Does a dead tree still make for "green" firewood?

Dr_Zinj · Jan 8, 2014

I've dropped 2 year dead standing trees that still had the bark on them and as soon as I'd cut through the bark water would come gushing out. We're talking a couple of gallons. Obviously after I'd cut and split it, it went into the stack for a year before using.

I dropped an oak last year, and only cut it up this year. Still very "green" and wouldn't burn worth a darn until I'd split it into 1-2 inch ballots, basically kindling. I've had similar problems with elm. And the previous comment about it being a female dog to split applies. I usually cut elm in 1 foot lengths just because of that.

Industrial Toys · Jan 8, 2014

Lately, this is about all I cut. But I still cut it up, split the bigger stuff and put it in the wood shed for a while to dry out a bit more.

Nice thing about cutting these standing dead trees is that you don't have so many branches to contend with! Plus you clean up your property, and don't have lying/decaying dead trees on the ground.

I never had any dangerous fells, beyond that of any other tree. I find them much easier to work with, without a big canopy! Maybe, you have to watch for falling branches, but I have never had that happen (yet) and I have cut a whole lot of these dead Elms (Dutch Elm Disease).

MossRoad · Jan 8, 2014

bacrow said:
What do you mean?

Its not just about hollow trees. Dead wood SNAPS easily while live wood bends better. For example, go out into the forest and find a 2" diameter live tree and shake it. What happens? Not much. You probably won't even get a leaf to fall off of it. Now do the same with a dead tree of the same size. You'll probably get pelted with dead branches as they snap off and fall on you. Now multiply that to a 10" diameter dead tree with 2" diameter branches, with you standing under it buzzing the heck out of it with a chainsaw. 2" branches dropped from 30' are called spears. Bigger trees = bigger spears and before you know it, you dead.

So, as with all things, be careful, wear a hard hat and keep your wits about you. A long time ago I drove my '71 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 into a dried up swamp with 3 friends inside. We started ramming into 2-3 inch dead trees and knocking them over. It was fun. Until we hit some that the tops snapped off of and fell right on us in the open cruiser. We all got cut up and bruised pretty good. It was a good lesson. :confused3:

luvmexfood · Jan 8, 2014

One of the dangers of cutting any tree is what are called "widow makers". Essentially a dead branch hanging in the tree that when vibration or movement starts come crashing down on your head. Thats one reason you see professional loggers wearing tin heads.

As far as how it will burn there is only one true test. Cut some of it and take it home and burn it. Many variables come into play. How long has it been dead, type of wood etc. I have had more problems with dead wood that was already down because it seemed if it was a wet time it would have soaked water or snow that fell on top.

bacrow · Jan 13, 2014

I cut down a dead, standing white oak this weekend. It was a little tricky. There were no overhanging branches to be a hazard. It was fairly straight. The danger was that one side of the base was worm eaten and decayed. I didn't notice until I had already cut out the wedge in the direction I wanted it to fall. The decayed side was opposite the wedge. It pinched my bar, and I had to drive 2 wedges into the soft side to make it fall in the right direction. We also had 40 mph wind gusts yesterday that didn't really help me.

It didn't split at all either. I am going to give it a little time to dry out and try again later. (Fiskars X27).

hdmyers · Jan 13, 2014

i cut lots of elm when i first got my place..but now i leave them for the woodpeckers..i bring in a trailer of logs and that's good for 2 years at my place (weekends and holidays only really.)... that being said, this spring is log time. i'm gonna put my order in soon!

Pilot · Jan 16, 2014

Obviously how dry it will be depends on the species. When I lived in Montana, everybody looked for larch snags. They were dry and split easily. A true fir (as opposed to a Douglas-fir) and hemlocks are very wet inside and may take a long time to dry out. I haven't cut any dead ones, but since those woods decay easily I suspect they would rot quickly after dying. Broken tops of anything may accumulate water and make the remnant of the top wet for several feet down.

lockhaven · Jan 17, 2014

all trees are made the same, the only living part of the tree is the bark and foliage the rest is dead. The trunk is the water storage for the tree and bark is water proof. Unless the bark has fell off the tree it will be full of water until it rots away.

dmccarty · Jan 17, 2014

lockhaven said:
all trees are made the same, the only living part of the tree is the bark and foliage the rest is dead. The trunk is the water storage for the tree and bark is water proof. Unless the bark has fell off the tree it will be full of water until it rots away.

It does not always work that way. We had a group of trees bull dozed down two summers ago to clear space and get the trees away from the house. The root balls are completely out of the ground. This summer I finally had time to start cutting up those trees but I did not finish cutting the trees into firewood rounds until December of 2013. I have been splitting the wood along the way and quite a bit of the Red Oak was dry enough to throw in the stove yet other Red Oak trees needed drying time. Go figure. The wood we are burning is from those trees and the wood is burning really hot. The trees were right next to each other, pushed over alive at the same time, bark still on the trees, cut up and split at the same time. Some were ready to burn and some needs drying time. I do not understand it. If the wood was all wet or all dry it would make sense. The only reason I can think that one tree had dried out was that maybe the leaves kept drawing water? But if that is true, why did one tree not draw water? I don't get it.

What I think is White Oak usually is wet and rotting quickly once it dies. But a tree that died about the time the bulldozer work was done, I think the tree was hit by lightning, blew over in a storm a few weeks ago. That tree looks like I could burn at least some of it. I don't know for sure since I have not cut it up, but the stump end looks really dry and showing no rot or wet at least not yet.

There has to be a reason why some of these trees have dried out, while others did not, but I do not understand the why and how. It is odd.

Later,
Dan