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

[clemsonfor]

I have run short of firewood this year. Rather than buying wood I am trying to "catch up". If I cut down a dead tree, or cut up a fallen tree propped up on another, is it still considered "green"? I want to burn it right away. I suppose seasoning it for a year would be best, but I don't have that luxury. It still burns, but maybe not as hot. I have a pile of trees from some dozer work almost two years ago, and I am starting there.

My definition of "green" is cutting down a living tree. I wouldn't even attempt to burn it right away.

It will be a bit dryer but it still green, oak will still need close to 2 years to be ready for an EPA stove, a fireplace will be fine in 6 months to a year maybe, although still not dry.

Things like Locust and elm and ash can be dry enough dead standing ...depending?

You may of gotten your answer already so take this for what it is?

 

[clemsonfor]

It just depends. The problem is I can't figure the depend part.

We have what I think are White Oaks on our place. If these things die, say from a lightning strike, they dry out and rot FAST! I just had one of these tree blown over a few weeks ago and I know that tree was dead for less than a year. These trees die but rot then dry again. The rot ruins them for firewood and makes the standing tree very dangerous. The tree that just blew down could be burned since it seems very dry but there is very little mass to the wood from the rot. Chalk is stronger than this wood once it has rotted which makes cutting down one of these trees so dangerous when they have died. You just do not know what you will find under the bark.

When these tree rot, they rot from the center out. The wood feels like a wet sponge at this stage.

Now, the Red Oak on our place is awesome. It rots very slowly even when wet. We still have Red Oak on the ground from Hurricane Fran which was almost 20 years ago.

TWO summers back, we had some trees bulldozed to give us more garden space AND get some trees away from the house. Over the last six months, I finally got time to start cleaning up the trees and making firewood. These trees have been pushed over and the root ball pushed out of the ground. Some trees were so dry I could have burned the wood right after splitting. Others are wet and will take time to dry. The one huge White Oak that was pushed over is wet with some rot but I think I have split the wood in time to get some ok firewood after it dries. Some of the Red Oak was dry enough to burn while other batches needs some drying time.

So the answer is it depends and the only way to know is to cut up and split the wood.

To help dry out some of the wood, this winter I started stacking wood on the south side of the house. Our roof over hang keeps most rain off the wood and I will use a tarp if we get rain. The southern exposure keeps the wall very warm and warms up the wood as well. This seems to act a bit like a drying kiln. Not perfect but better than nothing.

The wood we are burning right now I split starting in August and it has been fine so far. The only wetness I noticed was in some wood yesterday. The wood was sitting in front of the wood stove for a few hours and I saw some wet spots. The wood burned into the over fire zone on the wood stove thermometer we use. The wood did burn as high as other wood but it was certainly hot enough. Well, it was so danged cold yesterday and today, that it did need to burn hotter! It was 6 yesterday and 10 today and the woods stove has a tough time keeping up with these low temperatures. The house was 74 yesterday morning but down to 68 this morning even though the stove was running 24 hours a day. Thankfully, the temps are rising and will be above freezing today and into the 60s over the weekend! :dance1:

The water supply froze this morning! :shocked: The well house was in the 40's but the water supply line from the well house in the exterior wall. The plug of ice melted by 9:30. First time this has happened and I hope the last...

The shorter the length of wood, the faster it will dry.

Later,
Dan

This may be a regional or an individual tree thing? I cut plenty of white oak. Cut one that was dead for about a year (2 weeks ago). THe sapwood was punky but the heart was plenty solid and still will be too green to burn in my catalytic stove for at least a year. It wont go into the stove for the earliest 2 years and hopefully 3. One experience does not mean every tree is like that.

 

[buickanddeere]

Around here a standing dead elm after about 2yrs is considered prime firewood. If you own a beefy hydraulic splitter.

 

[DennisArrow]

Just dropped a red oak that has been standing dead for a couple of years now. 38" dia at the base where I cut at 4' or so. Split on the spot with my splitter and it produced perhaps a bit more than a rick, 4X4X4'. The outer inch or so was rot in several places; but due to the capillary action all of the heart and sapwood were totally soaking...........Will probably burn it next year or maybe the next. Right now I am burning 2 year old stuff and often, depending upon the species and tree, some burns really fast and other types slowwwww.

For me, I just make sure that I am able to close up the stove damper and give it enough air, a Harman TL300, so that it burns properly and the pipe gets hot enough NOT to creosote. I still use a dose of the Rutland creosote remover stuff EVERY Monday.

The pic is splitting up the above mentioned tree. I use my tractor bucket to hold up the rounds while I work on them........God bless........Dennis

 

[bacrow]

View attachment 355452View attachment 355453Just dropped a red oak that has been standing dead for a couple of years now. 38" dia at the base where I cut at 4' or so. Split on the spot with my splitter and it produced perhaps a bit more than a rick, 4X4X4'. The outer inch or so was rot in several places; but due to the capillary action all of the heart and sapwood were totally soaking...........Will probably burn it next year or maybe the next. Right now I am burning 2 year old stuff and often, depending upon the species and tree, some burns really fast and other types slowwwww.

For me, I just make sure that I am able to close up the stove damper and give it enough air, a Harman TL300, so that it burns properly and the pipe gets hot enough NOT to creosote. I still use a dose of the Rutland creosote remover stuff EVERY Monday.

The pic is splitting up the above mentioned tree. I use my tractor bucket to hold up the rounds while I work on them........God bless........Dennis

Nice toys!

 

[Pilot]

Go to Harbor Freight and pick up a moisture meter, a little gadget with prongs you stick into the wood and get a % readout. Cut a piece out of the wood, check the moisture and see how it burns. If it burns well, cut the rest and burn it when you know it's dry. For Doug fir, 15-16% measure on a fresh cut piece burns well.

 

[wngsprd]

I cut up a 2 year dead white oak this past weekend - about 30" on the stump. It blew over in a hurricane. It seemed heavier and wetter than I have seen previously on dead oak. So I used one of those moisture meters and it showed 35% on the hardwood scale. I put it on a couple of white oak logs split and stacked 1 year ago and it showed only 5 to 7%.

We have had a much wetter than normal winter.

 

[clemsonfor]

Id be surprised if you could get 1 year stacked oak to 5%?? i have 4 year split and stacked oak that is in a shed and its only 15% it pretty much equalizes out to that in the south.

You have to re-split an already split piece of firewood to get a true Moisture content. The outside is exposed and will always be way drier than the interior which is what your concernd about. A green oak cut and stacked 6 months will show 20% on the face maybe but the inside will be close to 40% or so still.

 

[wngsprd]

More info to help: the "1 year old" split oak was from a dead oak when it was cut and split. It was stacked in a south facing shelter under roof. I agree that the inside has more moisture than the end. It was a rough comparison to the very wet recent cut oak.