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

[cmorningstar01]

I have been busy cutting firewood for the 2022-23 wood burning season, I already have 2021-22 cut and seasoning, I am curious what others burn and how long you season it, also fireplace or wood stove,

I have a Vermont Castings Non Catalytic Encore, I like it because I load from the top and hardly ever have to open the front doors, even cleaning the ash I go from the top.

I burn a lot of sweet gum, ash, swamp maple, Sassafras, Holly, Black Tupelo and some oak , I know the gum is a pain to split but I have a lot of it on my property and I have a 25 ton splitter that handles it quite well, I have found that if I cut in spring generally before the leaves are on the trees I can season the gum for 8-10 months and it burns nicely with very little creosote buildup, That is one of my peeves with oak is the amount of creosote it produces.

 

[skeets]

If I knock it down this year it gets burned next year and what ever I have left over from this year is the first to go in the fall. Mostly dead ash because the bug has killed most all of the ash around here, but locust or gum poplar, pretty much if I can cut it up and split it then it gets burnt. One time I had a ton of pine that I cut and split for camp fires, and had it all stacked up in the barn. And for what ever reason I was negligent cutting wood, so just shyts and giggles I popped a couple hunks of pine in,, it burned hot and no tar so I burned the rest of it. Yeah I know, but I think any wood that has been dried and cured will burn well, I mean look up in the GWN they burn a ton of pine and spruce and in Europe they burn a lot of pine. Maybe not the right thing but it works

 

[Lil Foot]

You must have a different oak there than we do out here. Last time I had the chimney swept, the guy wanted to know why I was having it cleaned every six months. It hadn't been cleaned in 10 years.

It is an insert wood burning fireplace, triple wall stainless pipe, that I make a concerted effort to burn hot, smoke free fires. I burn 85% oak, maybe 10% Alligator Juniper, (love the smell) and maybe 5% Scraggly Bark Cedar. (again, the smell)
Absolutely NO pine.

All of it is from the land, and is usually dead standing a year before I drop it, then it dries a year on the rack before burning. Remember, it is DRY out here.
I sometimes have some wood from storm damage or fire prevention cutting, but that amount is small taters in the scheme of things.

I make an effort to remove all (or as much as is practical) of the bark, as I have a small fire box without much room for ash.

Because it has always been a weekend/vacation home, (and not even that, since the caregiver thing)
I usually only burn 1/2 to 1 cord a year.

 

[JimmyJazz]

If I knock it down this year it gets burned next year and what ever I have left over from this year is the first to go in the fall. Mostly dead ash because the bug has killed most all of the ash around here, but locust or gum poplar, pretty much if I can cut it up and split it then it gets burnt. One time I had a ton of pine that I cut and split for camp fires, and had it all stacked up in the barn. And for what ever reason I was negligent cutting wood, so just shyts and giggles I popped a couple hunks of pine in,, it burned hot and no tar so I burned the rest of it. Yeah I know, but I think any wood that has been dried and cured will burn well, I mean look up in the GWN they burn a ton of pine and spruce and in Europe they burn a lot of pine. Maybe not the right thing but it works

GWN?

 

[skeets]

Great White North,,, Canada

 

[JimmyJazz]

The Supersplit log splitter is gods gift to the hillbilly in my opinion. Check it out on YouTube. I burn lots of wood mostly from dead trees on my property. I use a moisture meter to judge whether or not I should burn it in my fireplace. $10 for the meter or thereabouts on Amazon. Being I am cutting mostly dead trees I don't let it season for more than a year. So far so good.

 

[NCL4701]

Lopi free standing non-catalytic front loader with an exhaust gas recirculating afterburner system that achieves EPA compliance. I work away from my house and my wife has been unwilling to touch the wood stove so I need it to burn pretty slow to survive from morning to evening and then evening to morning. If that ain’t keeping up, can do a short 3 to 4 hour burn in the evening to add a third load to the rotation. Heats the 2000SF basement/shop. Oil furnace heats the more genteel portions of the residence.

White oak, red oak, pin oak mostly (we have a lot of all three). Beech, persimmon, hickory, maple, or whatever other hardwood happens to fall on its own. Used to burn a good bit of hickory but it isn’t as prevalent on our current place so we leave it be unless a storm knocks it down. Never been a fan of pine or cedar; at least not the varieties here. Have some sweet gum and poplar. I kind of recall avoiding gum from pre-hydraulic splitter days, so I’ve never burned it. Poplar (more accurately tupelo), to me, is trash for heat. Have burned it but it just doesn’t produce the BTU per CF. Somebody may have a chart that says different, I have no idea, but I’m not burning it. Clean chimney at beginning of the season. Always get some creosote but not much. What we do get is usually quite dry, crumbly, and therefore easily knocked out.

Basically cut this year what we’ll burn next year. Don’t exactly time it or put a moisture meter on it, just kind of look at it and know when it’s dry enough to burn well. Split, stack on pallets or red cedar runners, cover top with plastic, cover plastic with tarps, leave sides open. Have had leftovers past couple of years. Still FIFO inventory system.

That’s the system my Dad ran and I’m now running. Been doing that (with a variety of stoves, not just the Lopi) a bit over 40 yr. Has worked well so far.

 

[jabloomf1230]

The Supersplit log splitter is gods gift to the hillbilly in my opinion. Check it out on YouTube. I burn lots of wood mostly from dead trees on my property. I use a moisture meter to judge whether or not I should burn it in my fireplace. $10 or thereabouts on Amazon. Being I am cutting mostly dead trees I don't let it season for more than a year. So far so good.

I did pretty much the same since I also have a lot of blowdown on my property. I bought the smaller electric splitter by Boss on Amazon and also the wood moisture probe. The moisture probe really takes the guesswork out of whether wood is seasoned enough.

 

[Carl in France]

Mainly Oak and Chestnut. I leave it for 12 months to burn and it is always dry. The air here though is dry and that makes a difference.

 

[bearbait]

Mainly Oak and Chestnut. I leave it for 12 months to burn and it is always dry. The air here though is dry and that makes a difference.

Lol, GWN here and we burn mainly white birch and maple cut and split and left to dry for a year.

 

[Carl in France]

Lol, GWN here and we burn mainly white birch and maple cut and split and left to dry for a year.

I tried 9 months but i found a massive difference in heat output and clean burning from that extra bit. Dryer the better.

 

[David Page]

We try to cut the year before, when we don't get it all we wait till the leaves are out drop it and let them pull moisture out for 3 or 4 weeks. Then cut it and stack it for the outside wood boiler.

 

[D2Cat]

I only burn Osage Orange, and at one year it's as dry and hard as concrete!

 

[Botamon]

Well, when I burned wood for heat I used juniper (cedar). Love the smell of the wood - and even the smoke had a wonderful smell. Good hot fire, very little ash. I kept a big supply on hand - not knowing if I would be able to get more wood the next year - so some was aged up to five years.

But no more. Had to go to a pellet stove. Most of the land (87% of Nevada) is controlled by the Federal government (BLM and Forest Service) and getting a wood cutting permit from them is a nightmare. Even trees that have been killed in forest fires are off limits - apparently they need to be left for the woodpeckers.

Fire-killed down and dead juniper - off limits to harvesting:

 

[forky]

I burn between 20 and 25 face cords yearly. It's my only heat source and always season my wood one year, unless it is dead and dry when I cut it....then it goes right in the basement and handle it two less times not having to stack and then load again to place in the basement.
I burn everything that grows here...hardwoods are sugar maple, red oak, bitternut hickory, black cherry, white ash, ironwood and red elm. I also mix in pine, spruce, popple, and butternut.
I clean my chimney once a year and burn everything in a wood fire boiler that's in the basement......I'm staying in the hose when I need to fire prolly 3 times a day when extremely cold out.

 

[fruitcakesa]

The Tarm gasification boiler likes really dry wood; so I try to cut enough to have 2 years worth on the log pile.
Then periodically [when weather and ground conditions permit] add to it through the year.
I split and stack all year, a little here and a little there; again when conditions allow.
A wildly variable mix of red oak, white ash, soft maple with the occasional birch, popple, basswood and, yes, pine thrown in because it all burns.
Use around 6 full cords yearly
The gasifier takes care of any potential creosote build up issues.

 

[Oliver]

The standing, dead trees on the property are pretty much seasoned when I cut them but I occasionally have a blow over that I split then let dry for a year or so. Mostly burn oak, cherry, maple, hickory, and birch but a little bit of miscellaneous wood as well, some I don't even know.
The Jotul stove burns when I'm home and temp is in the 30's or under.

 

[Daylight]

The biggest forest in the country, just next door, is 50-50 beech and pine, so that's what I use. BTUs per weight of all kinds of wood vary very little (10%?), so to me it's mainly a matter of what I can get the easiest (windfall, clearance,...). Splitting is done by two 21-y.o. nephews who love that kind of workout... Three meals a day and a crate of beer and they're happy!

 

[Geezer3d]

I use a RSF Delta high efficiency fireplace to heat my 3000 square foot log cabin. It heats the first floor well, and leave the bedrooms upstairs cooler, which suits us. I burn between 7 and 10 cords a year depending on how the winter goes. It is not as efficient as a wood burning stove, but it does the job and I really enjoy watching the fire on a cold evening.

I burn whatever hardwood the local loggers are harvesting. Some years it's oak, some years white ash or maple, and the past two years it has been mostly black birch. For oak I find that it burns better and gives more heat of it ages at least a full year from the time it is split. White ash doesn't need to age at all, but it burns fast and does not leave much coals in the firebox. Everything else is usually good to burn if it ages for at least six months from the time it is split.

 

[cmorningstar01]

BTUs per weight of all kinds of wood vary very little (10%?)

Hmmm... The BTU's per cord of oak is nearly double that of say white cedar,

BTU Values of Wood Species

Wood species type BTU values of a cord burning wood in a wood stove

www.wood-heating-solutions.com