When to split Oak

[blucoondawg]

I too love the smell of oak.

But I got to wonder blucoondawg?? are you possibly mistaken that fowl smelling stuff for elm??

Cause it DOES smell. And rarely do I see an oak standing without bark. But it is extremely common with elm.

No, I am not mistaking red oak for elm, I don't know of anyone who deals with firewood on a regular basis could do that. I have never noticed a whole lot of smell from elm probably because I don't see much of it, there aren't too many elm in my area anymore, they had disease years ago and killed most off. Dead standing red oak is very common, it lasts a long time, even when laying on the ground it is slow to rot away, my in laws have a large dead red oak laying in the back of their property and it has been down for going on 10 years now and still very solid. They and others in the area also have many dead standing red oak, they said a few years before I met them there was a bad year of some sort of caterpillar which killed many of them off, many of them have been dead long enough that the bark is coming off yet the tree underneath is still solid. As for the smell, red oak has a strong odor, it isn't totally unpleasant but it is strong and very noticeable when you first fill your basement, after a day or 2 of living with it I don't notice it anymore.

 

[dstig1]

Big difference between the vomit-like smell of red oak and the sweet nutty-toasted smell of white oak.

Plus a lot depends on local variations. Different soils and growing conditions will easily change something like the smell. This probably explains a lot of the different opinions you see on this thread...

 

[Looking4new]

The only wood that is better IMHO than oak is beech, especially a knarly piece or two for 'all nighters'.

 

[s219]

The only wood that is better IMHO than oak is beech, especially a knarly piece or two for 'all nighters'.

Yep, I really like beech. I thought oak and locust were hard but beech is definitely harder to saw and split. The rounds are insanely heavy too. The wood definitely packs some BTUs.

 

[mikehaugen]

As far as BTU's per volume hickory is supposed to be the best IIRC.

 

[LD1]

As far as BTU's per volume hickory is supposed to be the best IIRC.

The best that is "common" in this area.

But osage orange is the "best". And locust is right there with hickory. But just depends on what type of hickory and what type of locust.:confused2:

 

[studor]

The best that is "common" in this area.

How true! -- around here it would be hop hornbeam (ironwood) while others would argue maple. People in the city would pay you more for a load of white birch than mixed hardwood -- and around here locust is a PITA tree with small leaves that are hard to pick up

 

[Natureboy]

Red oak is great when its seasoned long enough. I save it for the middle of winter when I want a long burn overnight.

 

[almost13ranch]

We burn as much oak as we can, and then we try to cut other hardwoods, because they burn longer, produce more BTU's at around 36.6 million BTU's per cord, compared to Pine, that burns at around 19.6 million BTU's per cord. When it is dry, it weighs in at about 1800lbs heavier than Pine per cord. It really is a great hardwood to burn, if it is well seasoned, but it does have that sour smell, like others have said here.

Do you have much of an issue with creosote burning pine, and firs? We use to live in Idaho, and Washington, and I know what you mean when you say that you have all fir trees. It was pretty rare to find good hardwoods in the mountains..

You might be interested to know that Pinion Pine (we have a lot of it around here) is 33.50 Million BTU's per cord, Osage Orange 32.90 and red or white oak 26.36, according to my third edition Pocket Reference. I was suprised.

 

[bikerdib]

I just split about 1 & 3/4 cord of red oak today that has been seasoning since last spring. It must be true about local soils affecting the smell because mine had a nice "oaky" smell to it. This wood will be for next winter, I have enough wood that has been seasoning since spring of 2011 for this winter's heating needs.