Bringin' up da Wood

[Magicman]

 

I wheelbarrowed up a couple more loads this afternoon 'cause you Glaciated Guys have me sorta worried.   
It's 52° now but the forecaster gal is saying 14° at 7:00 tomorrow morning.  Yikes !!! 

[barbender]

I put in for some of that fresh Northern Air to make a visit  down your way, Magic. I hated to see all of the work you put into that firewood pile and never get to fully appreciate it!😊

[Andries]

Now, just to be clear, when BB orders up the fresh air, he's ordering from a "Made in the USA" map.
 
That's your own National Weather Service and they are bright guys that know what they're up to. Those of us North of the Line of Invisibility had nutthin' to do with your harsh weather. 
The map clearly shows we have NO weather up here.

[barbender]

 Oh Andries, when I order up a big blast I ask for it to come right from the NWT and Yukon Territory. We have differences between our two great nations, but I have to hand it to Canada on making cold air. In fact, I get all of mine from there😁

 You guys send me a lot of smoke in the summer and fall, too😊

 

[Magicman]

We are forecast to be below freezing for the next 60 hours which will be an all time record.  It dropped 42 degrees in 12 hours which is amazing/unbelievable to me. 

We have not been this cold in over 30 years.  I have not seen the 14° that was forecast but I am looking at 16°.  

[SwampDonkey]

Well was 19F here earlier, but going to be 45F with rain here later. Wind is kicking it up now, but I don't think we are going to get the sever wind, might get 30 mph at most. Time will tell.

[Machinebuilder]

At Midnight it was still about 42, at 7:30AM it was 13, now at 8:30 its 11.

I had a little bit of white stuff on my deck, not the 1" predicted.

My Sister near Nashville had -1 and about 1" of snow this morning.

[Al_Smith]

It was 41 above yesterday afternoon .At 8:30 this morning 8 below with 2" of snow .At these temps the insert has an appetite ,feed me ,feed me .
Now this cold weather stuff I have to admit with oxygen rich air the saws do run good .Problem is the sawyer doesn't .In a short while I'll have to spend 15 minutes loading up the inside fire box and that's about all of that I want .

[SwampDonkey]

 I use up the dry wood under the porch first, so I load up the wheel barrel and wheel it in beside the stove. Still 3 cord out there, and 5 inside, 10 feet from the stove. If I run out, which ain't likely, there's 8 more in waiting about 3 steps past the porch.

[Al_Smith]

I'm slowly getting it done .With the wind chill factor it's 33 below .This reminds me of the 1960's .It's only a short walk to get to it but I broke out the Carhart arctic for this job .Carry in two bundles then thaw out .It's just plain cold .

[cutterboy]

Yes, keep the wood close by. I've got 2 cord in the basement for the big wood stove. That will last till mid-late February. There is a full wood box in the garage for the kitchen stove, about a weeks worth. Then in the barn about 5 cord of dry wood which will be more than enough for the rest of the year.

[Magicman]

I am looking at 16° again this morning and the Red Oak is doing just fine!!  :D

[JD Guy]

Burning well seasoned white oak and the Jotul is liking it😁

[Al_Smith]

What a difference a day makes .Yesterday it was 8 below with a chill factor of 33 below .This morning it was  zero with minus 22 chill . I still have to go outside to fetch the wood .

[Spike60]

Red and White oak, eh? Got both out in the woodshed, along with some hickory. I really need to ditch my "burn it in order" attitude and grab some of that instead of the marginal maple I'm using now. Wanted to finish up the log pile to make room for the next load, and this stuff on the bottom was already what we'd call "past it's prime", so I wanted to use it up. But in these temps that can wait til later in the season. Today, I'm startin on the good stuff.

[Ventryjr]

Well it seems the worst of the blizzard has passed my portion of the country.   Time to start moving snow.  Maybe make it over to my parents for Christmas dinner.   Had to shovel off my covered wood pile twice yesterday to get to firewood.   House dropped down to 55f  over night with -2f outside and 60mph winds.  Stay safe and warm friends.  Merry Christmas.  

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

Im following your lead Spike60! Was trying to burn up some older stuff but with 10* mornings we are sitting next to a stove full of the good stuff! I had a couple trees come down in the wind but they are gonna have to wait. They will be better in next years cold anyway. Merry Christmas and stay warm all

[Al_Smith]

Oak while high BTU can be fickle .Red oak left in the rounds will eventually degrade .White oak which is more rot proof will hold moisture in the rounds ..
I've got about 3 cords of white oak that had laid in rounds for 8 10 years .It's all solid but this year does not burn very well .Next year that will all change .Green cut white oak might take a couple of years to dry out  .Even with that it's still heavy .

[Andries]

Finding the same here Al.
Cut, split and stacked for two summers before using.
 
This is bur oak which is in the white oak family. 
It can be blocked up and stacked for two years, and it doesn't burn worth a hoot. 
However, when split and dried, it's the very best firewood.

[barbender]

 In my experience, bur oak and red oak do not dry without being split, period. One exception, sometimes I've got into smaller diameter dead standing red oak where the bark fell off of it, and that dried out well.  

[beenthere]

I learned over the years that red oak and white oak need 3 years after splitting to dry for good burning. 
If 2 years, could tell the difference in the heat from the wood boiler. Ash was just one to two years and produced good heat. 

[newoodguy78]

It does seem oak is way better for those that plan way ahead. I've never had much luck burning oak unless it was cut and split for at least 2 years or more. Leaving it log length it seems like it gets wetter as it sits around. 

[Andries]

As benefit, but a critical one, is that bone dry firewood doesn't tar up my chimney with creosote. We're not fans of the chimney fire 'rocket lift-off' events.
When the chimney brush gets sent up the pipe, there's only a shot glass of ash that follows it back down.
Yeah, I know, it's a weird way to measure creosote. . . 

[KEC]

I have a bunch of dry hickory and much of it debarked. I have found it to have lots of BTUs but not the best for nightime fires as it checked and cracked so much. The fire gets in those cracks and eats it up fast. Better at night to load with large rounds of other good hardwood that are not full of cracks. I have lots of space in the basement where the stove is and try to get wood in by the heat to wring out that last moisture for a bit before burning it. Should have built a woodshed years ago.

[Magicman]

I avoid anything other than Red Oak because of the ashes that are left after burning.