quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Don't have willow around here but curious what's wrong with it as firewood?

A guy is offering me some weeping willow, I’m curious about it now, maybe I don’t want it.
Gotta get online and see what I can find out.

When I lived in Wisconsin you called the sawmill and told them how many cords you wanted. They delivered and dumped it in your yard. A bill was sent later. It was all red oak slab wood. Burned slow and hot.

quote:

Originally posted by tomgun:

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Don't have willow around here but curious what's wrong with it as firewood?

A guy is offering me some weeping willow, I’m curious about it now, maybe I don’t want it.
Gotta get online and see what I can find out.

Willow has about the same moisture content as a wet sponge and less than half the BTU content of good firewood. It would be a hard pass for me.

Thanks for the willow info
Sounds like cottonwood.
I’ll pass for sure!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tomgun,

Here’s a list of BTU’s per cord, type of wood. As I said earlier, with free wood, I try not to be to picky. I draw the line with Willow.

Even when ‘seasoned’ it’s smoky & barely burns. Maybe a longer seasoning time would help. I actually like Cottonwood & Aspen better, they burn very clean.

On my shelf I have a book that lists firewood quality of various types. Right now it’s about 28 outside, light wind, easy to keep the house at 75. I could be burning dried Elm.

https://forestry.usu.edu/forest-products/wood-heating

I used to live in WA State, got used to Douglas Fir.

quote:

Originally posted by 64dodge:


Willow has about the same moisture content as a wet sponge and less than half the BTU content of good firewood. It would be a hard pass for me.

Weird.
Willow is claimed to be the best charcoal for making your own black powder

/drift

I just started some maple I came across in my woodpiles
A friend dropped a cord in my driveway a couple summers ago.
I’ll switch to that for a bit with our temps dropping into the mid 20’s. Damn good wood.
And yeah, Douglas fir is pretty much the mainstay in Washington state, pretty darn good all around wood.

I have been heating with wood since 1992 in a Lopi wood stove. I cut all my wood on my place hedge apple, hackberry, ash. I finally graduated to a 35 ton splitter probably 12 years ago, probably why my elbows are junk from using an axe.

I know people that go to Tulsa dump and cut wood dumped out there after storms......

I've been making firewood all of my life. Eight wooded acres is enough to supply down or dead wood for the moderate climate in KY. I'm old enough that I would like to stop messing with it but it does save on the heating bill, I have a now built-in urge to make firewood, and those heat pumps just do not make the same satisfying hot air.

quote:

Originally posted by roarindan:
I have used wood for heat almost all my life, if I owned the house I put in a wood burning add-on or stove. The last home had a 6 plate wood stove in the kitchen and i put a add-on to the oil heat.I used to buy log length hardwood and buck it up my self; but since spent the cold months in a warmer climate I only use my outdoor wood furnace for heating the water and to take a late spring or autumn chill out. I still cut all my windfalls and pick up a lot of scrap wood.

there is a sawmill about a mile from the house that lets me take all the 10- 14 ft. Pine and papal slabs I want for helping him make room.Three slices with the chainsaw and it’s into the stove..

Didn’t vote. The answer kinda depends on how you do the math. I don’t purchase wood directly, we have enough red oak that falls on the ranch to clean up without even getting into what we prune.

The employees’ primary job is to take care of the orchards. However, when it is raining or particularly wet after a rain working in the orchards isn’t an option. Since my guys like to work (and get paid) rain or shine we setup a repurposed carport where they can stay busy (and dry) splitting wood. It isn’t uncommon for them to make twenty to thirty cords in a wet winter (increasingly rare, though this year is showing promise). I do pay them for their efforts in collecting, hauling, bucking, and splitting it, so I guess the argument could be made that I pay for it.

I live in the land of pine trees. I can get all the local pine I want. It has to be downed and de-limbed or I won't touch it.

I also have a tree guy I met through Craigslist. I told him I only want maple or oak. He calls me and I'll take my truck and trailer to his job site for that day. It's all bucked into ~16" lengths for the large diameter stuff. Smaller stuff like big limbs are usually in 2' - 4'., or even 6' lengths. Max is usually around 75 lbs for limbs. I can load most of it by myself, but if I need help lifting large rounds his employees help me load. I unload and split it myself.

Several years ago I went to maybe 6 or 7 job sites and really loaded up, about 12 cords or so. I got enough for ~3-4 years. I may have to call him up again in the Spring.

Getting it already bucked is a huge help. It's a lot of work to de-limb and deal with the slash.

Firewood is my passion, for some reason. It just relaxes me (cutting, splitting, hauling, stacking). I've never purchased as I've been fortunate to have always harvest as much as I need. I seem to have a reputation as people call me when they are having a tree taken down. I will only fell trees that are away from buildings, utility lines, etc. (I leave those jobs for folks with insurance), so most of my takes are from trees already down.

I have a neighbor that owns a tree service and if he's working in the area he'll drop off firewood in my back yard. I've also answered craigslist posts for free firewood.

This season I gave away more firewood than I will burn. With all the dead ash trees here (due to EAB) there is a plethora of decent wood.

1967 goat that sounds like a great set up.
Good for you.
Split by hand or with a splitter?

I pick it up when I see it, and ask if it's not obviously free. Then I buck, split, and stack for drying. Burn it in winter. Love doing it.