drying firewood?

[Cobleskill]

White Oak smoke can be quite strong. Red is mild, Chesnut quite pleasant.

 

[Burnham]

Funny, up here larch would be considered the superior firewood to fir.

Probably a cultural bias rather than a real distinction in btu values, would be my guess Justin.

 

[squisher]

Could be I suppose? Larch seems slower growing and thus tends to be more consistently tighter grained than fir, is what I've found. BTU 'ratings' can be what they are but certainly there is room for a lot of variation depending on how the individual tree has grown. I've burned fir with growth rings the size of my thumb, and some with rings so tight they're barely distinguishable. Same species, big difference in btu's.

 

[Paul B]

Funny, I get my campfire wood from the lumberyard, I prefer 2x6's to 2x4's.

 

[Burnham]

Could be I suppose? Larch seems slower growing and thus tends to be more consistently tighter grained than fir, is what I've found. BTU 'ratings' can be what they are but certainly there is room for a lot of variation depending on how the individual tree has grown. I've burned fir with growth rings the size of my thumb, and some with rings so tight they're barely distinguishable. Same species, big difference in btu's.

All true, no argument. As to the difference between oldgrowth Df and younger individuals...absolutely.

 

[squisher]

Maybe we 'value' larch more around here too as it's not as common as fir, seems like within a stand more often then not the larch will be tall, clear, and slightly skinnier than the fir. Those attributes combined seem to make a nice firewood.

Fir is mostly all I burn as it's so plentiful here and really is a excellent wood. When I worked in the woods still though I'd often have a good mix of larch in my pile too. Less so nowadays.

 

[Burnham]

Also true, here too.

 

[Al Smith]

See the diff .Here in the heart land we shun away from anything considered of the pine family .Of course we have no native pines on this side of the state .Nothing but hardwoods .

Couple years ago Tom had some southern yellow pine which I was just going to use for camp firewood .My Lawd that stuff was like splitting elm .

 

[kevin bingham]

This is the best way I have found to stack firewood. It's great. Eliminates a lot of handling sorry for the rotation

 

[flushcut]

This is how I do it, four cords sold since this pic was taken.

 

[PCTREE]

Kevin, how many cords are in that pile??

 

[kevin bingham]

Honestly no idea. It's my personal pile. I don't sell it.

 

[brendonv]

I filled mine the rest of the way yesterday. This is before that pic. So neat this way. I love it. Ive got another four cord to split, and ill make another one next to this one. I figure there has gotta be 6-8 cord in mine. More on the high side. Its wide and tall.

 

[kevin bingham]

I filled mine the rest of the way yesterday. This is before that pic. So neat this way. I love it. Ive got another four cord to split, and ill make another one next to this one. I figure there has gotta be 6-8 cord in mine. More on the high side. Its wide and tall.

that picture shows how great it is that you only have to stack the outside. the inside is just thrown in. and it still looks good

 

[brendonv]

Ill take a pic tomorrow. It looks awesome full, so neat out back this year. Last year i just dropped onto the ground. Messy.

 

[PCTREE]

Im down with messy,

 

[kevin bingham]

Messy is the best if you have space. The more you touch firewood the more it costs

 

[Al Smith]

I've always racked it and stacked it on old pallets.Tom just throws it in a big heap .

The heap probabley works as well if you use it up before the bottom of the heap gets all funky .

 

[flushcut]

Im down with messy,

ditto

 

[Cobleskill]

Bet there isn't much air flow at the bottom of a heap, Al. I have put 4 pallets in a square, stacked the perimeter, and tossed the center full. I might try 9 pallets and stacking in a circle.

 

[Al Smith]

Well I told Tom that fact also but he's hard headed .You get down to the bottom and it's about half rotten after a time .Probabley not a big deal if you are growing mushrooms not so good for firewood .

 

[kevin bingham]

The bottom layer is all crotch wood and off sizes. A circle is great and easier to stack than square. The trick is to stack it so every three or for rows you slant the stack back toward the middle otherwise it falls apart outwards.

 

[MasterBlaster]

The more you touch firewood the more it costs

Absolutely!

 

[brendonv]

I would not stack nice like that if i sold it. I sell logs. They get touched on the job, and straight to the customers house.

I might sell two to four cord of split to pay to fill my oil tank for the year. Thats it.

 

[Al Smith]

I could square stack it 8 feet tall if I could reach it .These old 66 shoulders however are not like they used to be .Father time gets all some time or another --sucks .