Does anybody debark their firewood?

[turnkey4099]

I think we've had this conversation before about how many times firewood has to get touched. Why would anyone take the bark off it? I burn about 3600 pieces of wood per year, give-or-take. As I mentioned, the only wood that bark seems to fall off of is my black locust, and that's if its been sitting for a while. It'll fall off when I'm splitting it. There's a slimy stinky film under it. But I can't recall any other wood doing that on a regular basis. Oak, cherry, maple, sassafras, are the only other woods I burn with any regularity, and none of their barks fall off unless its from a tree that was standing dead for a while.

As for handling, I physically touch it when I:
1. Load rounds on the trailer to bring home.
2. Load rounds off the trailer when I get home.
3. Set it on the splitter.
4. Stack it on the pile.
5. Load it into the cart from the pile.
6. Stack it in the basement.
7. Load it in the stove.

So for me its about 7 times.

I'd like to eliminate steps 1 & 2, but I can't figure out how to fell the trees onto the trailer....

about the same here but I try to combine steps as often as possible, go direct from load to splitter. Most times though That doesn't happen.

 

[turnkey4099]

I love it when the bark comes off. If it is pealing easily when I split it, I sometimes take the time to do it. That only applies if I am splitting manually. If it is going through the splitter, I don't bother.

 

[Oaktree]

While bark may create more ash....it's also makes BTUs. So burn it.

Same here. I have a wood box on my porch which holds 3-5 days' worth. Couple times a winter I'll scoop out the bark, etc. and just dump it in the stove. Burns just fine. Why let it go to waste?

if the bark doesn't fall off then the wood isn't dry enough to burn.
This is not my only indicator, just one of a few. Keep in mind that I only burn Oak, Maple and Beech with the exception of some Birch to start the fire.

Dunno about that. I use mostly maple, beech & ash with some occasional red oak and yellow birch seasoned at least 2 years, and probably 98% of it the bark is still well attached when it goes in the stove. After that length of time it's as dry as it's gonna get.

 

[dannoGT]

Sounds like maybe there is an opportunity for a new firewood service Debarked and DryCleaned and Delivered

 

[Looking4new]

Sounds like maybe there is an opportunity for a new firewood service Debarked and DryCleaned and Delivered

I think it wood be cheaper if it isn't dry cleaned.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Wow, living in Oregon and not bothering with maple for firewood..
I would have thought any hardwood tree out there would be a premium

Both madrone and maple are weeds. You can't kill them by cutting them down, because they will sucker right back from the roots and be a tree again in short order. The native habitat is oak savannah, and oak is almost as good as madrone for firewood. Yeah, there is a lot of pine, fir, spruce and cedar, but if you just stare at what some urban doofus thinks is a picture of a forest you miss all the firewood. To link this with generators, though not portable, when Enron manufactured the fake energy shortage in California, they fired up mothballed boilers in closed sawmills and just sold the electricity to LA. They chipped thousands of acres of madrone and oak for hog fuel and fed it through the boilers. There's really no use for madrone but firewood. A little of the white oak goes for wine barrels, but mostly it costs more to log it than the sale price. Here's a picture of my front yard. I planted ponderosa pine under the madrone, but the slope is so steep and unstable that I can't remove the madrone until the pine is well established without risking catastrophic slides.

 

[wngsprd]

I think we've had this conversation before about how many times firewood has to get touched. Why would anyone take the bark off it? I burn about 3600 pieces of wood per year, give-or-take. As I mentioned, the only wood that bark seems to fall off of is my black locust, and that's if its been sitting for a while. It'll fall off when I'm splitting it. There's a slimy stinky film under it. But I can't recall any other wood doing that on a regular basis. Oak, cherry, maple, sassafras, are the only other woods I burn with any regularity, and none of their barks fall off unless its from a tree that was standing dead for a while.

As for handling, I physically touch it when I:
1. Load rounds on the trailer to bring home.
2. Load rounds off the trailer when I get home.
3. Set it on the splitter.
4. Stack it on the pile.
5. Load it into the cart from the pile.
6. Stack it in the basement.
7. Load it in the stove.

So for me its about 7 times.

I'd like to eliminate steps 1 & 2, but I can't figure out how to fell the trees onto the trailer....

That is too funny. How do find crazy stuff like that? At least we know Step 1 can be done.

 

[/pine]

Under the bark is where I see the most insects and insect larva etc...

 

[Willie B]

I think we've had this conversation before about how many times firewood has to get touched. Why would anyone take the bark off it? I burn about 3600 pieces of wood per year, give-or-take. As I mentioned, the only wood that bark seems to fall off of is my black locust, and that's if its been sitting for a while. It'll fall off when I'm splitting it. There's a slimy stinky film under it. But I can't recall any other wood doing that on a regular basis. Oak, cherry, maple, sassafras, are the only other woods I burn with any regularity, and none of their barks fall off unless its from a tree that was standing dead for a while.

As for handling, I physically touch it when I:
1. Load rounds on the trailer to bring home.
2. Load rounds off the trailer when I get home.
3. Set it on the splitter.
4. Stack it on the pile.
5. Load it into the cart from the pile.
6. Stack it in the basement.
7. Load it in the stove.

So for me its about 7 times.

I'd like to eliminate steps 1 & 2, but I can't figure out how to fell the trees onto the trailer....

I have a 1956 Dodge Power Wagon. I bought it because it was the most rust free example I've ever seen. It is also the one with the most minor dents I've seen. I think I just figured out how it got all those minor dents.

 

[Willie B]

I've long known that wood cut in spring is easy to bark. In 1987 I decided to build a timber frame cabin. I secured 30 Red Pine trees big enough to yield 4 24' logs before reaching 8" diameter. Cutting them began in early May. I was able to use a bark spud, a tool built by a blacksmith shaped vaguely like a 3' long spoon. Each 24' log peeled with one piece of bark in 10 minutes.