How to determine if downed tree worth cutting

[Larry Caldwell]

This may be a tough fire year since I'm going to be using mostly freshly cut and split.

If you are forced to burn green wood, ash is your best choice, followed by oak. Ash seems to have a lot less water in it than other woods.

Wet wood loses a lot of heat up the chimney just boiling the water out of the wood. The wet stack gasses also carry a lot of creosote, so keep an eye on your chimney, and leave your draft more open than you would with dry wood.

 

[dmccarty]

I have Red Oak that was brought down by Fran back in the late 90's. I have burned most of it that is easy to reach. I had some I burned last season and it was fine. The log gets "funny" looking. It is "checks" on it down the running along the length of the log. It burns just fine when if it is dry.

If the wood has mushrooms growing then it is in bad shape. I will burn it but depending on how rotten it is but it will get to a point were it is not worth cutting into rounds much less splitting.

The wood will be very punky and the saw will cut through the log very fast. You will know that the wood is bad.

Red oak is very good firewood. Funny how some of the hardwoods rot out very quickly and are useless but not the Red.

Later,
Dan

 

[DJ4wd]

That stump closest to and loaded into your wagon/trailer looks like locust.That is my wood of choice its hard to find bad locust. For other wood I will test it with my bar and then decide if its worth cutting and stacking for later, and give it a chance to dry out. I have a spot on top of the hill with direct sun most days.

 

[SpringHollow]

we have been burning tops from the 91 ice storm. These were from BIG trees. Some of the tops have branches 24" across. If they were off the ground, the outer inch or two was soft. On the ground at this point, they are in pretty sad shape.

Ken

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I just found a stash of old fish trap logs left in the grass n tundra from the fifties. the ones that were stacked on top while the outer inch or two was rotten the rest is still fine. I just let them sit on the beach for a blow or 2 and it knocks all the rotten stuff off and it makes great wood after it dries. These are big fir some are over 40 inches so lotsa good wood. Unfortunatly most are twisted so you couldnt mill them, I guess that's y the used them for fish traps. Once you cut into it you should be able to tell pretty quick if it is any good.

 

[The Haymaker]

Wet wood although it burns will give off more cresote and will creat a need to clean pipes more often. Our woods does not have good drainage. The dead trees while still standing act like wicks and remain wet inside for years. When cut up, split, and allowed to dry the oak burns well. Some large 24'' lenghts by 48" diameter pieces today were still wet after having been cut for three years. The future firewood in Ohio will be Ash. It is a shame that a Borer is killing millions of these trees.

Too bad ash is a bad firewood. Yeah, great for starting and can be burned almost green, but no btu. First load I bought was 95% ash. I won't be using him again.

Funny I just found this thread. Yesterday I got two 8' chunks and most of the limbs 6" and smaller from a maple blowdown. Tree was bigger than that, but the base was too punky. I got two 8'x 14" pieces from a cherry that was still standing but the top was dead and rotten. After that I used the tractor to push down two dead elms that had finally succumbed to the dutch. Free BTU's are always good!

 

[LD1]

Too bad ash is a bad firewood. Yeah, great for starting and can be burned almost green, but no btu. First load I bought was 95% ash. I won't be using him again.

Ash is one of the best "common" firewoods. I have never heard ANYONE say that it is bad firewood.

BTU's per cord, it is nearly the same as maple, red oak, white oak, and beech. And is better than cherry and elm and walnut. (assuming we are taking about white ash). Only the likes of hickory, locust, hedge, and ironwood are better. But they are much more difficult to split and not nearly as common.

Are you sure it was ash and not a poplar species? Sometimes the bark is hard to tell appart and if you got a load already split, it's not like you could see the leaves/buds.

Also, just so everyone knows, ALL wood has nearly the same BTU per pound. So the heavier the wood, the more BTU, the lighter, less BTU. The only reason I say nearly is because some woods naturally get to a lower moisture content than others. But if Moisture % is the same, BTU is the same by weight. If you were to buy firewood by weight only, It would not matter what the species is. All that would be needed is for it to be dry. One ton of dry poplar will produce the same BTU's as 1 ton of dry oak or hedge. It would just take up more room.

Just thought I would throw that out there. But the comment that ash is "bad firewood" is just not correct. It is a highly desired and excellent firewood. Sure it's not the "best", but it is still excellent.

Check this out if you get bored Tree Species and Firewood BTU Ratings Chart for Heat Energy Content

 

[merrickvilleguy]

Something to think about for spring and fall is leave the hotter burning stuff to the colder times, and the junk wood (over seasoned etc) for the warmer times ... we have about 5 more face cords from the previous owner that have over seasoned (the wood is very light) ... it burns hot enough to keep the creosote down ... and not too hot to make it uncomfortable in the house

 

[SpringHollow]

The ash around here suffer from Ash die back. Even though the trees still have a few small branches growing, the trunk is already rotting away. It is amazing how light some of these green trees can be. These trees have very little heat left per unit volume so it takes more cords of this ash than things like oak. The heat per pound is still there but there are just not that many pounds per cord. The few times i have had to cut down a health ash, it had a lot more heat the next year than usual. Even in seasoning, it does seem to "rot" much faster than the other woods. It is very much like burning the populars that grow around here.

Ken

 

[LD1]

The ash around here suffer from Ash die back. Even though the trees still have a few small branches growing, the trunk is already rotting away. It is amazing how light some of these green trees can be. These trees have very little heat left per unit volume so it takes more cords of this ash than things like oak. The heat per pound is still there but there are just not that many pounds per cord. The few times i have had to cut down a health ash, it had a lot more heat the next year than usual. Even in seasoning, it does seem to "rot" much faster than the other woods. It is very much like burning the populars that grow around here.

Ken

Thats kinda odd

Around here, the ash stays good for several years, even on the ground.

We actually just got done cutting some ash tops from a woods that was logged out 4 years ago and it was still solid. Most of our cutting is tops from logged wood, so mostly ash, maple, hickory, cherry, and oak. They all seem to keep for a long time once down except the maple. Any maple after year two is about worthless. Even the bigger tops that are 18"+. Just too much sap in them to dry out before rotting.