# Shoulder wood



## learningasigoalong (Oct 12, 2012)

That's the question, what is shoulder wood. See it here alot but not sure. Is it maple instead of oak, is it the wood that won't burn as hot.


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## TimJ (Oct 12, 2012)

It is usually any wood that seasons or dries faster than the denser woods and does not have the BTU rating.
In reality, it is any wood that comes your way that you can process and put in your wood pile and have it ready to burn when you need it. There are many species of wood and they all burn. A species like oak takes longer to season or dry than any other and has a very high BTU rating , whereas cherry or silver maple can dry in 12 months and has a lesser BTU rating. The shoulder season is considered to be October, Novemeber and say March April. These months do not have the low tempatures that require the best rated woods.


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## Standingdead (Oct 12, 2012)

I consider my shoulder season wood to be poppel, basswood, dried punky of any kind, wood scraps,etc. On a real cool night I might throw in a bit of cherry or elm. My youngest son adds his "scrounge" to the mix which usually consists of chopped broken limbs which I pay him a penny a piece for .


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## firefighterjake (Oct 12, 2012)

"Shoulder season wood" for me is my lower BTU wood such as poplar, softwood, bass, etc. . . . but it is also my punky wood that will burn up faster . . . and it is my chunk wood -- wood that is cut well short of my usual length, but is just too good to leave in the woods or burn up in the fire pit . . . and it is my uglies -- wood that is twisted, crooked or just generally wood that will fit in the firebox, but it will not allow other wood to stack neatly on top allowing me to fully load the firebox.

Generally . . . it's wood designed to give me a fast, hot fire to warm up the place . . . just take the chill out of the air . . . without the need to get the maximum BTUs out of the stove either due to the quality of the wood or the fact that I cannot maximize as much space in the firebox.


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## Wood Duck (Oct 12, 2012)

One man's shoulder wood is another man's best firewood for overnight burns. The idea is that when it isn't all that cold out - shoulder season - you burn the woods that are less dense, odd shapes that don't fit in the stove neatly, etc. - shoulder wood is whatever you choose to burn in shoulder season. Some guys have all the oak they could want, so for them pine is shoulder wood. Other guys have only pine and aspen so aspen is shoulder wood and pine is for overnight burns in cold weather. I try to use the lighter wood for starting fires and for daytime burns, but I have mostly good hardwoods so my shoulder wood isn't a whole lot different from my other firewood. What do you call the firewood you DON'T want to burn for shoulder season? Peak wood?


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## ohlongarm (Oct 12, 2012)

learningasigoalong said:


> That's the question, what is shoulder wood. See it here alot but not sure. Is it maple instead of oak, is it the wood that won't burn as hot.


 Depends on what's available,my shoulder wood is cherry,ash,and soft maple,but this is the first year I've got real shoulder wood,larch burns great a 16 hour burn with 3/4 of a load on 1.75 setting on this boring Blaze King.


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## bogydave (Oct 12, 2012)

I have 2 wood types. Spruce & birch.
Spruce is shoulder season, less BTU, burns up faster but i can burn on low & not over heat the house.

Would like to have 100% birch, but I seem to always end up with some spruce to burn.
 I use it for  the warmer days so not to let it go to waste & save a little on  birch.


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## ScotO (Oct 12, 2012)

I burn pretty much "whatever" during the shoulder seasons, while saving the really good stuff for the dead of winter. However, if I'm in the shoulder season and we get a night that's gonna get fairly cold (say, in the 20's), I'll put a couple of splits of good locust or oak on the fire before bedtime to keep coals for the morning. This year I've got ash, silver maple, red maple and a little bit of punky white oak (that's good and dry) for the shoulder season. I would normally save the ash for winter but I have lots of locust, white oak, elm and beech for winter.......


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## lowroadacres (Oct 12, 2012)

We are using older lighter poplar and box elder right now for morning and evening fires just to take the chill off the mid fall temperatures. We will use some of the same wood throughout the winter but we mix in ash and oak depending on whether we are home, or if it is night time.   I find that if we are home anyways, and the outside temperatures aren't too bad, we can get away with lighter wood and more frequent loadings more often.


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## schortie (Oct 12, 2012)

Last year a lot of my shoulder wood was cottonwood. In a pinch I'd use it again but it seemed to leave excessive ash and too few BTUs. This year it's a mix of Black Walnut and Cherry for the shoulder season. White Oak and Pin Oak for the real cold.


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## scroungerjeff (Oct 12, 2012)

Last winter I scored about a cord and a half of silver maple. I am now burning that as my shoulder wood and saving the 18 month to two year old red oak, Norway maple and locust for the colder months.  I will get back to the soft maple in March 2013.


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## pen (Oct 12, 2012)

The way my wood comes home, and how I need to locate my stacks, my shoulder wood is whatever is in the location that is destined to become ashes this year.

Next year, my shoulder wood will end up being locust (actually, almost all the wood for next year will be locust)  This year, it's been a mix of ash, maple, and beech.  Some years it has been cherry, etc. 

pen


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## blades (Oct 13, 2012)

Anything not optimum for the cold months,Dec-March.  So this year a cord or so of Willow and about the same of punky Silvermaple and a mess of Box  Elder.  Always have lots of Silvermaple and Box Elder.


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## husky345 vermont resolute (Oct 16, 2012)

i just grab whatever is on the left side of my pile cause its usually the driest. i have a tonne of white ash, red oak, poplar, and hard maple. i love the heat so my shoulder wood is whatever i grab


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## Gark (Oct 16, 2012)

Here, the autumn shoulder wood is uglies, chunks, cookies and cherry. Cold winter burning gets black locust & red oak. Will finish off spring shoulder burning with ash, cherry and lastly silver maple.


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## tsquini (Oct 17, 2012)

I also try to use the the misshapen, deformed, gnarly pieces of wood during shoulder season. Only having to burn for a few hours during the day I don't worry about fully loading the stove for a long burn. Once buring season hit that gnarly wood stays outside.


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## NextEndeavor (Oct 17, 2012)

Excellent definitions, should be in Wikipedia.


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## woodchip (Oct 17, 2012)

I use the term shoulder wood to describe the lower btu wood which is easy to get round here, sycamore, pine, maple, and odd chunks with forked bits which others cannot be bothered to collect for free. Everybody round here that does burn wood just grabs oak when they see it, so oak tends to be a bit scarcer in the scrounge stakes. Which is why I keep it back for the coldest depths of winter. I never know when the next free load will appear. In the last 2 months of collecting, I've not seen a single bit of oak down at the council wood yard. Plenty of birch, cherry, ash, and pine though.


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## pen (Oct 17, 2012)

woodchip said:


> Plenty of birch, cherry, ash, and pine though.


 
Those will heat a home!

pen


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## woodchip (Oct 17, 2012)

pen said:


> Those will heat a home!
> 
> pen


 
And they do......

We never go cold here


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