Firewood question

Been a busy summer and I didn't get a chance to cut enough firewood for winter. Question is I have a large dead leaning barkless tree that fell into another tree. If I cut it and split it how long do you think I'll have to let it season? Don't know what type of tree it was.

I would not worry about it, would use it to make existing wood go as far as you can by mixing it in.

If it is barkless you will probably have to let it season long enough to split it. I've never had one shed the bark that wasn't good and dry. Could be a first time. Cut it down and see.

Probably the best you'll get, dead fall, and I would take it if its not punked out, soft and decaying, that would burn but take a while to dry, unless you can bring it inside, could have insects, so if its that far gone, its not worth the hassle.

Many dead standing I have found are worth processing, dead elm is one, and you may find it in varying condition, trunk partially punked, top hard and dry, brittle, may dull your saw chain a little sooner, but well worth grabbing. Most times it cuts easily, and some of these elm trees will provide a lot of wood. Partially punked elm is ok, if there is no solid wood in it, but its standing, it can be used, but if its saturated it, and has to be dried outside, not worth it. Once dry it may burn like poplar or similar softwood, quickly and hot.

I've been in the same situation and I find that with enough room around my stove, I can easily dry out standing dead trees once processed.

You may want to consider mixing this with your dry wood, cut it up, get it under cover bring what you can inside, start the fire with the driest you have, get a bed of coals, then use both dry and less dry, see how much sizzle you get, and do CHECK your flue, and monitor same for creosote. Check the firebox for flame, you don't want a smoldering mess, you need a good yellow flame, so stoke according and mix in dry wood as needed. I've got 1 cord of maple right now, borderline moisture, but bring it in for 24 hours, near the stove, no sizzle. It happens, firewood processing is hard time consuming work for most, and often times it may not get done on time, I'm working on next years now, and some recently cut dead trees with varying moisture for this season, I would have preferred to have it all done but that's how it goes, so you work with it as best you can. I've never had a creosote problem doing the above, sure its more involved but you can make it work. Dead elm will dry down in a reasonable time, and around here is usually the only barkless dead species of tree. Black cherry will dry rapidly, slower outside this time of year, bring it inside, pleasant odor and it will check/dry very quickly. You may want to split any of this smaller or make a mix, small large, I do that with my 4 way wedge as its offset. I have at times used dry pine to help fire the wood that has some moisture to keep the flue temp up and reduce smoke. If you take this tree, say its elm, tops are real dry, use CARE, as those dry limbs, will over fire a stove in no time, and I mean run away over-firing, I have gotten my pipe glowing by making this mistake, use it sparingly and use the damper/air intake to control it, you'll see how much you can use and what to mix it with. Just some thoughts, hopefully of some use, I know the feeling of being short on wood, and have played this game before with no trouble at all.

I am trying to clean dead elm out of my timber that has probably been there 30 years or more. It is wet when I haul it out, drys and burns great. I lost some other softer trees to wind last summer, will work them up because they will rot faster.

It will be dry enough right now most likely. If you are in a state anywhere near Michigan it is likely an ash. If it has swirly patterns on the trunk it is certainly an ash. If it is an ash then it is dry to burn. If it is another tree and it has been standing a good long while, maybe full of woodpecker holes etc, then it is probably pretty rotted and may want to smolder instead of flame. Need to dry it out a bit but either way, it will burn and throw heat.

I will refrain from advising you on the best way to cut that down. Just back the hell away from it quick when it starts to go and watch BOTH cut ends of the tree but especially the top. Don't make the mistake of thinking it will always fall straight down or fall right away. The one that got me snapped a good 2-3 seconds after the cut then pivoted upward 3' and horizontally more than 6'...wiping me out of the way as it went by.

Season well if it has no bark it is likely to be over seasoned and will be good for a hot fast fire but not last a long time. I use wood like that in my shop all the time so as to heat it up fast but not hold a fire for a long long time

The upper part of the tree should be ready to burn, if it still connected to the roots the bottom 8 feet will have higher moisture. I have cut a lot of dead Elm and Ash this fall and some of the upper tree has gone straight to the stove, and the bottom part goes to the pile. HF has moisture testers that will give you an idea of how dry it is. In MN with our high humidity its hard to get wood much dryer than 20%. I have wood that has been in a ventilated shed for 2 years and it's still 16-18%. If you have a good stove there is no such thing as too dry wood.

If in a pinch, you can burn any wood, even if it's green. If you gotta have heat, you can burn it. However, keep your fire hot, more air into the stove and brush your chimney more often. You will burn more wood burning less than seasoned wood, but lots of folks do it. It ain't ideal, but certainly doable.

Good luck,
Bill

Depends, where you're at, what kind of tree and what are you burning it in. Down here if it's been dead over a year it probably is too rotten to burn. Elm is an exception. I've got a wood boiler and burn anything that will make smoke, some of it makes more heat than others but it doesn't make much difference to me.

It should be ready to burn as soon as it is cut up. If anything, the lower part of the trunk might need to dry a bit after it is split or cut up. If bark coming off, it is way past being green. Maybe just not dried out from not bing cut up which like I said will probly only affect the lower trunk.

That's amazing, 30 years, most when it dies off from dutch elm disease around here, the tops will seem to weather, and not decay, just dry down, but further down, it will turn within a few years or less. I like to get elm as soon as its dead, no punk, but will make use of any of it I can get to. I've removed as many of the dead ones as possible, to keep d.e.d. from spreading to others. I have noticed certain diameter elm, 4"-6", once weathered it seems to seal up, and I left some on the ground a few years, cut up, it was hard and had a nice ring to it. Black cherry will last a long time, years after its dead, sometimes its dry rotted, but most times its just the sap wood, the darker wood is usually intact. I have one that my father cut in 1980, still up in the air and hard as a rock, weathered like driftwood, no idea why he cut it, funny how its still there on the old fence line. There was another along another fence line, weather damage mid 90's, bang on that one with a hammer, all of it is hard and no signs of ants, up in the air still. I'll have to take some photos of these, black cherry is an all around great species, rather see it as lumber but it does make nice firewood, lot of it around here.

"over seasoned"? That's a new one on me.

(quoted from post at 09:07:50 11/30/14) "over seasoned"? That's a new one on me.

Click to expand...

Sounds like my FIL. "That woods too dry! It just burns right up!" And then he'd get green stuff and worry over chimney fires. Hard guy to please in some ways.

Yes as in has no moisture in it at all under it has just been rained on. Dead standing timber can be so dry that it almost falls apart as you saw it

>Dead standing timber can be so dry that it almost falls apart as you saw it.

Are you talking about dry rot? Despite the name, "dry" rot is caused by moisture.

Not dry rot just the fact that some dead tree have been dead so long they are almost not worth cutting for fire wood