We typically have five to ten cords of red oak fall on the ranch roads each year. Without even getting into any cleanup projects other than keeping the roads clear we have more than we need to burn.

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Originally posted by slosig:
We typically have five to ten cords of red oak fall on the ranch roads each year. Without even getting into any cleanup projects other than keeping the roads clear we have more than we need to burn.

We do the same thing at a friend's ranch. Last weekend in January 10-12 of us get together and rent a hydraulic splitter. Spend all weekend cutting and splitting fallen trees. Usually get 5-6 cords of wood

Red or Post Oak was always my favorite when I had my wood stove. White Oak was close too. Gum burned a long time but almost impossible to split, sometimes even with a splitter and left too much ash with clean up.

Our primary source of heat is wood, burned in a fireplace insert. We have lived here in N. Virginia since 1985 and have not bought a bit of firewood. A couple times I met a guy doing tree trimming work when he was at the landfill dumping wood. We reached a deal, he would deliver it to our place, dump it where we wanted it. We got the free wood, he didn't have to pay to dump it.

We live on nearly 5 acres of large trees, and I harvest the ones that die. Cut, split, stack, burn.

Virtually all the wood/trees we have here are deciduous. Only a few pine which I leave standing until they die and fall over by themselves. No need to burn that wood as we have plenty of hardwood.

Checked the lot the other day, 4-5 trees are dead-standing and will be dropped, and turned into firewood in the next few weeks.

I didn't mention apple or cherry despite their excellent qualities. They are just too much work for what you get.

The power company did cut down a really big mulberry tree and left it in stove-length sections (but not split). It had lain there for about a year when I got to it. Then I split it and seasoned it for another year. It turned a beautiful light yellow and made wonderful firewood.

Firewood BTU Ratings

My dad and my grandparents heat their houses with wood. Both houses sit about 100 yards apart on the same farm and they use white oak, red oak, and locust. Sure am glad I don't need to rely on busting wood to stay warm anymore, but I find it cathartic and great exercise. Hated it growing up though

For 30 plus years we have burned Red Oak mostly but to be honest I have burned a variety ranging from all kinds of oak to locust to popular even a little cedar but never pine. All of the burning took place in out freestanding Fisher PaPa Bear and was our main source of heat with oil as back up.

My daughter and her family now live in our NoVa home and are to busy in their lives to burn wood.

Wood has been my primary heat source for over 50 years & we use five to six chords a year to heat our 140+ year old farmhouse. I use mostly oak, with some hickory, walnut & locust thrown in.

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...Sure am glad I don't need to rely on busting wood to stay warm anymore, but I find it cathartic and great exercise. Hated it growing up though

I grew up heating with coal supplemented with a couple gas space heaters. So yes I well know it's nice just bumping up a thermostat for heat.

But it's also nice being toasty warm when it's cold outside without my heat pump ever cycling on. I'm sitting here now in a short sleeve shirt with the Jotul stove burning and the air handler to "fan on, and it's let me check...... a comfortable 73 in here. Yeah I could forgo the wood and heat it up to 73 with the heat pump but I never have, I'd probably set it at 67, wear a sweater, and use a lap blanket.
The reasons I primarily heat with wood are; my property is wooded so there's plenty of firewood which I kind of enjoying doing anyway and the house is well insulated so it doesn't take that much. After living in my previous poorly insulated home, wearing sweaters, and always a blanket on my lap, the furnace set to 67 yet still stupid high gas bills, I'm relishing being comfortably warm in my little house while paying almost nothing to the power company.

Oak trees are plentiful on my family's property. Most of them are red oaks, with most of these reds being pin oaks. Usually, mother nature puts at least one mature oak on the ground for us any given year (and sometimes it doesn't fall over the half-mile long driveway or take down a power line), and other times we have to take a tree or two down as a preventative measure. So, we've got a pretty secure supply of nice oak. Had to deal with 4(!) big, mature red oaks this year, so we're swimming in firewood.

Just this weekend we took care of bucking up this 40"DBH monster that had its roots fail and blew down in a storm. 125 years old if you count the rings in the stump.



It made my ms362 look puny.



It was precariously sitting on a hillside, and it did roll once, quite unexpectedly. When it shifted, it took a saw for a ride, but no one was hurt and another tree arrested the roll before it smushed the saw.

Daddy's little helper was on hand to supervise!

^^^^^
Looks great. I am working on a White Oak that blew down. Where is your Fiskar's splitter??

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Originally posted by 41:
^^^^^
Looks great. I am working on a White Oak that blew down. Where is your Fiskar's splitter??

The 27 ton hydraulic splitter is taking care of that business.

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Just this weekend we took care of bucking up this 40"DBH monster that had its roots fail and blew down in a storm. 125 years old if you count the rings in the stump

Beautiful old tree- a shame it came down, but I'd love to have that much firewood sitting along the road

Now to split, stack, and season it...

Having been a professional chimney sweep for 37 years I'm always asked,

"What's the best kind of wood to burn?"

my answer is always the same:

"Free Wood"

The reason being that all wood with the same moisture content (seasoned is 15%) has the same BTUs by weight.... figure it out....

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Originally posted by gearhounds:

quote:

Just this weekend we took care of bucking up this 40"DBH monster that had its roots fail and blew down in a storm. 125 years old if you count the rings in the stump

Beautiful old tree- a shame it came down, but I'd love to have that much firewood sitting along the road

Now to split, stack, and season it...

We leave them be as much as we can - we're pretty proud of our big oaks. But, this one fell in a rather opportune position. We've had to let more than a few go over the years because there was no good way to get to the tree or get the wood out. We just had to clear a landing zone down the slope, because once free, those logs would roll and roll!

We're getting 40-50 good sized sticks of heartwood firewood per piece of stump!

Been burning ash for QUITE some time now.

I usually burn oak or hickory, but the property we moved onto a few years ago had several - 30 or 40 - larger dead Dogwoods back in the woods. They were just standing there with the bark peeling off. Most were in the 8-10" diameter at the base. I pushed over most and cut the wood into firewood lengths. Probably been aging for 5 years so as long as they were still standing the wood was nice and hard. Burns nice and hot.

My favorite is known as Tamarack, also called Larch.
It splits fairly easily and holds a good burn.

Yep, in Western MT most folks burn Western Larch(Tamarack). In the fall the tree needles turn yellow, entire forests of bright yellow timber scattered among pine and fir trees. Beautiful time of year in the mountains

I found this a few years ago and always thought it a useful reference.