lhfarm
Veteran Member
I recently retired and moved full time to our farm. I have a hilly wooded 54 acres and a number of trees that have blown down over the past few years. Since I was only here on the weekends, I never had time to get to them or needed them for firewood.
The trees I'm looking at are all off the ground, either supported by their own branches or having fallen across other trees. Some have been down at least a couple of years and some maybe 3-4. I don't have real good identification skills, but most are oak (red, pin and white) and hickory.
I don't have a moisture tester and have just been cutting those that I can get to with the tractor and splitter. The first couple of oaks have no rot, but the bark did fall off as I was sawing/splitting. The wood is heavy.
The only "test" I know of is to try to burn the wood. We are under a burn ban, so I've waited for cooler weather to burn in the fireplace. The wood burned like green firewood, so I'm assuming I just need to let it season.
I'd like to be more selective as the trees get harder to reach. If the wood is soft around the outside, I'm assuming it is too far gone. If the wood is solid through the cut, I'm assuming it will burn. Is that reasonable? Are there other simple "tests" you use to determine what is worth cutting?
I should add that I'm buring in a couple of fireplaces for pleasure and not for heat. So green is OK, as long as it will burn sometime!
Thanks,
The trees I'm looking at are all off the ground, either supported by their own branches or having fallen across other trees. Some have been down at least a couple of years and some maybe 3-4. I don't have real good identification skills, but most are oak (red, pin and white) and hickory.
I don't have a moisture tester and have just been cutting those that I can get to with the tractor and splitter. The first couple of oaks have no rot, but the bark did fall off as I was sawing/splitting. The wood is heavy.
The only "test" I know of is to try to burn the wood. We are under a burn ban, so I've waited for cooler weather to burn in the fireplace. The wood burned like green firewood, so I'm assuming I just need to let it season.
I'd like to be more selective as the trees get harder to reach. If the wood is soft around the outside, I'm assuming it is too far gone. If the wood is solid through the cut, I'm assuming it will burn. Is that reasonable? Are there other simple "tests" you use to determine what is worth cutting?
I should add that I'm buring in a couple of fireplaces for pleasure and not for heat. So green is OK, as long as it will burn sometime!
Thanks,
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