Firewood candidates

[Wlmedley]

Scoping out my woods for trees that will never make good saw logs that I can cut down for firewood.Up until this point I have always had plenty of logs either because I was clearing out a section or had trees that had died or uprooted.Question is this white oak had grown in two sections.One section died and I cut it off and cut into firewood.Do you think the other section will continue growing or should I go ahead and take whole tree down?

 

[Ron Wenrich]

There are 2 reasons for trees to grow in such close proximity.  One would be from 2 separate acorns.  The other is from stump sprouts from a tree that had been cut years ago.

One thing that is certain is that the current white oak won't be a veneer candidate.  Even a decent sawlog would be questionable, since you'll probably lose the first 3 ft.  There is also the question of whether the rotting of the cut stump will effect the live tree.

If I was marking timber for harvest, this tree would go.  It isn't a good crop tree candidate.  However, from a sawyer's standpoint, there looks to be some lumber from the live tree above the old stump.  Depending on your markets, it may be worthwhile to put through the mill instead of firewood. 

[Wlmedley]

Thanks Ron,I may cut some 4"x4"s out of the centers but around here it's worth more for firewood than lumber as I have quite a bit of white oak sheeting and no one willing to pay any more for it than they would poplar.Could take some 4"x4"s or 6"x6"s out of the center and still end up with quite a bit of firewood.

[stavebuyer]

One log isn't worth the bother, but there are several companies running the roads in West Va looking for stave logs.

[Ron Wenrich]

Is that stave quality?  The stave market dried up in my area about 40 yrs ago.

[Wlmedley]

About 4 years ago I clear cut about 2 acres for a house seat.Had quite a bit of good white oak an some big straight poplar.Had a young fellow that did a little logging come look at it and we marked all the good trees. I cut everything else and saved hardwood for firewood and burnt the rest.He helped cut the white oak and poplar and knew what lengths to make them.He hauled the logs to the log yard and we split the money.Total sale was $4000 so I got $2000.He brought me all the tickets plus I trusted him.If I hadn't been overwhelmed with firewood from cutting up small stuff and culls I would have been ahead to cut all the white oak into firewood and just hauled in the poplar to keep it from going to waste. I plan to leave all the good trees I have left to future generations.Worth more to me just to have them to look at.