned too hot and fast.
Sounds like I should not stockpile for more than a decade. Hell, I may not even be around then.... Thanks for the info.
Work on drying it as soon as you reasonably can and protect it from moisture from today forward and it will last a long, long time. The only real enemy of wood is water and bugs (carpenter ants, termites) and the bugs don't like dry wood very much.
Jklingel,
Do they have carpenter ants or termites in Fairbanks? If not, as long as it is high and dry it should last many years. I have read some articles that stated that when wood is seasoned too well that it burns too quickly and loses its maximum BTU potential, most of us wish we had that problem. ;-P
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Do they have carpenter ants or termites in Fairbanks? If not, as long as it is high and dry it should last many years. I have read some articles that stated that when wood is seasoned too well that it burns too quickly and loses its maximum BTU potential, most of us wish we had that problem. ;-P
Welcome aboard!
Get yourself a garden sprayer and some insecticide like Triazinon. Mix up a batch and spray the pile of logs every so often. It will keep the bugs out of the pile. I actually spray my split green wood with it as I stack it. Night and day difference in the number of bugs in the wood since I started doing this.
Some of the wood I inherited when I bought this house was from log booms from a local lake. It's old growth fir and I think it was used for many years in the lake. It's dense and burns incredibly well.
J: That cottonwood will take years to dry before you can burn it. Man, that stuff is worse than hemlock for moisture retention. I can`t think of anyone around here that even attempts to fire-up that junk. Cut it, split it, and then test it in about 3 years and see what the moisture reader says. Good luck with it.!!
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