Work Done 2023

[mpaul]

My wood guy brought over the first load for the year on Friday. He apologized that he couldn’t bring me log length. This was a tree that was cut down near a beach and his crew had to man handle it up a hill. He gave me a mix of some other stuff he had laying around. Some a bit too punky and will go to the fire pit. Most was in great shape though.
Free wood is free wood so I can’t complain.

 

[Woody Stover]

My wood guy brought over the first load for the year on Friday.....This was a tree that was cut down near a beach and his crew had to man handle it up a hill. He gave me a mix of some other stuff he had laying around. Some a bit too punky and will go to the fire pit. Most was in great shape though.
Free wood is free wood so I can’t complain.

You take what you get when it's free, but you still usually get plenty of good stuff. Toss the bad rotters into the woods...the biome loves it! 😏
Hopefully, you don't have to "re-length" to much of it. Looks like mostly White Ash, but I think I also see a bit of White Oak, "The King of all Firewoods!" 😀

 

[mpaul]

You take what you get when it's free, but you still usually get plenty of good stuff. Toss the bad rotters into the woods...the biome loves it! 😏
Hopefully, you don't have to "re-length" toomuch of it. Looks like mostly White Ash, but I think I also see a bit of White Oak, "The King of all Firewoods!" 😀
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Tree identification is definitely not my area of expertise. I rely heavily on tree identifications through this forum. But also don’t get hung up on which type of wood is which. I know there’s a few pieces of shagbark hickory in there and I’m leaning toward the other stuff being white ash.

 

[Woody Stover]

a few pieces of shagbark hickory in there

White Oak can have similar bark, although not as scaly/shaggy as Shagbark. The reasons I'm leaning White Oak is because of the bark color, looks a bit lighter than Shagbark, and the orange under-bark. When you look into the woods when it's sunny, the White Oaks stand out with their light color. Now, toward the base of the trunk, White bark is similar to other Oaks, not scaly.
If you can get a pic of the endgrain, that may tell the tale. Good chance we'll be able to see the "rays" if it's Oak, especially if it was dead standing. You can faintly see them in the sapwood of this White round, which was a blowdown, so still pretty much alive.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yesterday, with the help of SILs 2 & 3, I downloaded an almost-full 5x8 trailer into SIL2's shed.
The blocks on the left are the remainder of a mill scraps load I bought off a buddy of mine. His son had picked it up for a guy, but the deal fell through..I said "Sure, I'll take it." The blocks are two rows deep.
With what she will probably have left over from this year, the wood shown here is getting in the ballpark of what she needs for next year. She's warm-blooded, and lets it get cool in her house..a lot cooler than I can handle. 🥶 She uses the least wood of any of us.
The stuff to the right is the deadstanding but wet White Ash I posted on pg. 7, post #159, that I'm hoping will dry enough over the spring and summer. She's getting rid of the canvas walls, putting siding sheets on the right side of the shed. The front will be 2/3 open. Left side and back, seen in this pic, are the windward sides and will be pre-fab fence with staggered boards, so should allow some air movement (shed is down a valley somewhat, though.)
Facing the camera, on the back wall, is other assorted stuff I've found that is pretty dry...assortment of Mulberry, Black Walnut, Oak, Sass.


And today, I went to SIL1's and cut away part of a dead Post Oak that blew down in the storm. She was concerned about the baby trees that it had pinned to the ground, and I pledged I would do my best to save them. 😏 A lot of what I cut was pretty dry..maybe dry enough to burn, but I didn't have my meter. I'll see when I split it tomorrow.

 

[NickW]

Another nice day today, sunny with temps in the low 40's. Burned down the coals from the overnight to take the pipes apart for a quick cleaning, install a damper, and do some reconfiguring to add a little more pitch to my horizontal run. Buildup isn't bad.

Damper & layout change is to hopefully:
1. Be able to maintain draft as it cools better.
2. Control it a little better on full loads.
3. Have a "healthier" fire.

Full loads when it was really cold and windy took off on me. I was running the NC30 with the air fully shut down for at least an hour on secondary's only, no primary's. Couldn't leave it like that or I'd wake up to charcoal and next to no coals. So I'd have to get it loaded 2 hours before bed so I could open the air up some after it settled down; but when it's cold and windy by morning the electric baseboard's we're kicking in.

I'll post some before and after pics of I am successful.

 

[NickW]

Damper installed. Couldn't change the pipe the way I needed to without moving the stove 6" further out from the wall. We'll see how this does, it may be enough.

 

[GrumpyDad]

Ready for Quarter Sawn White Oak flooring soon. Then a kitchen.
Good bit of work to do to add lighting, decor etc...
Maybe in time to enjoy some spring trout fishing...

 

[NickW]

LOVE the damper after one overnight burn! Way more controlled last night, judging by house temps the effective burn time was longer, beautiful coals this morning...

Filling the wood rack today before the storm gets here.

 

[spuldup]

Took some time and measured it today. Just hit 7 cords of wood CSS over the winter. That is in addition to all the standing dead stuff we've burned straight from cut to box. So the annual stash quota is finally met. Now to get to two years...

 

[Woody Stover]

all the standing dead stuff we've burned straight from cut to box.

We save a lot of steps when we can do that, especially if it's small with not much splitting needed. 👍
I started off working on something else yesterday, then saw this mighty dry Mighty White Oak. Bailed on the other job and grabbed this instant stove chow instead. 🤤 Metered at 16-18%, even a ten-incher...but it was under 50° out. I'm warming up a couple to split and test, to see how the cold/warm readings compare.
It's already inside, and I burned some last night. 😏
Some of the coarsest bark toward the base that I've seen on a White here. I thought maybe it was another type of Oak, but smelled the vanilla when I split a couple. Unless some other species in the White Oak group have the same fragrance...? About 18" I guess.

 

[spuldup]

We save a lot of steps when we can do that, especially if it's small with not much splitting needed.
I started off working on something else yesterday, then saw this mighty dry Mighty White Oak. Bailed on the other job and grabbed this instant stove chow instead. Metered at 16-18%, even a ten-incher...but it was under 50° out. I'm warming up a couple to split and test, to see how the cold/warm readings compare.
It's already inside, and I burned some last night. 😏
Some of the coarsest bark toward the base that I've seen on a White here. I thought maybe it was another type of Oak, but smelled the vanilla when I split a couple. Unless some other species in the White Oak group have the same fragrance...? About 18" I guess.
...

I love to go all CSI over what killed the tree. Could be competition, landscape change (surface water run has increased in much of the property), lightning, grapevine strangling, etc. Usually it is not caused directly by pests, outside the EAB.

Just when I think we've run out of standing dead trees, I hear a woodpecker not to far away...

 

[thewoodlands]

We save a lot of steps when we can do that, especially if it's small with not much splitting needed. 👍
I started off working on something else yesterday, then saw this mighty dry Mighty White Oak. Bailed on the other job and grabbed this instant stove chow instead. 🤤 Metered at 16-18%, even a ten-incher...but it was under 50° out. I'm warming up a couple to split and test, to see how the cold/warm readings compare.
It's already inside, and I burned some last night. 😏
Some of the coarsest bark toward the base that I've seen on a White here. I thought maybe it was another type of Oak, but smelled the vanilla when I split a couple. Unless some other species in the White Oak group have the same fragrance...? About 18" I guess.

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Hopefully this week I can start on some dead pine that we have on the house property, I'll need a bunch of snow and ice gone before I can hit the hills on the property I usually cut on.

 

[Garbanzo62]

We save a lot of steps when we can do that, especially if it's small with not much splitting needed. 👍
I started off working on something else yesterday, then saw this mighty dry Mighty White Oak. Bailed on the other job and grabbed this instant stove chow instead. 🤤 Metered at 16-18%, even a ten-incher...but it was under 50° out. I'm warming up a couple to split and test, to see how the cold/warm readings compare.
It's already inside, and I burned some last night. 😏
Some of the coarsest bark toward the base that I've seen on a White here. I thought maybe it was another type of Oak, but smelled the vanilla when I split a couple. Unless some other species in the White Oak group have the same fragrance...? About 18" I guess.

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So what was the difference between the cold and warm readings?

 

[stoveliker]

Likely about 3% more at 70 F as compared to what is read at 50%.

 

[Woody Stover]

So what was the difference between the cold and warm readings?

Dammit, man, did ya hafta make me go out there in the cloudy 35 degrees, with wind, to check those?? 🌬️🥶😏 You are a mean man! 😆
So I re-split two rounds, a 4" and a 5". The four-incher was elevated where stove radiation hit it more, and the center was warm. The bigger round was on the floor, so not really heated beyond room temp. These had sat next to the stove for two days.
No difference, still both 18%. Now, maybe softer species next to the stove would lose moisture faster than the White Oak, I don't know. But raising the wood temp didn't result in a higher moisture reading in this case.

 

[redyute]

Started stacking this red oak off the ground. This is where it will stay for the next 2 years. This is only a fraction of the tree lots more to split.

 

[Woody Stover]

These had sat next to the stove for two days.

 

[Woody Stover]

This is only a fraction of the tree lots more to split.

View attachment 310949

No doubt--that's a big Red Oak. What is the DBH, if you still have those bottom rounds in place?
Some of those splits look pretty big. Not sure I could get those dry in two years, here anyway. For one thing, my wind is muted some by nearby trees--that spot looks wide open.

 

[redyute]

No doubt--that's a big Red Oak. What is the DBH, if you still have those bottom rounds in place?
Some of those splits look pretty big. Not sure I could get those dry in two years, here anyway. For one thing, my wind is muted some by nearby trees--that spot looks wide open.

24" round and yes if there is one thing i have here is serious sun direct sun light, see those solar panels lol. There were plenty of oak trees i cut them all down and burnt them now my yard is wide open. Just need some grass now

 

[Woody Stover]

24" round and yes if there is one thing i have here is serious sun direct sun light, see those solar panels lol. There were plenty of oak trees i cut them all down and burnt them now my yard is wide open. Just need some grass now

Air temp, with low humidity and wind get rid of the majority of moisture. Not sure how much sun helps, since it only hits half of the outside of the stack.
I keep as many trees around the house as I can, unless they are sick and I think they are a threat. They shade the house in the summer. Of course, if a tornado get close enough, all bets are off, whether the trees are healthy or not. 🌪️
I bet your yard has a lot less ticks, though..I just got one the other day. 🐞😯

 

[TomMcDonald]

2023 and 2024 done.
Now to work on 2025.

 

[redyute]

Air temp, with low humidity and wind get rid of the majority of moisture. Not sure how much sun helps, since it only hits half of the outside of the stack.
I keep as many trees around the house as I can, unless they are sick and I think they are a threat. They shade the house in the summer. Of course, if a tornado get close enough, all bets are off, whether the trees are healthy or not. 🌪️
I bet your yard has a lot less ticks, though..I just got one the other day. 🐞😯

Deer ticks is a common thing in my area, we have lots of both of them, lots of black snakes to probably the reason i have never seen a mouse or rat for the 11 years i have lived there

 

[Garbanzo62]

Based on everything I have read, the meter reading drops approx 1% for every 20 Degree F below 70. If that is correct than testing at 40 degrees would be 1.5% off. The margin of error in the meter is higher than that. I'm thinking if I get an 18% reading when it is 45 degrees out I am probably ok.

 

[Woody Stover]

2023 and 2024 done.
Now to work on 2025.

View attachment 310970

Nice woot stash, but the best part might be the re-handled wheelbarrow..(?) 😏