Firewood, What do you burn and how long do you season it.

motionclone

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L345DT with Lp mower, forks and grapple thumb, Bobcat 337 Midi Ex
May 4, 2018
1,398
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Maine
I dont burn wood anymore THANK GOD. But when i did it was Maple, Oak, Ash, poplar, beech, some birch, only hardwoods. I used to buy green or cut my own and let it season for 6 months. It was dry enough to burn but would soot up the chimney and pipe good when banked down.

Englander woodstove
 

mikester

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M59 TLB
Oct 21, 2017
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Canada
www.divergentstuff.ca
I have two wood stoves, a non catalytic in the basement I use in the winter, and a catalytic stove on the main floor that gets nominal use - mostly for power outages.

Currently I have a source for hardwood flooring cutoffs which is all kiln dried 1x4 and 1x6 boards. I also supplement with logs I harvest from the back forty which will include hardwoods like maple, ash, oak, apple, elm, etc. Generally the logs are seasoned when you see checking and splitting and the bark starts coming off.

Creosote only becomes a problem if you use wet wood and have a habit of running cool, smouldering fires.
 

Snowman7

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LX3310 535 loader, LX2980, RB2672, FDR1660
May 20, 2020
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Boyne Falls, MI.
I have two wood stoves, a non catalytic in the basement I use in the winter, and a catalytic stove on the main floor that gets nominal use - mostly for power outages.

Currently I have a source for hardwood flooring cutoffs which is all kiln dried 1x4 and 1x6 boards. I also supplement with logs I harvest from the back forty which will include hardwoods like maple, ash, oak, apple, elm, etc. Generally the logs are seasoned when you see checking and splitting and the bark starts coming off.

Creosote only becomes a problem if you use wet wood and have a habit of running cool, smouldering fires.
Still cleaning up all the dead ash that died several years ago with a little beech, and cherry thrown in. I stay a year ahead and that works just fine with this ash that died 5-10 years ago. I burn about 12-14 face cords a year.
 

SAR Tracker

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LX2610HSDC, FEL, LX2963 Snowblower, BH77 Backhoe, forks
Nov 17, 2020
216
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Central Oregon
Ponderosa and Lodgepole (Jack) pine here. That's all there is, so that's what gets burned. Cut it, split it, stack it, let it sit for a year. Lopi stove gets the chimney cleaned 2x a year, whether it needs it or not. Easy to run a brush on a length of pvc pipe down it. Usually burn about 7-9 full cords a season (October to April)
 

68FalconSC

New member

Equipment
T1560
May 3, 2021
17
2
3
Stanwood, WA
Hardwoods {oak, maple, beech, birch, etc..} need to season 2 full years to cure properly. This keeps the creosote production during burning down.
Softwoods need to season 1 full year.

Also, de-bark your firewood. It produces no heat but does produce creosote
 

johnjk

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B3200 w/loader, Woods RC5 brush hog, 4' box blade, tooth bar, B1700 MMM,
Apr 13, 2017
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West Mansfield, OH
I take standing dead or windfalls. Oak, beech, maple and ash. It is stacked outside and seasons for a year or two. Burn in a fireplace with a heat exchanger that will heat you out of the main house. Any beech that has rot goes in the fire pit along with the smaller windfalls and tops. I have at least four large dead standing oaks that need to come down along with 15-20 small to medium ash. For the work and wood quality I will leave all windfall beech to rot away on the ground. I have some large piles of tops from when they logged the property years ago and I chunk those up for the fire pit as needed. Usually in split in 3’ lengths. Makes for good bonfires