Yesterday my 15 year old son and I started into a new bit of wood lot a couple of miles from home.
I know the wood is some form of dead fall oak but having read over and over again on hearth.com about the various types of oak, the merits of oak (lots of heat) and the dangers of oak (long drying times) I finally took the plunge.
Please help me determine what sort of Oak I am dealing with here. These four trees from one cluster have been dead for several years with one tree still standing while the other 3 are downed. The bark is loose all the way along until the smaller branches.
To my surprise the trees we started into yesterday actually split relatively easily considering the horror stories I have heard. Now compared to Ash it took more effort with the maul but still it came apart much easier than we anticipated.
There is lots more in this woodlot and we are going to get at it a bit at a time with ash still our preferred fuel given the drying time differential and the proximity of the Ash being within a mile of our home.
I know the wood is some form of dead fall oak but having read over and over again on hearth.com about the various types of oak, the merits of oak (lots of heat) and the dangers of oak (long drying times) I finally took the plunge.
Please help me determine what sort of Oak I am dealing with here. These four trees from one cluster have been dead for several years with one tree still standing while the other 3 are downed. The bark is loose all the way along until the smaller branches.
To my surprise the trees we started into yesterday actually split relatively easily considering the horror stories I have heard. Now compared to Ash it took more effort with the maul but still it came apart much easier than we anticipated.
There is lots more in this woodlot and we are going to get at it a bit at a time with ash still our preferred fuel given the drying time differential and the proximity of the Ash being within a mile of our home.