Marking trees for this Fall

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ash bucket

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Jul 6, 2009
57
central KY
Only two seasons into burning wood and I'm hooked. I can't wait until Fall so I can cut some more for next year. What I'm looking for is a good book or reference I can take with me to the woods now and mark trees for cutting. I'm sure this has been covered over and over on this forum so I apologize for being lazy. I have heard of Peterson's books. Are they good? I can ID your typical oak and ash but as far as telling you what type of oak or ash it is while standing...not so much. I would also like something that tells me if the certain type of tree I am identifying is good for firewood and how long it takes to season. That way I can mark it now and when it comes time to cut, I can cut the short seasoning wood first (like ash) and get it split for next year and cut the long seasoning wood afterwards and split and stack it seperately for the following year. Any info or help as to a good book or reference is appreciated.
 
I would use a can of paint.










my reference book is 50 years old and it's most certainly out of print and it also covers a myriad of other of nature's wonders.
 
A good reference book I like to use is Core and Ammons - Woody Plants in Winter. It's great for identifying trees when the leaves are not on. The VA DOF has an online ID Manual which should have cover all the trees in your area.

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/edu/resources/pub-Native-Trees-Va_2009.pdf

As far as a source for ID and Btu value I don't know of anything, but it would be simple to take one of the above mentioned sources and write the Btu value in the book for the corresponding trees from one of the many referenced Btu charts.
 
Ash bucket. You are to be congratulated on your thinking and I wish you luck in the learning process. Books are okay to a point but if you want a better way, try to find a local farmer who might be a bit older. If you can go with him or better yet have him come to your cutting area he can show you and tell you which trees are which and you will learn much faster than out of a book. One reason is that the age of the trees changes how the bark looks. Or look at the bottom of a tree and then look up 20 feet and the bark can look different.

When I was a young lad I had a difficult time telling one tree from the other and not until I actually went to work for a logger was I able to learn one wood from another. Good luck to you.
 
I don't think there is a short cut for learning how to ID trees. You have first learn one species, then another, etc., and I find I can't learn 20 species of trees or anything else in a day. I have to learn a couple, practice picking them out as I see them in the woods, then learn another couple and practice. Still, I think by fall you should be able to larn most of the trees in your area. Work at it an hour a week, not all at once.

I'd get a good reference book - I have peterson's and I think it is OK - and go identify a couple of trees. Once you ID the first tree, you'll start seeing others like it, and noticing the differences between the trees. Most trees are recognizable in the winter, but it is usually easier to verify the ID in the sumer, when leaves are on. Once you've figured out the names in summer, I think you'll recognize the same trees in winter. It is really helpful to learn the ID of trees you see all the time - for example the ones in your yard or along the road you drive. That way you can learn to recognize the bark, the way the branches usually grow, the overall shape of the tree - all of the clues that experienced people use to ID a tree. Although in the book it says to ID Black oak by the hairy end buds, and that is the way I did it at first, now I generally can tell Black Oak from Red Oak by the bark. I check a few buds every once in a while to make sure I know what I am doing, but once I had a way to separate the two, i started noticing lots of small clues to tell them apart.

i think it is very helpful to find someone who can ID trees and let them teach you, but be careful. I have met some old farmer types who really knew their trees, and I have met some who thought they knew their trees, but didn't.
 
Thanks for the replies. That's one thing I would be afraid of in asking an old farmer who says they know theie trees. Who knows for sure if they actually do. That's why I am looking for a good reference book and do it a little at a time...I know it won't be an over night thing. I like being self taught from a source I know is reliable...no matter how lng it takes. That way at least I THINK I know what I'm talking about!

Side note: Does hickory compare closer to oak or ash as far as density and time to season? I'm thinking close to oak.
 
+1 on the can of spray paint
 
Hickory seasons faster than oak. Btus are comparable with some hickory (shagbark) being higher than oak.
 
Yes, hickory is very dense so has some high numbers on the btu scale. Oak is better than ash (speaking of red and white oaks). However, just because oak has a higher btu content than ash does not mean you should not cut the ash rather than oak. They all have their place in the heating scheme and we at present burn mainly white ash just because it is all dying so we want to use as much of it as possible before any rot sets in.

One nice thing about comparing the btu of different woods is that you can then understand a bit better which woods to burn overnight and which wood will give the best heat during the very coldest days of winter. For example, even on very cold days we sometimes will burn the faster burning soft maple during daylight hours. It burns a bit hotter and faster than ash but the hotter fires are sometimes appreciated. Also if one doesn't want a long fire, then even softer woods will do just fine. It is also good to mix the various wood, like putting the faster burning and faster igniting wood on the bottom front of the load. This gets the fire going quicker but the slower burners, like oak, hickory or ash will hold the fire longer.
 
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