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Look up buckin billy Ray on TH-cam he has a awesome youtube channel he will set you up with a axe or a axe set that I the best just check him out and look at his axes you won't be disappointed for sure he makes them and sells them
Just want to say thanks. We just bought a property in the Santa Fe area and we have wood burning stoves. Have had a fire place for years but never for home heating, just for fun. Always trusted the wood person and he seemed to do it right. Now, moving to SF, I need to educate myself as I will be cutting, splitting, and stacking it for our cabins. Lots to learn but also looking forward to the education!
Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Most people burn Jack Pine, White Birch, Aspen (Poplar). Less abundant trees available are Ash and Maple. There's a definite sense of pride planning ahead and having nice dry firewood. It's a great renewable resource, and enjoyable heat! Keep the awesome content comin!
I’m in Central Texas and we have tons of oak and cedar out here. But omg this is super helpful for me having to buy wood since I live in the city in an apartment.
You are by far the best guy to give info on firewood for newbies. Easy to follow what you’re saying, even for dum dums. My late husband did all this stuff, now I’m the guy and the girl on the acreage and have my ass in both hands and running head first, bumping into trees and taking out fence posts! Lol. Thanks for the help about seasoned wood and I’m out for a moisture meter right now before the wood gets delivered. I’m getting tamarack and birch, because you snobs get all the oak and cherry out there. I was told the birch is 80% seasoned, but tamarack is ok. Well I’m going to check it with the moisture meter I’m setting out for. Lol. Thanks again
Really like these videos, thank you for sharing. I do have one suggestion for using the meter. It's best to split the piece first and take the reading on the freshly exposed side. A lot of the time the outside quarter inch or so will give you a really low reading because it's very exposed where as the inside can give you a reading a fair amount higher, and that higher number I like to think of as the "real" number since it gives the moisture content of the inside of the piece. Just my two cents Thanks again mike. Jason from Michigan, a fellow tractor/firewood/landowner/deer hunter guy
Great teaching video! I assumed if the tree was dead and on the ground for a while the wood would be dry! Now I know why my fire was smoking so much. I will get the moisture meter. thanks
My place in Pocahontas County West Virginia I burn red oak ,white oak, hickory and cherry. Thanks for sharing the meter for moisture as well I never knew they made one!
I just watched this video again and chuckled when you said 8000 or 9000 subscribers so far as you’re currently over 100K! Way to go man, popular content
I have 5 acres in Maine with mixed species. I burn mostly red and white oak (90%) with some maple and gray birch (pine is used in the outside fire pit).I use an old 16' car trailer to stack my 2-3 cords. My theory is to keep the split wood off the ground and covered while allowing for good air circulation. Also sun exposure to the split wood will aid in drying. Thanks for your videos.
I’m in Santa Cruz CA. We’re spoiled here with wood choices, and the winters aren’t cold. (Very rarely below 32...) I cruise the mountain roads during storms and pick up all I need for the year in a few weekends, plus I keep the roads open for all the other residents. We get lots of oak, madrone, and my personal favorite Doug Fir. I like DF because it dries easily and like I said we don’t have cold weather here. Oh, there tons of Eucalyptus for free as well. It’s a nuisance tree. It can be hard to split though...
Hello & Thank You very much, Neighbor. From Oley, PA here originally from Brooklyn,N.Y. Newbie to all of this, wish I would've listened to my Dad From Elmira/Syracuse, N.Y. !!!!
Cracking ends and weight are what I watch for. I just started burning wood again this year so I have to start the process of building a multi year supply. I love the feeling of knowing you have 3 years of wood sitting there and laughing at the price of propane. I live in the Ozarks so I have access to hardwoods. I had a large cherry tree fall get blown over back in the spring so I burned it for the first 2 months of the year, then I switched over to some old, crappy oak. I've been cutting wood as fast as I can but I'll probably end up finishing the year on junk wood that's ready to burn.
In southern Ontario we generally burn maple, spruce, and even balsam, I've heard of pine being burnt as well. We might have the odd Hardwood tree around such as Oak, or walnut but often resort to others that are more common such as birch and hemlock
Watching this video from the Netherlands. I don't burn that much wood, but I have burned European Alder (Alnus glutinosa) and right now I've a pile of European Oak (Quercus robur) in my woodshed.
First of all I have just started following your videos - interesting and educational from time to time. Should perhaps mention that I´m from Denmark and just within the last couple - 3 years started to fall trees and cutting firewood, not on a big scale like you but mainly for our summerhouse that we actually use year around, and just about the only source of heat is firewood. You were interested in what we were using for firewood, and here in Denmark it is mostly Scotch Pine and Spruce but also Beech and Stem Oak. Can come across a Lime Tree or an Ash from time to time. Due to the moist climate in Denmark we normally let Pine and Spruce dry for about a year before it´s ready to use and for Oak and Beech it´s about two years at least and that is all cut, split and stacked. We also use Birch from time to time but mostly in open fireplaces or for a small bonfire, as it burns so fine, but much value as a heat source it´s not :-)
Hi Mike. I recommend pushing your MM pins into the wood parallel to the grain rather than across the grain. I think your readings will be 1 more accurate, and 2 higher by several %.
This is excellent information!! Been burning and cutting wood for my remote cabin in Southeast Oklahoma for 5 years and this helps so much to make sense of it all.
We here in Crete in greece burn hard wood also.Olive tree cuttings....Nice long burn.....Oaks nice burn.Burned few times not so comon over here....Nice to share your experience......
Hi Mike, I'm new to watching and commenting about your videos. They are entertaining and informative. I have been doing the same kinds of projects and coming up with some similar ideas for about 25 years now. On this video I want to share an idea I came up with on using the meter. If I have a piece of wood I want to check without fresh splitting it, I use my cordless drill to screw 2 wood screws into the center of the piece the same distance apart as the meter spikes and touch the spikes to the screws. This gives you a much different reading than the outside of the woods. Give it a try and maybe pass his on in one of your videos. Keep up the good work.
We have about 10 acres of land not far from Cincinnati, OH. Most of the wood I cut, split, stack, and burn is Ash for obvious reasons. This will change once the remaining Ash trees die. We have lots of tulip poplar, sycamore, and maple. We don't have many oak trees, but the few we have are white oak. Btw, I totally agree with the moisture meter. It's the best way to tell. Also, one other reason for not burning green wood is rust. Burning green wood as you mentioned produces steam. Steam will rust an iron wood burning stove much faster than normal. Keep up the good work!
Very helpful thanks! Our last load of wood delivered in the summer was supposed to have been seasoned and ready for this winter, but obviously isn't!! I wish I'd have seen your video before! We live in the French alps and use a mix of wood types in a large room stove. We do use pine, but always mixed with a harder wood at a rate of 5 to 10%. Burning pine only leaves sticky deposits in the chimney which is difficult to remove and is dangerous longer term.
I'm in Kentucky. For wood stoves that are enclosed and fireplace inserts, the best firewood is the densest. That's Osage Orange. Next is black locust, followed closely by white oak and red oak. Then ash. Cherry is some great-smelling wood but not really up there in density. My personal favorite is red oak. It leaves little ash and burns great. I try and have my firewood cut for fall/winter by Derby Day -- That's the first Saturday in May for you non-Louisvillians. It's plenty dry by heating season. Great video. If you heat with wood long enough you can just look at a piece of firewood and tell whether it's dry or not. The moisture meter is nice though.
Hello Mr. Morgan, DC Allen here in Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. I enjoy your videos, I been burning for 70 years, you got it right, less than 20% burns best. Let us talk Red Oak for instance, Note, it does not mean anything on how long a tree has been dead. A dead standing tree will wick up water as a natural response. One of the few times in nature that water will travel up hill is in a live tree and also in a dead tree. Also note that a cut green tree will take 2 years after cutting, splitting and stacking under a roof to be ready to burn, a dead standing tree will take 1 year after cutting, splitting and stacking under a roof to be ready to burn. Horizontal dead is a different story, that is why you need the moisture meter. Thanks for all your information, I really enjoy your content.
Another great one Mike. We are spoilt on our place in Aus too with a few major sub species of Gum. There’s hardwood and then there’s HARDwood when it comes to gum. We primarily use Stringy Bark gum which usually in dry enough in about two seasons when split. We also have two species called Yellow Box and Ironbark - both super hard, spend half your life sharpening chains! They burn very hot and don’t burn as quick as the softer. We have some windrows of Yellow Box my father pushed out and stacked with an old D8 in the late 1960s - logs about 20inch diameter that are still green in the centre and rock solid!
cool video. I grew up West Texas. While we don't have alot of trees to choose from (mostly Honey Mesquite, with some Red berry Juniper, Cottonwood, Siberian Elm, Pecan if you can find it), but as dry as it is, wood cures FAST out here.
West Texas here. I burn (estimate) 65% mesquite, 30% post oak, and 5% red oak. Will burn a stick or two of hackberry from time to time. I think what we call red oak is different from your red oak. Really enjoy your videos. I am into the firewood, tractors, trail cams, welding and such.
Hey Mike, Happy Birthday!! I live in south central PA between Carlisle and Gettysburg... burn mostly cherry and maple and some oak from my 5 acres .... I also buy wood locally, and you are right, you have to be careful not to get scammed.
My guess on that oak was 18% and when you said 12% I couldn't believe it. I'm glad you split it to show what a difference it makes between the outer wood and the inner wood, even on a small piece.
White oak. Red oak. Sugar maple. Chestnut oak. Pin oak. Cherry. All are good here in Rockingham County Virginia. But absolutely nothing beats a good piece of locust. Burns high slow heat. Little ash. And lasts for years on the pile. Great video
Very helpful man. Thanks for the tips. I️ have a mini forest in my backyard in VA and my neighbor cut some trees down for me about 10 months ago. Planning on building a fire pit to burn it all but didn’t know what to look for when choosing which wood to burn
Up here in MA we burn oak, maple , and birch. When I heated with wood I'd buy it green in early Spring (March). It was usually dried enough to burn well by December. It could be used in October when we usually started burning, but it wouldn't burn real well. I often had enough left over from the previous year to get us started until the new stuff was good-n-ready.
Moisture meter is probably your best bet. The sound, clinking together, maybe. But I got to tell your weight example with different sizes of wood, not a good gauge. Thanks for the video
Great bit of information. I never really thought of checking the moisture content. I don't burn it for my main heat, but I do burn it in a fireplace every once in a while.
I can tell you.. I can cut/split/stack and burn oak same year. Pennsylvania climate is much different from Oregon climate. We hit temperatures up to 105 during the summer. Leave the wood in open sunlight for three/four months at least 90 degree weather and it will be ready for burning. Madrone wood is the same. If you split by wood splitter you can tell when that splitter hits the wood..when it starts pushing and you see water.. well it's wet. Cut/stacked/ dried for seven months. Burns in my mother's house just fine. No hissing from wetness. Very sound advice you gave. We don't burn much pine here because "pitch wood" isn't that good for stoves. Fir/Cedar are the best soft woods to cut.
Hey Happy Birthday Mike, in western Michigan we burn Oak, Maple, some apple wood from all the fruit trees in the area. Great video's it becoming a nightly habit to find out what's on your mind each night.
We live in Eastern Washington, in the foothills of the Cascade Range. It's called high desert but only about 1500' elevation. We get about 7" of rainfall yearly yet within 30 minutes we can be in deep forests. We burn mostly red fir and tamarack. Those woods are fairly dense for softwoods and produce a lot of BTU's. We also burn a lot of fruit wood here. We grow apples, pears, cherries, peaches, apricots and plums so there is an abundant supply of those woods as well. The fruit wood lasts longer in a wood stove but leaves a lot more ash. The forest wood burns hotter, cleans the glass doors of the stove but doesn't give the long burn times. Pine was mentioned in the video and we have White Pine which is very soft compared to Southern Yellow Pine. It burns extreemly hot but for a very short time. It would be nice to have access to red fir to mix with my tamarack.
Raleigh here, yup we burn pine in new mexico(gotta clean your chimney a lot) but it’s what we have….piñon smells amazing!!! Awesome channel my man happy b day
I'm from southern Ontario in Canada. We had the ash bororer so ash trees that are cut down are only able to stay in the township to prevent spread of disease. My adult children have been cutting down dead ash trees from a neighbors woods who wants the dead ones down. They do this on thanksgiving in October, then my neighbor comes with log splitter and this is what I have been burning. It is dry to a point. I order slabs from a local mill to add to it. Some of the trees have been dead for a few years so maybe that's why it seems to be dry. I like your weight test and will try it.
Thanks for the video, Ken. I have a question for anyone to comment on: How long will it take to dry what I believe may be partially seasoned wood using radiant heat from the fireplace, electric range/ stove, and propane heater? I ask because this video has clinched it for us, and we can now unequivocally state that the seasoned ash blend that was delivered is not the fully seasoned wood we were promised. Backstory if interested: We arrived in NH from NC mid-December 2019 for a 3-month work assignment. After research, we chose a company to deliver a cord of seasoned the seasoned ash blend. For a cheaper price, we could have gotten a cord of mixed, mostly oak, but not fully seasoned. From the start, it was apparent that we had a problem, but we thought the moisture emanating from our fires was due to its surface getting rain, humidity, etc. exposure. So we put it in the oven at 140F, and so on. But now 2 weeks in we are still burning pretty wet wood. No trustworthy source is around, and some go will sell us 1/8 a cord of kiln-dried wood for $300. I welcome comments from around the world.
Here in lower Michigan I burn mostly oak, cherry, hickory, and some ash. But most of the ash is dying or dead around here it'll be gone soon. This video just sold me on one of them moisture meters, the wife gets a little cranky when I gotta put some damp wood in the stove, this could save an argument or two for me. Thank you.
Here in weatern CT there's a lot of ash trees dieing right now. Good supply of various hardwoods around me. My property has quite a few Locust trees which I've been taking down past 3 years
Alberta, foothills of the Rockies here about one hour East of Banff at 4400' ASL. I have a wood stove in the basement that will take 30" long logs. I usually go through 2 to 3 cords a year. I burn anything but mostly it is trembling aspen, black poplar, cottonwood, spruce and a bit of pine. I burn any demolition lumber that I get that is not to hard to haul and cut-up. I also burn about 1000 to 2000 lbs of coal per year. I have a friend who heats his shop with a outdoor coal/wood furnace and I get my coal from him. It is dry stoker coal. I used to get chunk coal and that was real nice, before going to bed just throw two or three brick sized lumps on top of your last stoke of wood and good to go. It gives you a nice slow burn at the end of the wood burn.
Good instructions, thanks! Eastern PA, variety of oak, apple, cherry, maples, some white pine for fun, ash, hickory, and my personal fav, black locust.
Black locust gets a bad rap! My favorite too but it "likes company" to get going, ours doesn't stink if it's dry, and seems to grow/dry/season faster than most everything else we burn.We live in NYS capital region on 7 acres, heat an old 3300sf house mostly in order of preference with b locust, oak, elm, cherry, apple, red maple. Birch, Norway/silver maple I split up small for kindling. Save the softwood for pulp and paper products...
Up in northern MN, there is not a lot of hardwoods here....basically birch and maple. I burn a ton of poplar (aspen) will burn pine indiscriminately which consists of Norway’s and spruce. An occasional jack pine will also find its way into the fp as well. Now, I typically have to buy about 2-3 cords of red oak just to set up for long burns like at night. Maple works pretty well for this but leaves a ton of ash in the fp. Other than pine is a pain to split, as long as its seasoned, it burns pretty nice. My wife doesn’t like when the pine Beatle larva comes in with the logs and “squeaks” inside the logs while waiting to be burnt. 🙈
Here in Western Nebraska we burn Ash, Elm and Hack berry (my favorite). Cottonwood is plentiful but burns a lot like pine so I try to stay away from it. Love your channel.
Great video. I burn about 1/2 a cord in my workshop in a double barrel stove every year. When buying wood I always ask about how long it's been dried but I'm never completely confident on the responses I get. I need to get me one of those meters.
Hey man just found the channel. Me and my wife just bought old farm house in Oklahoma out of town and last year had a lopi wood stove installed. Funny but I really enjoy taking down dead trees and turning into heat for the house. Mainly elm or maple around here. But not to picky. If someone wants to get rid of a tree i will cut it down for them and haul off. Keep up the vids.
So many folks stack a pile of logs in or near wooded areas, directly on the ground, and not covered. Years later, they wonder if anyone wants this decayed crap. Sun, wind, and a top cover with bottom 2x4's to get it all off the ground are critical. You are correct in that oak takes 2x as long to season as does most any other hardwood. Firewood dealers have a lot of dishonest competition, but customers know seasoned quality wood. And they remember who brought it to them. Anything in life worth the doing, is worth doing well.
Very informative, I have a built-in fire pit on my concrete patio and burn to have a little heat and enjoy being outside with the family or friends. I've started buying from local gas stations and now moving on to buying cords of wood and stacking, some of what you mentioned I knew commonly however reassuring and thanks for taking time to make a video to share more information.
Thank you for the information in this video. We are clearing out some dead trees and want to pass the wood along to people who use wood heat. We have never used wood heat so we are nearly clueless.
Out here in Northern California we do have a lot of soft woods. Fir, cedar, and redwood are probably the most popular. But if you're resourceful or have a 4wd pick up we also have a lot of tan oak and madrone. Madrone is my favorite. It's super hard and it burns really clean. I keep a few cords of fir on hand for a quick fire when it's not too cold and I don't want a fire going all day. But the bulk of my firewood consumption is madrone and oak. As a foot note, you'd never grab another piece of oak or cherry in your life for kindling if you've had the pleasure of splitting old growth redwood. I can grab a stick a quarter inch square and split it strait down the middle with pretty much anything I have on hand. I've used a pocket knife a few times while camping. It burns really quick, though. So I don't like it for actual firewood.
great information. i brought from 2 seperate wood guys and both stated wood was seasoned. However both had too much moister in it. hence wood did not give off many heat btu's. Moisture meter here i come. thanks tom, monkton, md.
We grow and cut Eucalyptus Nitens, Acacia Dealbata and Pinus Radiata here in central NZ, & I use the "lip test" to get a moisture indication. (Touching a piece of firewood to the lips; if it’s cold, it’s still too moist).
Western Iowa here - Love burning Red Elm when possible. Much is standing dead that has been killed from Dutch Elm's Disease. Some Ash and Locust as well. Also spoiled with many hardwoods in the Midwest. Happy Birthday. New subscriber, really enjoying the videos!
Hey Mike, a fellow Pennsylvanian. If I buy wood I around here I'll usually get a good hard wood. Oak isn't hard to find over here. If I can get it for free, I'll throw anything in the stove I can find except fore pine. ( I will of course use good dry pine for kindling.)
Nice video Morgan. as You say, Your are privileged to have all that fine hard wood. In Sweden we burn beech, oak and birches. Some time pine, most in the summer for a quick tank of hot water. As a rule oak must rest in the stack for 3 years, beech and birch, we burn after cutting in wintertime, the next autum. That will say, that we have cut spilt and stacked as latest at Easter time. That will give a watercontent of 9 to 12% Burning oak is limited to the branches, as the price of the stem is 8 to 10 times higher, than if processed as firewood. You should only use up to 15 % oak due to the acid content in the smoke, that will effekt on Your chimney in a bad way And old farmer taught me a speed way to process firewood. Take down a tree, and leave it in the forrest with branches and leaves on for 6-7 weeks. Then You can split it and start using it in september. That goes for beech and birch, but not oak of course.
I'm on year #28 of heating with only firewood...Here in the Willamette valley of Oregon we have a great mix of hardwoods as well as a variety of conifers...White oak, big leaf Maple, ash, cherry, walnut are the main hardwoods....I burn little pine, but really like Doug Fir ...burns pretty hot with very little ash...splits clean if clear grain, and dries nice and fast....The White oak is the densest but the hardest to split and takes the longest to dry....I'm set up with this years and next years dividers in my storage lean too, so, I'm always burning well seasoned wood!...At age 65, I feel like I'm good for a while yet, but maybe a ductless heat pump might be in my distant future!
Hi Mike! There is another great way to check out, if the logs are dry enough: You take a 12 inch log and drop some dish soap on the cut surface. Then you blow through the timber on the other cut surface. When the log is dry the dish soap transforms into bubbles and foam! Greetings from Bavaria, Germany! Tobi
Good video, Thanks for taking the time to do this one. But out here in the Ozark Mountains (Northwest Arkansas) the better firewood sellers and the Stove and fireplace insert dealers always say "The wood needs to be at 15% or less", why the difference in moisture content?
I've read that for the most accurate reading on your moisture meter, in addition to splitting the wood to expose the inside, is to align the pins on your moisture meter parallel to the grain and not perpendicular.
Just saw this firewood {about dryness} video . Thank you ... very educational . *** Would also like to know about your UTV ... make , model , and how you like it . Thanks again .
Hey Mike, another very informative video! You're right about the moisture meter: I bought one last year and it's worked extremely well. I burn a combination of white oak and yellow pine here in Northeastern North Carolina. And the pine isn't as bad as you might think, as long as it has dried thoroughly. My pine seasons for at least three years before burning. It burns hot with little creosote build-up. The only drawback is that it burns quickly. I wish I had ash and hickory on my property as I need to make some tool handles -- haha! Have a very happy birthday!
@@OutdoorsWithTheMorgans Exactly what i was searching for as My Son has started burning Firewood… I’ve been burning it all my Days! Upstate SC for Locational Purpose 🤷♂️ Pine has also been Preached to me as a No No for Firewood 🤔 I’ve found it’s Fine… As Long as it’s Fully Cured!!! Also Cut it in the Winter for the next year is Great as the Sap is Down in the Roots and You Don’t get it All Over Everything 😊 This Also speeds up the Curing Process. Great Video!!! Watching others You Folks Have Some Beautiful Property!!! Just Subscribed and look forward to Seeing More of The Woods Up North👍
Hey Mike, I understand your comment about "wood snobs" but sometimes you just gotta burn what you got. I am in southern Vermont and I burn anything I can get my hands on in an outdoor wood gasification furnace. I cut, split and stack it in a wood shed like I was going to burn it indoors, so it produces a lot of heat without a lot of waste. I do burn pine, both red and white, but the problem with softwoods is that you do not get a good bed of coals. I have over 20 different species and varieties in my wood shed at any given time. Favorites here are black and yellow birch, beech, ash and cherry.
In a perfect world you will be able to get perfectly dried wood, perfectly cut, perfectly stacked. But yeah, life isn't perfect and sometimes you will have to make the best of a non ideal situation. I spent a winter with one of my friends who had just purchased a place out in the woods and we had to use freshly cut green wood to stay warm the whole time, the next year he had some year old dry wood though =)
Southern Louisiana here, just north of New Orleans. If I'm having trouble starting a fire, like is my hardwood isn't seasoned properly, or is wet, I MIGHT burn some yellow pine over oak kindling, but only to get it started. Never more than just a few small logs. Other than that, we burn white oak, red swamp oak, maple, hickory and pecan. ;) Thanks for the tips, man. Had a guy deliver "seasoned" firewood back in Dec and although I suspected it might not have been, I was too excited and uh..... tipsy to care too much. Ah well. Lesson learned.
Nice video and good advice, thank you. I'm in the northwest of England and I mostly burn Ash but I also burn Cherry & Beech. Beech burns well even if not fully dry, maybe a little too fast if well seasoned. We have a tree local to us called a Manchester Poplar and it's almost flameproof - no point in even attempting to season it - best left of the floor to rot and feed the bugs & critters.
Great topic, alot of people in my area Wv. Have outdoor wood boilers yes including me, they are great. But im pretty sure we all burn green firewood. This is probably why these stoves got so many complaints about smoke im not sure? Again another great video, and happy birthday!
A very belated Happy Birthday! Lol. Mostly burn Maple and Oak here in Ontario, however i have burned Pine in the past. Hydro company had cut down a few trees at my property edge so i took advantage of some free fuel. I let it dry for a good three years before i used it, and only used it to start or restart fires as it burns fast and hot. Great job on the video as usual.
I'm in upstate NY and we burned pine 1st thing in the morning just to take a chill off the camp and let the fire go out as the day warmed up. Pine also smells good if you throw some needles in with it. Be sure to run the chimney hot with hardwood, the draft open, to clear the creosote before checking it down. Burch smells like skunk pee! Apple cracks and pops a lot. Nice to listen to in a wood stove - not good for open hearth fireplaces without glass enclosure.
We do firewood out here in Colorado. We burn several species of pine, spruce, fir and even narrowleaf cottonwood. When cut green and split, it actually dries to around 20% moisture or less in under six weeks. We have very low humidity here. You are correct that burning green wood will tend to cause creosote to build up in a chimney, so keeping a hot fire going is more important than the species of wood. The main difference is the number of BTUs per ton that is available in the species of wood. I actually prefer cottonwood for starting a fire, then putting in pine or spruce in once the fire is established. Some 'wood snobs' as you mentioned, prefer aspen wood, because it looks pretty in the wood box, but it produces less heat per ton than other species. Wood sells for $130 to $225 per cord delivered in this area, except for Cross Timbers red oak, which goes for upwards of $450 to $550 per cord because it has to be hauled from out of state. Firewood is a tough business to be in, especially when the loggers can't get into the mountains most of the winter even with millions of trees standing dead due to pine bark beetle infestation.
In Scotland I tend to burn Ash, Oak or Beech - cant go wrong with any of those. I bang 2 pieces of 12" wood together, if it thuds leave, if it tings, burn it. Super simple and works.
Oh my to have access to oak and cherry - heavenly. In southern Alberta it’s poplar, spruce and fir there are no hardwoods. Here’s what I do. Most of the wood I get green when I split ant stack it. I’ll pick a random selection of pieces throughout then pile and weigh them with a digital kitchen scale (accurate to 1 gm.) and write the weight of then end of the piece with a felt marker so it’s easily visible. I check the weights every 3-4 months and when the pieces are 40-50% of their original weight they’re ready. My moisture meter usually confirms they at 10-12%, but I fine the scale easier. After doing this for 10 years, now I can just pick a piece up and tell where it’s at within 2-3% - close enough for me. Cheers Jeff, Calgary.
Great video Mike, and it's important to impress upon folks the value of burning DRY wood. I'm in Northern AZ and have access to lots of Ponderosa Pine, but also burn Alligator Juniper (still a softwood but harder than pine, smells like cedar) and 2 types of oaks: White Oak and Emory Oak. Would love to see a pic of your stove!
I live in central Wisconsin and we have Jack Pine or Lodge pole Pine which has less pitch in it than other pines. if you dry it it is good to burn. I use it in the fall or in the day when I am available to stoke more often. if you cure it it will not clog up your chimney but i do clean mine regularly and I have a stainless triple lined chimney. Not sure it is recommended for brick chimneys. White pine has a lot of pitch or tar in it, i do not recommend burning it. We also have a lot of oak much of it is scrub oak but also some pin oak or other kinds of oak. Oak is the best we have here, we also have a little cherry- a wild cherry. it is soft and burns about the same BTUs as the jack pine- may even be lighter than jack pine. i like handling the jack pine and it is fairly easy to cut and split- nobody values it a lot and it is easy to get but it burns good. I recommend cutting it before the sap runs in spring so you get a head start on it drying. Jack pine dries fairly fast if you do that, may be able to burn in fall. No matter what you burn i recommend sweeping the chimney every fall.
NB Canada. My wife and I burn maple, birch and poplar (we burn poplar to get rid of it off our acerage because it is a hazard and the beavers love it and we don't like the beavers). In my opinion the poplar stinks when it burns but we have almost got it all burnt. We season the wood for at least two summers. Happy birthday. Don
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Look up buckin billy Ray on TH-cam he has a awesome youtube channel he will set you up with a axe or a axe set that I the best just check him out and look at his axes you won't be disappointed for sure he makes them and sells them
I burn Pine cause its dead from the pine beetles and its all over laying dry and dead or standing dead and i burn Fir and some spruce. BC interior.
Mike Hunt never heard of that but I split and burn hard woods
No real hard woods in the area to split or burn up here and if there is they are far and few.
Mike Hunt yeah gota work with what you have but pine trees turn to lighter knot (Fatwood) and that's not best to burn in doors
Burning cherry amazes me. It's such a beautiful wood to mill and build things with.
Just want to say thanks. We just bought a property in the Santa Fe area and we have wood burning stoves. Have had a fire place for years but never for home heating, just for fun. Always trusted the wood person and he seemed to do it right. Now, moving to SF, I need to educate myself as I will be cutting, splitting, and stacking it for our cabins. Lots to learn but also looking forward to the education!
1. Cut, split, and stack your own firewood
2. Bark falling off
3. Color
4. Cracking on ends
5. Weight
6. Sound
7. Moisture meter
Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Most people burn Jack Pine, White Birch, Aspen (Poplar). Less abundant trees available are Ash and Maple. There's a definite sense of pride planning ahead and having nice dry firewood. It's a great renewable resource, and enjoyable heat! Keep the awesome content comin!
We have mostly red gum or mountain ash in My area of Australia. You remind me of Bruce Willis
I’m in Central Texas and we have tons of oak and cedar out here. But omg this is super helpful for me having to buy wood since I live in the city in an apartment.
You are by far the best guy to give info on firewood for newbies.
Easy to follow what you’re saying, even for dum dums.
My late husband did all this stuff, now I’m the guy and the girl on the acreage and have my ass in both hands and running head first, bumping into trees and taking out fence posts!
Lol.
Thanks for the help about seasoned wood and I’m out for a moisture meter right now before the wood gets delivered.
I’m getting tamarack and birch, because you snobs get all the oak and cherry out there.
I was told the birch is 80% seasoned, but tamarack is ok.
Well I’m going to check it with the moisture meter I’m setting out for.
Lol.
Thanks again
Really like these videos, thank you for sharing. I do have one suggestion for using the meter. It's best to split the piece first and take the reading on the freshly exposed side. A lot of the time the outside quarter inch or so will give you a really low reading because it's very exposed where as the inside can give you a reading a fair amount higher, and that higher number I like to think of as the "real" number since it gives the moisture content of the inside of the piece. Just my two cents
Thanks again mike.
Jason from Michigan, a fellow tractor/firewood/landowner/deer hunter guy
I'm new and watching your videos backwards. Love sharing with my grandson. Love to show him that work is fun. ❤
I'm right on the pacific, my first load in the stove is cedar burns hot & fast. The rest of the day is fir. great channel
Great teaching video! I assumed if the tree was dead and on the ground for a while the wood would be dry! Now I know why my fire was smoking so much. I will get the moisture meter. thanks
My place in Pocahontas County West Virginia I burn red oak ,white oak, hickory and cherry. Thanks for sharing the meter for moisture as well I never knew they made one!
I just watched this video again and chuckled when you said 8000 or 9000 subscribers so far as you’re currently over 100K! Way to go man, popular content
Now he's just over 200k!
@@jarodmorris611 that’s great to hear!
If you did a water displacement measurement in a bucket you could calculate the wood’s size down to a T. Great show! Cheers from sunny Alberta!
I have 5 acres in Maine with mixed species. I burn mostly red and white oak (90%) with some maple and gray birch (pine is used in the outside fire pit).I use an old 16' car trailer to stack my 2-3 cords. My theory is to keep the split wood off the ground and covered while allowing for good air circulation. Also sun exposure to the split wood will aid in drying. Thanks for your videos.
I’m in Santa Cruz CA. We’re spoiled here with wood choices, and the winters aren’t cold. (Very rarely below 32...) I cruise the mountain roads during storms and pick up all I need for the year in a few weekends, plus I keep the roads open for all the other residents. We get lots of oak, madrone, and my personal favorite Doug Fir. I like DF because it dries easily and like I said we don’t have cold weather here. Oh, there tons of Eucalyptus for free as well. It’s a nuisance tree. It can be hard to split though...
Hello & Thank You very much, Neighbor. From Oley, PA here originally from Brooklyn,N.Y. Newbie to all of this, wish I would've listened to my Dad From Elmira/Syracuse, N.Y. !!!!
Cracking ends and weight are what I watch for. I just started burning wood again this year so I have to start the process of building a multi year supply. I love the feeling of knowing you have 3 years of wood sitting there and laughing at the price of propane. I live in the Ozarks so I have access to hardwoods. I had a large cherry tree fall get blown over back in the spring so I burned it for the first 2 months of the year, then I switched over to some old, crappy oak. I've been cutting wood as fast as I can but I'll probably end up finishing the year on junk wood that's ready to burn.
In southern Ontario we generally burn maple, spruce, and even balsam, I've heard of pine being burnt as well. We might have the odd Hardwood tree around such as Oak, or walnut but often resort to others that are more common such as birch and hemlock
Watching this video from the Netherlands. I don't burn that much wood, but I have burned European Alder (Alnus glutinosa) and right now I've a pile of European Oak (Quercus robur) in my woodshed.
First of all I have just started following your videos - interesting and educational from time to time. Should perhaps mention that I´m from Denmark and just within the last couple - 3 years started to fall trees and cutting firewood, not on a big scale like you but mainly for our summerhouse that we actually use year around, and just about the only source of heat is firewood. You were interested in what we were using for firewood, and here in Denmark it is mostly Scotch Pine and Spruce but also Beech and Stem Oak. Can come across a Lime Tree or an Ash from time to time. Due to the moist climate in Denmark we normally let Pine and Spruce dry for about a year before it´s ready to use and for Oak and Beech it´s about two years at least and that is all cut, split and stacked. We also use Birch from time to time but mostly in open fireplaces or for a small bonfire, as it burns so fine, but much value as a heat source it´s not :-)
Hi Mike. I recommend pushing your MM pins into the wood parallel to the grain rather than across the grain. I think your readings will be 1 more accurate, and 2 higher by several %.
Here in NH it's red oak, maple and birch. I always buy green wood because the "seasoned" wood never seems to be seasoned just costs more.
This is excellent information!! Been burning and cutting wood for my remote cabin in Southeast Oklahoma for 5 years and this helps so much to make sense of it all.
We here in Crete in greece burn hard wood also.Olive tree cuttings....Nice long burn.....Oaks nice burn.Burned few times not so comon over here....Nice to share your experience......
Hi Mike, I'm new to watching and commenting about your videos. They are entertaining and informative. I have been doing the same kinds of projects and coming up with some similar ideas for about 25 years now. On this video I want to share an idea I came up with on using the meter. If I have a piece of wood I want to check without fresh splitting it, I use my cordless drill to screw 2 wood screws into the center of the piece the same distance apart as the meter spikes and touch the spikes to the screws. This gives you a much different reading than the outside of the woods. Give it a try and maybe pass his on in one of your videos. Keep up the good work.
We have about 10 acres of land not far from Cincinnati, OH. Most of the wood I cut, split, stack, and burn is Ash for obvious reasons. This will change once the remaining Ash trees die. We have lots of tulip poplar, sycamore, and maple. We don't have many oak trees, but the few we have are white oak. Btw, I totally agree with the moisture meter. It's the best way to tell. Also, one other reason for not burning green wood is rust. Burning green wood as you mentioned produces steam. Steam will rust an iron wood burning stove much faster than normal. Keep up the good work!
Great point
Very helpful thanks! Our last load of wood delivered in the summer was supposed to have been seasoned and ready for this winter, but obviously isn't!! I wish I'd have seen your video before!
We live in the French alps and use a mix of wood types in a large room stove. We do use pine, but always mixed with a harder wood at a rate of 5 to 10%. Burning pine only leaves sticky deposits in the chimney which is difficult to remove and is dangerous longer term.
Best detail wood burning video that I have watched. Thanks for sharing.
I'm in Kentucky. For wood stoves that are enclosed and fireplace inserts, the best firewood is the densest. That's Osage Orange. Next is black locust, followed closely by white oak and red oak. Then ash. Cherry is some great-smelling wood but not really up there in density. My personal favorite is red oak. It leaves little ash and burns great. I try and have my firewood cut for fall/winter by Derby Day -- That's the first Saturday in May for you non-Louisvillians. It's plenty dry by heating season.
Great video. If you heat with wood long enough you can just look at a piece of firewood and tell whether it's dry or not. The moisture meter is nice though.
Truth!
Hello Mr. Morgan, DC Allen here in Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. I enjoy your videos, I been burning for 70 years, you got it right, less than 20% burns best. Let us talk Red Oak for instance, Note, it does not mean anything on how long a tree has been dead. A dead standing tree will wick up water as a natural response. One of the few times in nature that water will travel up hill is in a live tree and also in a dead tree. Also note that a cut green tree will take 2 years after cutting, splitting and stacking under a roof to be ready to burn, a dead standing tree will take 1 year after cutting, splitting and stacking under a roof to be ready to burn. Horizontal dead is a different story, that is why you need the moisture meter. Thanks for all your information, I really enjoy your content.
I believe the moisture reader contacts have to be parallel for it to give accurate reading. Great video. Thanks
Another great one Mike. We are spoilt on our place in Aus too with a few major sub species of Gum. There’s hardwood and then there’s HARDwood when it comes to gum. We primarily use Stringy Bark gum which usually in dry enough in about two seasons when split. We also have two species called Yellow Box and Ironbark - both super hard, spend half your life sharpening chains! They burn very hot and don’t burn as quick as the softer. We have some windrows of Yellow Box my father pushed out and stacked with an old D8 in the late 1960s - logs about 20inch diameter that are still green in the centre and rock solid!
cool video. I grew up West Texas. While we don't have alot of trees to choose from (mostly Honey Mesquite, with some Red berry Juniper, Cottonwood, Siberian Elm, Pecan if you can find it), but as dry as it is, wood cures FAST out here.
West Texas here. I burn (estimate) 65% mesquite, 30% post oak, and 5% red oak. Will burn a stick or two of hackberry from time to time. I think what we call red oak is different from your red oak. Really enjoy your videos. I am into the firewood, tractors, trail cams, welding and such.
Hey Mike, Happy Birthday!! I live in south central PA between Carlisle and Gettysburg... burn mostly cherry and maple and some oak from my 5 acres .... I also buy wood locally, and you are right, you have to be careful not to get scammed.
Nice info. Very basic to most but still very helpful to anyone not in the "wood business". Thanks
Hey Mike! Here in No Calif I burn a mix of blue oak, pine, cedar, manzanita and madrone. Works well for us.
My guess on that oak was 18% and when you said 12% I couldn't believe it. I'm glad you split it to show what a difference it makes between the outer wood and the inner wood, even on a small piece.
@@tjhughes7740, I've always had to season red oak two years. Usually it's around 22% after a year.
White oak. Red oak. Sugar maple. Chestnut oak. Pin oak. Cherry. All are good here in Rockingham County Virginia. But absolutely nothing beats a good piece of locust. Burns high slow heat. Little ash. And lasts for years on the pile. Great video
Very helpful man. Thanks for the tips. I️ have a mini forest in my backyard in VA and my neighbor cut some trees down for me about 10 months ago. Planning on building a fire pit to burn it all but didn’t know what to look for when choosing which wood to burn
Up here in MA we burn oak, maple , and birch. When I heated with wood I'd buy it green in early Spring (March). It was usually dried enough to burn well by December. It could be used in October when we usually started burning, but it wouldn't burn real well. I often had enough left over from the previous year to get us started until the new stuff was good-n-ready.
Moisture meter is probably your best bet. The sound, clinking together, maybe. But I got to tell your weight example with different sizes of wood, not a good gauge. Thanks for the video
Great bit of information. I never really thought of checking the moisture content. I don't burn it for my main heat, but I do burn it in a fireplace every once in a while.
I can tell you.. I can cut/split/stack and burn oak same year. Pennsylvania climate is much different from Oregon climate. We hit temperatures up to 105 during the summer. Leave the wood in open sunlight for three/four months at least 90 degree weather and it will be ready for burning. Madrone wood is the same. If you split by wood splitter you can tell when that splitter hits the wood..when it starts pushing and you see water.. well it's wet. Cut/stacked/ dried for seven months. Burns in my mother's house just fine. No hissing from wetness. Very sound advice you gave. We don't burn much pine here because "pitch wood" isn't that good for stoves. Fir/Cedar are the best soft woods to cut.
Excellent video, very informative. I never knew that firewood moisture meters even existed.
This is why the F**k i love youtube, i can literally get information from someone who actually knows what he is talking about! Thank you!
lol
Hey Happy Birthday Mike, in western Michigan we burn Oak, Maple, some apple wood from all the fruit trees in the area. Great video's it becoming a nightly habit to find out what's on your mind each night.
Thanks David
Your presentation is ideal: sophisticated, modest, clever and practical. Always a joy to watch. Happy Birthday!
Thank you Sir
We live in Eastern Washington, in the foothills of the Cascade Range. It's called high desert but only about 1500' elevation. We get about 7" of rainfall yearly yet within 30 minutes we can be in deep forests. We burn mostly red fir and tamarack. Those woods are fairly dense for softwoods and produce a lot of BTU's. We also burn a lot of fruit wood here. We grow apples, pears, cherries, peaches, apricots and plums so there is an abundant supply of those woods as well. The fruit wood lasts longer in a wood stove but leaves a lot more ash. The forest wood burns hotter, cleans the glass doors of the stove but doesn't give the long burn times. Pine was mentioned in the video and we have White Pine which is very soft compared to Southern Yellow Pine. It burns extreemly hot but for a very short time. It would be nice to have access to red fir to mix with my tamarack.
Raleigh here, yup we burn pine in new mexico(gotta clean your chimney a lot) but it’s what we have….piñon smells amazing!!! Awesome channel my man happy b day
Oak here in Ga. One of my best friends i played ball with in college is from western Pa too. South of Pittsburgh in Connelsville.
Happy Birthday Mike!
Thanks
I'm from southern Ontario in Canada. We had the ash bororer so ash trees that are cut down are only able to stay in the township to prevent spread of disease. My adult children have been cutting down dead ash trees from a neighbors woods who wants the dead ones down. They do this on thanksgiving in October, then my neighbor comes with log splitter and this is what I have been burning. It is dry to a point. I order slabs from a local mill to add to it. Some of the trees have been dead for a few years so maybe that's why it seems to be dry. I like your weight test and will try it.
Thanks for the video, Ken. I have a question for anyone to comment on: How long will it take to dry what I believe may be partially seasoned wood using radiant heat from the fireplace, electric range/ stove, and propane heater? I ask because this video has clinched it for us, and we can now unequivocally state that the seasoned ash blend that was delivered is not the fully seasoned wood we were promised.
Backstory if interested: We arrived in NH from NC mid-December 2019 for a 3-month work assignment. After research, we chose a company to deliver a cord of seasoned the seasoned ash blend. For a cheaper price, we could have gotten a cord of mixed, mostly oak, but not fully seasoned.
From the start, it was apparent that we had a problem, but we thought the moisture emanating from our fires was due to its surface getting rain, humidity, etc. exposure. So we put it in the oven at 140F, and so on. But now 2 weeks in we are still burning pretty wet wood.
No trustworthy source is around, and some go will sell us 1/8 a cord of kiln-dried wood for $300. I welcome comments from around the world.
Here in lower Michigan I burn mostly oak, cherry, hickory, and some ash. But most of the ash is dying or dead around here it'll be gone soon. This video just sold me on one of them moisture meters, the wife gets a little cranky when I gotta put some damp wood in the stove, this could save an argument or two for me. Thank you.
Here in weatern CT there's a lot of ash trees dieing right now. Good supply of various hardwoods around me. My property has quite a few Locust trees which I've been taking down past 3 years
Alberta, foothills of the Rockies here about one hour East of Banff at 4400' ASL. I have a wood stove in the basement that will take 30" long logs. I usually go through 2 to 3 cords a year. I burn anything but mostly it is trembling aspen, black poplar, cottonwood, spruce and a bit of pine. I burn any demolition lumber that I get that is not to hard to haul and cut-up. I also burn about 1000 to 2000 lbs of coal per year. I have a friend who heats his shop with a outdoor coal/wood furnace and I get my coal from him. It is dry stoker coal. I used to get chunk coal and that was real nice, before going to bed just throw two or three brick sized lumps on top of your last stoke of wood and good to go. It gives you a nice slow burn at the end of the wood burn.
We burn hardwood in northern Michigan, but I like to burn cedar once in awhile for the smell and crackling fires.
Good instructions, thanks! Eastern PA, variety of oak, apple, cherry, maples, some white pine for fun, ash, hickory, and my personal fav, black locust.
Black locust gets a bad rap! My favorite too but it "likes company" to get going, ours doesn't stink if it's dry, and seems to grow/dry/season faster than most everything else we burn.We live in NYS capital region on 7 acres, heat an old 3300sf house mostly in order of preference with b locust, oak, elm, cherry, apple, red maple. Birch, Norway/silver maple I split up small for kindling. Save the softwood for pulp and paper products...
happy birthday mike and may you have many many more so I can watch your firewood videos.
Up in northern MN, there is not a lot of hardwoods here....basically birch and maple. I burn a ton of poplar (aspen) will burn pine indiscriminately which consists of Norway’s and spruce. An occasional jack pine will also find its way into the fp as well. Now, I typically have to buy about 2-3 cords of red oak just to set up for long burns like at night. Maple works pretty well for this but leaves a ton of ash in the fp. Other than pine is a pain to split, as long as its seasoned, it burns pretty nice. My wife doesn’t like when the pine Beatle larva comes in with the logs and “squeaks” inside the logs while waiting to be burnt. 🙈
Here in Western Nebraska we burn Ash, Elm and Hack berry (my favorite). Cottonwood is plentiful but burns a lot like pine so I try to stay away from it. Love your channel.
Great video. I burn about 1/2 a cord in my workshop in a double barrel stove every year. When buying wood I always ask about how long it's been dried but I'm never completely confident on the responses I get. I need to get me one of those meters.
Hey man just found the channel. Me and my wife just bought old farm house in Oklahoma out of town and last year had a lopi wood stove installed. Funny but I really enjoy taking down dead trees and turning into heat for the house. Mainly elm or maple around here. But not to picky. If someone wants to get rid of a tree i will cut it down for them and haul off. Keep up the vids.
Thanks, I will keep making them
So many folks stack a pile of logs in or near wooded areas, directly on the ground, and not covered. Years later, they wonder if anyone wants this decayed crap. Sun, wind, and a top cover with bottom 2x4's to get it all off the ground are critical.
You are correct in that oak takes 2x as long to season as does most any other hardwood.
Firewood dealers have a lot of dishonest competition, but customers know seasoned quality wood. And they remember who brought it to them. Anything in life worth the doing, is worth doing well.
Very informative, I have a built-in fire pit on my concrete patio and burn to have a little heat and enjoy being outside with the family or friends. I've started buying from local gas stations and now moving on to buying cords of wood and stacking, some of what you mentioned I knew commonly however reassuring and thanks for taking time to make a video to share more information.
Thank you for the information in this video. We are clearing out some dead trees and want to pass the wood along to people who use wood heat. We have never used wood heat so we are nearly clueless.
Glad it was helpful Shelley
Here in Minnesota, I have Red, Pinn and Burr Oak in my wood pile(s). Ash consumes an equal portion as well
Out here in Northern California we do have a lot of soft woods. Fir, cedar, and redwood are probably the most popular. But if you're resourceful or have a 4wd pick up we also have a lot of tan oak and madrone. Madrone is my favorite. It's super hard and it burns really clean. I keep a few cords of fir on hand for a quick fire when it's not too cold and I don't want a fire going all day. But the bulk of my firewood consumption is madrone and oak. As a foot note, you'd never grab another piece of oak or cherry in your life for kindling if you've had the pleasure of splitting old growth redwood. I can grab a stick a quarter inch square and split it strait down the middle with pretty much anything I have on hand. I've used a pocket knife a few times while camping. It burns really quick, though. So I don't like it for actual firewood.
great information. i brought from 2 seperate wood guys and both stated wood was seasoned. However both had too much moister in it. hence wood did not give off many heat btu's. Moisture meter here i come. thanks tom, monkton, md.
We grow and cut Eucalyptus Nitens, Acacia Dealbata and Pinus Radiata here in central NZ, & I use the "lip test" to get a moisture indication. (Touching a piece of firewood to the lips; if it’s cold, it’s still too moist).
Happy Birthday Mike. I don't burn pine in WV either. It puts out a good fire!
SW NM Pine, Douglas Fir, and Oak. Usually have four cords in various states of drying from freshly split to 2 yrs dried.
Almost all white ash here in rural Ontario. I have 500+ harvestable ash trees and no ash borer here yet.(knock on wood). Good info
Western Iowa here - Love burning Red Elm when possible. Much is standing dead that has been killed from Dutch Elm's Disease. Some Ash and Locust as well. Also spoiled with many hardwoods in the Midwest. Happy Birthday. New subscriber, really enjoying the videos!
Thank you!
Hey Mike, a fellow Pennsylvanian. If I buy wood I around here I'll usually get a good hard wood. Oak isn't hard to find over here. If I can get it for free, I'll throw anything in the stove I can find except fore pine. ( I will of course use good dry pine for kindling.)
Great info. Thanks. I cut and stack my own, but still some of it is not as dry as I think. Buying a moisture meter this week.
Nice video Morgan. as You say, Your are privileged to have all that fine hard wood. In Sweden we burn beech, oak and birches. Some time pine, most in the summer for a quick tank of hot water. As a rule oak must rest in the stack for 3 years, beech and birch, we burn after cutting in wintertime, the next autum. That will say, that we have cut spilt and stacked as latest at Easter time. That will give a watercontent of 9 to 12%
Burning oak is limited to the branches, as the price of the stem is 8 to 10 times higher, than if processed as firewood. You should only use up to 15 % oak due to the acid content in the smoke, that will effekt on Your chimney in a bad way
And old farmer taught me a speed way to process firewood. Take down a tree, and leave it in the forrest with branches and leaves on for 6-7 weeks. Then You can split it and start using it in september. That goes for beech and birch, but not oak of course.
I'm on year #28 of heating with only firewood...Here in the Willamette valley of Oregon we have a great mix of hardwoods as well as a variety of conifers...White oak, big leaf Maple, ash, cherry, walnut are the main hardwoods....I burn little pine, but really like Doug Fir ...burns pretty hot with very little ash...splits clean if clear grain, and dries nice and fast....The White oak is the densest but the hardest to split and takes the longest to dry....I'm set up with this years and next years dividers in my storage lean too, so, I'm always burning well seasoned wood!...At age 65, I feel like I'm good for a while yet, but maybe a ductless heat pump might be in my distant future!
You will miss cutting wood, you know it and I know it lol
Hi Mike!
There is another great way to check out, if the logs are dry enough: You take a 12 inch log and drop some dish soap on the cut surface. Then you blow through the timber on the other cut surface. When the log is dry the dish soap transforms into bubbles and foam!
Greetings from Bavaria, Germany!
Tobi
That is very funny
Not funny at all! Works! Just tried this was amazed!!
Good video, Thanks for taking the time to do this one. But out here in the Ozark Mountains (Northwest Arkansas) the better firewood sellers and the Stove and fireplace insert dealers always say "The wood needs to be at 15% or less", why the difference in moisture content?
We in Alberta Canada have a variety of woods, mostly Aspen, Pine, Spruce, some Tamara k, Cottonwood, WILLOW, BIRCH,
I've read that for the most accurate reading on your moisture meter, in addition to splitting the wood to expose the inside, is to align the pins on your moisture meter parallel to the grain and not perpendicular.
makes very little difference, try it yourself.
Just saw this firewood {about dryness} video . Thank you ... very educational . *** Would also like to know about your UTV ... make , model , and how you like it . Thanks again .
Hey Mike, another very informative video! You're right about the moisture meter: I bought one last year and it's worked extremely well. I burn a combination of white oak and yellow pine here in Northeastern North Carolina. And the pine isn't as bad as you might think, as long as it has dried thoroughly. My pine seasons for at least three years before burning. It burns hot with little creosote build-up. The only drawback is that it burns quickly. I wish I had ash and hickory on my property as I need to make some tool handles -- haha! Have a very happy birthday!
I agree the pine isn't bad at all, it's just been beat in our heads here that you don't burn pine lol
@@OutdoorsWithTheMorgans
Exactly what i was searching for as My Son has started burning Firewood…
I’ve been burning it all my Days!
Upstate SC for Locational Purpose 🤷♂️
Pine has also been Preached to me as a No No for Firewood 🤔
I’ve found it’s Fine…
As Long as it’s Fully Cured!!!
Also Cut it in the Winter for the next year is Great as the Sap is Down in the Roots and You Don’t get it All Over Everything 😊
This Also speeds up the Curing Process.
Great Video!!!
Watching others You Folks Have Some Beautiful Property!!!
Just Subscribed and look forward to Seeing More of The Woods Up North👍
Hey Mike, I understand your comment about "wood snobs" but sometimes you just gotta burn what you got. I am in southern Vermont and I burn anything I can get my hands on in an outdoor wood gasification furnace. I cut, split and stack it in a wood shed like I was going to burn it indoors, so it produces a lot of heat without a lot of waste. I do burn pine, both red and white, but the problem with softwoods is that you do not get a good bed of coals. I have over 20 different species and varieties in my wood shed at any given time. Favorites here are black and yellow birch, beech, ash and cherry.
In a perfect world you will be able to get perfectly dried wood, perfectly cut, perfectly stacked. But yeah, life isn't perfect and sometimes you will have to make the best of a non ideal situation. I spent a winter with one of my friends who had just purchased a place out in the woods and we had to use freshly cut green wood to stay warm the whole time, the next year he had some year old dry wood though =)
Southern Louisiana here, just north of New Orleans. If I'm having trouble starting a fire, like is my hardwood isn't seasoned properly, or is wet, I MIGHT burn some yellow pine over oak kindling, but only to get it started. Never more than just a few small logs.
Other than that, we burn white oak, red swamp oak, maple, hickory and pecan. ;) Thanks for the tips, man. Had a guy deliver "seasoned" firewood back in Dec and although I suspected it might not have been, I was too excited and uh..... tipsy to care too much. Ah well. Lesson learned.
Great information nothing like trying to get a hot fire going with wet wood!!👊
Nice video and good advice, thank you.
I'm in the northwest of England and I mostly burn Ash but I also burn Cherry & Beech. Beech burns well even if not fully dry, maybe a little too fast if well seasoned.
We have a tree local to us called a Manchester Poplar and it's almost flameproof - no point in even attempting to season it - best left of the floor to rot and feed the bugs & critters.
Great topic, alot of people in my area Wv. Have outdoor wood boilers yes including me, they are great. But im pretty sure we all burn green firewood. This is probably why these stoves got so many complaints about smoke im not sure? Again another great video, and happy birthday!
A very belated Happy Birthday! Lol. Mostly burn Maple and Oak here in Ontario, however i have burned Pine in the past. Hydro company had cut down a few trees at my property edge so i took advantage of some free fuel. I let it dry for a good three years before i used it, and only used it to start or restart fires as it burns fast and hot. Great job on the video as usual.
One of the most useful! videos I've seen in the last time on youtube, well done.
I'm in upstate NY and we burned pine 1st thing in the morning just to take a chill off the camp and let the fire go out as the day warmed up. Pine also smells good if you throw some needles in with it. Be sure to run the chimney hot with hardwood, the draft open, to clear the creosote before checking it down. Burch smells like skunk pee! Apple cracks and pops a lot. Nice to listen to in a wood stove - not good for open hearth fireplaces without glass enclosure.
Skunk pee lol,
We do firewood out here in Colorado. We burn several species of pine, spruce, fir and even narrowleaf cottonwood. When cut green and split, it actually dries to around 20% moisture or less in under six weeks. We have very low humidity here. You are correct that burning green wood will tend to cause creosote to build up in a chimney, so keeping a hot fire going is more important than the species of wood. The main difference is the number of BTUs per ton that is available in the species of wood. I actually prefer cottonwood for starting a fire, then putting in pine or spruce in once the fire is established. Some 'wood snobs' as you mentioned, prefer aspen wood, because it looks pretty in the wood box, but it produces less heat per ton than other species. Wood sells for $130 to $225 per cord delivered in this area, except for Cross Timbers red oak, which goes for upwards of $450 to $550 per cord because it has to be hauled from out of state. Firewood is a tough business to be in, especially when the loggers can't get into the mountains most of the winter even with millions of trees standing dead due to pine bark beetle infestation.
Great information, thanks. I like hearing about other parts of the Country
In Scotland I tend to burn Ash, Oak or Beech - cant go wrong with any of those. I bang 2 pieces of 12" wood together, if it thuds leave, if it tings, burn it.
Super simple and works.
Oh my to have access to oak and cherry - heavenly. In southern Alberta it’s poplar, spruce and fir there are no hardwoods. Here’s what I do. Most of the wood I get green when I split ant stack it. I’ll pick a random selection of pieces throughout then pile and weigh them with a digital kitchen scale (accurate to 1 gm.) and write the weight of then end of the piece with a felt marker so it’s easily visible. I check the weights every 3-4 months and when the pieces are 40-50% of their original weight they’re ready. My moisture meter usually confirms they at 10-12%, but I fine the scale easier. After doing this for 10 years, now I can just pick a piece up and tell where it’s at within 2-3% - close enough for me.
Cheers Jeff, Calgary.
Great video Mike, and it's important to impress upon folks the value of burning DRY wood. I'm in Northern AZ and have access to lots of Ponderosa Pine, but also burn Alligator Juniper (still a softwood but harder than pine, smells like cedar) and 2 types of oaks: White Oak and Emory Oak. Would love to see a pic of your stove!
I live in central Wisconsin and we have Jack Pine or Lodge pole Pine which has less pitch in it than other pines. if you dry it it is good to burn. I use it in the fall or in the day when I am available to stoke more often. if you cure it it will not clog up your chimney but i do clean mine regularly and I have a stainless triple lined chimney. Not sure it is recommended for brick chimneys. White pine has a lot of pitch or tar in it, i do not recommend burning it. We also have a lot of oak much of it is scrub oak but also some pin oak or other kinds of oak. Oak is the best we have here, we also have a little cherry- a wild cherry. it is soft and burns about the same BTUs as the jack pine- may even be lighter than jack pine. i like handling the jack pine and it is fairly easy to cut and split- nobody values it a lot and it is easy to get but it burns good. I recommend cutting it before the sap runs in spring so you get a head start on it drying. Jack pine dries fairly fast if you do that, may be able to burn in fall. No matter what you burn i recommend sweeping the chimney every fall.
NB Canada. My wife and I burn maple, birch and poplar (we burn poplar to get rid of it off our acerage because it is a hazard and the beavers love it and we don't like the beavers). In my opinion the poplar stinks when it burns but we have almost got it all burnt. We season the wood for at least two summers. Happy birthday. Don
Thanks Don