Saw mill wood

[ArsenalDon]

First off let me say thank you ! You all have been so helpful . You have opened my eyes to the correct way to burn wood . About my wood problem , I've been thinkin about going to the saw mill and getting slab wood that they saw off of the tree to get it square .a lot of it is hard wood 2 - 3 " thick . It's already cut on one side and it would be super easy to split . It would probably dry a lot quicker to if stacked right . And it's cheap 10$ a truck load . Does this sound feasible to you all ? Big wood is going to be super hard to get with the way people think around here .

We have a mill in town and all the guys that work there take the ends home to burn...many of them use this as their only source of wood

 

[red oak]

I used to get slabwood from a local mill about a mile from my house, a guy that made his own boards and then built his house with it. I would use it mainly for kindling or campfires but there's no reason one could not use it more in the stove. Like others have said it burns hot and fast but leaves a lot more ashes. I remember it drying really quickly, over a couple of months in the summer in fact. Like Dennis, I used the H sawbuck for the best results. I remember my chainsaw zipping through that stuff pretty quick!

 

[Jags]

And do not forget that you will get more ashes from burning cordwood.

Dennis - not trying to speak for you, but don't you mean "more ash than burning cordwood"?.

 

[Fred Wright]

Fred, what would you consider to be the better pieces, and what's the junk?

Yep, stuff that's mostly bark I'd consider as junk slabs. The better stuff is thinner slabs you can drop on concrete and they'll break.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Dennis - not trying to speak for you, but don't you mean "more ash than burning cordwood"?.

Yup. Just missed one word.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Amish sawmills up here sell slab wood, its usually Oak and Maple 3" thick in the middle. They sell them in bundles that are 2/3 cord for $35, so I have been told... and delivered <35 miles if you buy 10 bundles. I've seen the Oak and it was nice stuff! I'd be loading up $10 truck loads no problem!

That sounds very odd of an Amish or any mill to have slabs that thick in the middle. Sounds like they get a lot of waste and most mills would not have that much.