More firewood than I know what to do with!

[Uzi2]

Along with the wood chips that the utility contracted tree company delivers, usually comes several trunk cuts and larger limb cuts. All that gets piled off in a corner of my working area and I use it periodically for campfire wood.
Two weeks ago we had some breif high winds here that blew down a huge oak at my neighbor's place. He gave me all that wood and also had the tree next to it taken down and gave me that also. So I've been blocking up and splitting and palletizing red oak firewood for the last several days. Nine pallets later, I still have a bunch in piles, logs that need to be blocked up and a whole 6x10 dump trailer full of logs and 6 nice straight ones that I'm considering having milled or selling to the mill down the road. Red oak brings $1 a board foot at the mill in log form. I've probably got $350-$400 in the logs I set aside.
Firewood is almost too cheap to sell around here and if you put an ad on craigslist to come pick it up......they won't.

So, I'm in the position of having 6 years + of hardwood firewood on hand....nice position to be in

 

[VTHunter]

If it is stacked out in the open, it may be 'punky' in a couple of years. Under cover will be your best bet. Regardless, agreed - you are fortunate.

 

[Uzi2]

If it is stacked out in the open, it may be 'punky' in a couple of years. Under cover will be your best bet. Regardless, agreed - you are fortunate.

All the good stuff is (or will be) under cover. I get the tarps that Lowes gets on their lumber for free and double those up and use a hammer type stapler to staple them good over the stacks, bringing the tarp down about one foot on the sides and leaving the stack open to the wind for drying. I build up the center to a slight peak to shed the rain/snow. Everything is off the ground when stacked with good air flow under it.

I also have a wood shed that holds about 6-7 cords depending on how high its stacked. It gets full sun on the open front until noon all year and a prevailing west breeze all day. The stuff stacked in it is very dry and that is what I rotate out of.
The stuff I get with the chip loads will be stacked and covered the end of summer.

It feels good to heat just for the labor involved and a few bucks in fuel and oil for saws, splitter and tractor. I don't miss $700 fuel oil bills in winter. Here in Kentucky the winters are not as cold or long so the wood goes a long way.

 

[mousegunguy]

I’m happy if I’m more than a year ahead.

 

[mu2bdriver]

I tell my wife that when I scavenge wood it’s like picking $100 bills up on the street. She doesn’t get it but the house is warm in winter.

 

[TLB]

This thread needs pics.

 

[Uzi2]

I’m happy if I’m more than a year ahead.

Me too, but somtimes "when it rains, it pours". I never expected to be this far ahead of it.

I can always contact a local pastor or two and see if there is an old farmer or elderly couple in their congregation needing some.

 

[Uzi2]

This thread needs pics.

I'll try and post some tomorrow afternoon. Have to go help an elderly family member move in the morning. Thankfully there will be about 7-8 other family members there and we are only going a few doors down the street(elderly apts.)

 

[KBCraig]

IN

oh. wait. This wasn't a karma thread???

 

[mwalsh9152]

I tell my wife that when I scavenge wood it’s like picking $100 bills up on the street. She doesn’t get it but the house is warm in winter.

My wife totally gets it. She might complain a bit when I will leave early and be gone most of the day occasionally if I'm scrounging some firewood, but she likes how warm the house can be with the stove running, and me not bitching like Hitler in that overused subtitle video every time the door is opened.

 

[Uzi2]

My wife totally gets it. She might complain a bit when I will leave early and be gone most of the day occasionally if I'm scrounging some firewood, but she likes how warm the house can be with the stove running, and me not bitching like Hitler in that overused subtitle video every time the door is opened.

Agree, nothing like wood heat. I keep a window open near the stove both for make up air and temperature moderation.

 

[mu2bdriver]

My wife totally gets it. She might complain a bit when I will leave early and be gone most of the day occasionally if I'm scrounging some firewood, but she likes how warm the house can be with the stove running, and me not bitching like Hitler in that overused subtitle video every time the door is opened.

You’re fortunate. I have about four cords of logs waiting to be split sitting back in the driveway. I’m just waiting until the humidity breaks but I hear about it almost daily.

 

[mwalsh9152]

You’re fortunate. I have about four cords of logs waiting to be split sitting back in the driveway. I’m just waiting until the humidity breaks but I hear about it almost daily.

I did all of my.splitting so far this year before the humidity came, aside from a few loads I got from Golddiggies house last month, which wasn't too bad weather wise.

My wife has been helping with the stacking this year. The first three cords out in the front yard because she wanted to make sure they were perfect lol. Then she is helping me with the rest once the humidity breaks because I trashed my shoulder recently.

 

[Uzi2]

I did all of my.splitting so far this year before the humidity came, aside from a few loads I got from Golddiggies house last month, which wasn't too bad weather wise.

My wife has been helping with the stacking this year. The first three cords out in the front yard because she wanted to make sure they were perfect lol. Then she is helping me with the rest once the humidity breaks because I trashed my shoulder recently.

Sorry to hear about your shoulder, I know the feeling. I've over worked both of mine at times and needed to lay off the heavy stuff for a while.
My wife helps me stack sometimes when we are filling up the wood shed and she is usually the lever controller on the splitter but I mostly work alone doing the blocking up and palletizing. I just got in from blocking up the load of logs that was in my dump trailer. I wanted to get the weight out of it to preserve the tire shape. It went quick using a freshly sharpened chain.
Using the fork attachment on the tractor to fluff up the logs makes it easier to block them up when they are a bit more random in the pile.
I don't really like doing the wood in the summer heat but I can't control the timing of the incoming stuff. I just do it as it comes amd try to stay up or ahead of it. I try to work in the mornings or evenings when the sun is low and there is some shade in the work area.
Will take the ipad to the area this evening and get some pics to post. My neighbor called me yesterday and said there are six maple and a couple of poplar trees that broke off about six or eight feet up the trunk and told me I'm welcome to them.
Just what I need!

 

[Uzi2]

A few pics of the work in progress along with the woodchip compost piles. I keep separate piles in various stages.

 

[enbloc]

Ever thought of making lump charcoal out of a small portion of it?

 

[Uzi2]

Ever thought of making lump charcoal out of a small portion of it?

Nah, that would require a large vessel and a bunch of wood to cook it, and a pile of clean sand to bury it in to cool.

Besides, I don't use coal or charcoal for heat or cooking. Lump anthracite coal is available around here fairly cheap and Kingsford Charcoal where they make it is not too far away. I could load a trailer of it up for a reasonable price all ready to use. Kingsford contracts with some of the pallet mills around for their scrap and sawdust but when that contract is fulfilled, the mills sell for firewood.
If I were to make charcoal for pyro purposes I'd use willow or maple.

 

[Boris]

you just need a bigger woodstove, I'd have no problem going through that in a season, easy.

 

[Uzi2]

you just need a bigger woodstove, I'd have no problem going through that in a season, easy.

I've got the place well insulated and winters are a bit milder here, and shorter. I burn 3 cord in a very cold winter, 2 cord in an average winter maybe a little less.

Some people around with poorly insulated homes and outside boilers will burn up to 10 cord a winter here. Not my idea of efficient heating.

I stop burning about the end of Feb and maybe a fire or two after that if it gets a little cold.

 

[enbloc]

Nah, that would require a large vessel and a bunch of wood to cook it, and a pile of clean sand to bury it in to cool.

Besides, I don't use coal or charcoal for heat or cooking. Lump anthracite coal is available around here fairly cheap and Kingsford Charcoal where they make it is not too far away. I could load a trailer of it up for a reasonable price all ready to use. Kingsford contracts with some of the pallet mills around for their scrap and sawdust but when that contract is fulfilled, the mills sell for firewood.
If I were to make charcoal for pyro purposes I'd use willow or maple.

I see your point, but remember the right charcoal from the right wood, ground the right way in the right ball-mill,
mixing with just 2 other right ingredients can be a prepper's dream when other components "dry up"...

Great for .45 Colt and .45-70...

 

[Uzi2]

I see your point, but remember the right charcoal from the right wood, ground the right way in the right ball-mill,
mixing with just 2 other right ingredients can be a prepper's dream when other components "dry up"...

Great for .45 Colt and .45-70...

Got that issue well covered, thank you for the mention.

 

[Boris]

I've got the place well insulated and winters are a bit milder here, and shorter. I burn 3 cord in a very cold winter, 2 cord in an average winter maybe a little less.

Some people around with poorly insulated homes and outside boilers will burn up to 10 cord a winter here. Not my idea of efficient heating.

I stop burning about the end of Feb and maybe a fire or two after that if it gets a little cold.

lol, we are burning well into April, but we keep house at 80+ in the winter ... wife demands it.

 

[Uzi2]

lol, we are burning well into April, but we keep house at 80+ in the winter ... wife demands it.

80+ would be way too hot for me. I like 70 maybe 72 max.

 

[Uzi2]

Received 6 more truck loads of wood chips today, three nice clean loads of pine chips and needles( makes great mulch for blueberry bushes) and three mixed loads of oak and maple. Also got two more trailer loads of oak from my neighbor the other day. Another neighbor who is a logger by profession finally removed the two huge oak trunks from neighbor's yard. These trunks were so heavy, he burst a line on his huge Case loader trying to lift one of them. He finally dragged it up onto a lowboy trailer.

Had to select another chip dumping spot, the other is getting a bit crowded until I finish processing the firewood. Been raining here daily for a few days so its time to turn the piles again and mix in some new green matter to keep them hot.

 

[garandman]

We have Ash, Birch, Maple and some Red Oak. I set it aside to stoke the stove overnight. Wish I had more!

 

[Uzi2]

We have Ash, Birch, Maple and some Red Oak. I set it aside to stoke the stove overnight. Wish I had more!

All good stuff!

Got red oak, cherry, maple, beech, hickory, poplar, some pine and cedar pieces that comes in with the chips along with a couple of other smooth tight grained hardwoods that I've not identified yet, maybe elm or dogwood.
The cedar and pine I use for outside campfires. Its getting cool enough in the evenings now to enjoy a fire.....and a beverage or two....or three!