I'm having a large cedar tree taken down this week. Is the wood worth burning? How long should cedar dry? I only burn on weekends in my shop.Thanks,Ron
Cedar wood
- Thread starter Ronmbucket
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They are long gone mostly from our local forests, just some young 'uns. But if I get some I burn it at Christmas. The aroma has strong memory for me. If only I could find some pinon in Kentucky.
Cedar's a great wood to burn. Split it and stack it and let it sit in the elements for 6-9 mo, as Zambo sez, and it should be good to go. A year or more's even better, so if you don't burn it all up at once, don't sweat it, just let it sit. Money in the bank. A good hot fire quick, then some larger splits. Great shop stove wood. Rick
I love cedar . . . good for the shoulder season fires but to be honest around here I mostly use cedar as kindling since a) it smells wicked good when you're cutting and chopping it up and b) more importantly it burns wicked good and is one of the best woods I use for kindling.
Save and burn it in the fireplace seasons fast less than 9 mo. burns hot and fast not a real high btu wood similar or a little better than some of the evergreen woods
I use scraps from one we had for kindling starts better than paper and great aroma one of my favorites.
I would not use it all in a shop burner. At holiday time when you get a fire going in the FP start it with a little cedar then get the hardwood going a few nice oak splits will do then throw on some of that cedar and keep feeding the fire with more cedar. Nice thing is it will keep for years I am about out but the tree I have been burning was cut in 2002 and I kept it stacked away from other woods and covered it was still good til the end.
I use scraps from one we had for kindling starts better than paper and great aroma one of my favorites.
I would not use it all in a shop burner. At holiday time when you get a fire going in the FP start it with a little cedar then get the hardwood going a few nice oak splits will do then throw on some of that cedar and keep feeding the fire with more cedar. Nice thing is it will keep for years I am about out but the tree I have been burning was cut in 2002 and I kept it stacked away from other woods and covered it was still good til the end.
I'm new to wood burning and had my eye on the cedar tree. I didn't realize another tree I had taken down was a dead maple that yeilded about two cords of of reasonably dry wood.The tree surgeon cut and stacked the cedar and maple.We hauled some of it home and I had a guy split it for me with a wedge & axe. He broke the wood handled axe after just a few swings,so I bought a plastic handled one that seams pretty good. The cedar was so wet that water would come out as the wedge was driven.I'm gonna count the rings and see how old these trees were.
Ronmbucket said:
Either this must be a fantastically large maple . . . or you're talking face cords here. Two cords is a lot of wood to get out of one tree . . . even a very large tree.
My wood was about two and half level loads in an F250.According to the chart that was posted ,I guess it was under two cords.
Last year my brother gave me a bunch of pieces of an old ceder telephone pole (non treated). I split it up and used it to start the fire, works great and I didn't have to split it very small.
I have two pretty large dead cedars that I am about to take down. One is about 10 inches in diameter and the other is about 16. I am excited about lighting it up, but will mostly use it for kindling.
Ronmbucket said:
If cut and split and stacked in the pick-up it might be two cords . . . but if left in the round and placed in the pick up I would guess that one load would be around 1/3 of a cord. When my buddy and I do wood he generally figures he gets about 1/3 of a cord of wood when we toss the rounds (not stacked, but mounded) into the back of his 8-foot pick-up bed.
In either case . . . it's wood . . . and it's good.
Level loads in any full sized truck are always less than half a cord per load. With side boards I can get about 3/4 cord in my F350 safely.
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