Fireplaces & Firewood

[Hogpatrol]

Oak is good firewood, just be sure it's dry. Takes about 2.5 years in this area for oak to get to 20% moisture.

If you can find black locust, that will give you a hot and long burn. Locust is better than oak in my opinion. Dries faster and has good BTUs, but Im burning for warmth, not just atmosphere.

Here in east coast humidity land, I've had some species of stacked oak rot in two years. It's used when I see open cracks in the end. On the other hand, it takes a couple years for locust, osage and other tight grains to dry. Probably could space it out longer but our system is swept every year.
Have the stove running today.

 

[HankBuck]

Here in east coast humidity land, I've had some species of stacked oak rot in two years. It's used when I see open cracks in the end. On the other hand, it takes a couple years for locust, osage and other tight grains to dry. Probably could space it out longer but our system is swept every year.
Have the stove running today.

@Hogpatrol - being formerly from NJ we also had humidity, any firewood stacked and left out in the open (as You pointed out) would start to rot in 2-3 years ….BUT Not if you covered the wood w/a tarp and left part of the sides open. I always kept my wood neatly stacked in wood cribs that held one full Face Cord each, my wood was Split into large thick 20”-24” lengths - a heavy duty tarp on top and about 1/2 way down the sides….plenty of air flow and wood was dry and lasted well over 5-6 years (might last 10 years but I always burned it before then). I actually prefer firewood that is Not completely dried out and found even split hardwoods seasoned much longer then two years burned very quickly. Wood seasoned 12 months to 2 years seems to be a good combination of Hot Heat combined with reasonably slow burn. There is Nothing better then heating with a Wood Stove and nothing “Nicer” then watching a fire in a Big hearth Fireplace —- ours was 48” wide and 36” tall, we sometimes burned 3 foot 12” diameter logs…threw out a lot of heat but also could burn a cord of wood in a week. The small wood stove at our cabin was less “spectacular” but much more efficient !

 

[Altitude sickness]

Locust is just an ok wood for making Self bows.

IMHO . In the U.S., Osage is the King of bow woods. English Yew is second and Pacific Yew is third. I’ve made bows from Mulberry, Locust, bamboo backed cherry, yew, on and on.

A bow can be made from any wood but It just needs a different design, lesser woods need longer and wider limbs. And they are still not as efficient as Osage or Yew.

Left is pacific yew. Bamboo over cherry. Then static tip rawhide backed Osage

Sturgeon backed Cherry. Snake backed osage.

 

[HankBuck]

Locust is just an ok wood for making Self bows.

IMHO . In the U.S., Osage is the King of bow woods. English Yew is second and Pacific Yew is third. I’ve made bows from Mulberry, Locust, bamboo backed cherry, yew, on and on.

A bow can be made from any wood but It just needs a different design, lesser woods need longer and wider limbs. And they are still not as efficient as Osage or Yew.View attachment 729733

Left is pacific yew. Bamboo over cherry. Then static tip rawhide backed Osage
View attachment 729734

Sturgeon backed Cherry. Snake backed osage.
View attachment 729736
View attachment 729737

@Altitude sickness - very nice photos of traditional bow—- even Howard Hill would be pleased

 

[Jefferry404]

Here is my stash today.
Started out as 4 cords, mixture of oak, pine and hairy cedar. aspen from our forest

 

[Alistair]

Well, seems my question was well timed.

9" of snow last night, and down into the teens tonight.

Did I mention how much I hate winter?

 

[Altitude sickness]

Spilt in the shed is oak, locust, maple, cottonwood. And the same species of logs waiting for room in the shed

 

[Betterinthebush]

I will not miss burning wood to stay warm. Ever. This thread represents the closest I will ever want to get near a pile of wood for the rest of my life. Good on all of you.

 

[HankBuck]

I will not miss burning wood to stay warm. Ever. This thread represents the closest I will ever want to get near a pile of wood for the rest of my life. Good on all of you.

@Betterinthebush - spoken like a Man that has “HAD TO” burn wood and remembers all the WORK involved. I only had to heat one cabin by wood stove and that was weekends or a few weeks at a time — even that “became” work. Still, I remember it with fondness BUT there was work involved and by February in Up State NY —- it got “old”.

 

[mdwest]

Yep… huge difference in wanting to have some wood heat vs having to have wood heat…

I love our wood burning fire place.. I won’t live in a house without one… I truly enjoy the sound, smell, and the ambiance of burning a fire… and I enjoy the cutting and collecting of wood as I make improvements to my hunting property I tend to kill two birds with one stone and will bring home any wood from trees we drop that make good firewood…

It also helps that I’ve got a couple of excellent chainsaws and the guy I primarily hunt with has a gas fired hydraulic splitter…

My days of swinging an axe for a couple of hours every day for a week to split wood are over lol…

 

[CJW]

Osage orange is the only species down your way that I would seek out specifically if you want more BTU's. Might take some doing unless you know anybody rural. It would be difficult or impossible to come by up here, but we burned it when I lived in Illinois. It was easy to pick out of the mixed wood pile and only ONE small to medium sized piece went into the case iron stove at a time. Rarely needed more after that.

Otherwise, oak, maple, birch, etc or whatever hardwood mix you can find. Buy a full cord if you have the room, burn it everyday and see what's left come April. Having some soft wood like aspen or clean pine around to get a fire going is nice as well.

If it makes you feel better, my sister lives about 5 hours north of you and got almost 30" on Wednesday. Lost power for the better part of 4 days. We only have about 4" here.

 

[Alistair]

Osage orange is the only species down your way that I would seek out specifically if you want more BTU's. Might take some doing unless you know anybody rural. It would be difficult or impossible to come by up here, but we burned it when I lived in Illinois. It was easy to pick out of the mixed wood pile and only ONE small to medium sized piece went into the case iron stove at a time. Rarely needed more after that.

Otherwise, oak, maple, birch, etc or whatever hardwood mix you can find. Buy a full cord if you have the room, burn it everyday and see what's left come April. Having some soft wood like aspen or clean pine around to get a fire going is nice as well.

If it makes you feel better, my sister lives about 5 hours north of you and got almost 30" on Wednesday. Lost power for the better part of 4 days. We only have about 4" here.

30" huh? That does make me feel better to be honest!

I've been holding out on buying a snow blower because I'm cheap, and frankly, the amount of pavement and paths I need to clear is perfectly doable with a shovel, but I forgot just how much I despise the task and how hard work it is. Even 9" was an hour of misery out in the freezing cold this morning, I can't imagine trying to deal with 3x that.

Maybe this is the year I cave. Father, I must confess that I envy my neighbour's Honda...

Anyhow, 1 cord of oak ordered and scheduled for delivery on weds, so stacking that'll keep me entertained for a few hours after work, and then I'll be set!

 

[Keelebilly]

Hickory and Hackberry are my favorite in Tennessee. Make sure to stack it off the ground or the bottom stack will rot pretty quickly

 

[Safari Dave]

I'm fortunate, in that I never have to buy, or even cut down trees for firewood.

Like the OP, we use our fireplace mostly for aesthetics, but it nice to have when the power goes off and we need to keep warm.

I have about 16 acres of mostly hardwoods (red & white oak, primarily), as well as some pine, poplar, and sweetgum.

IMO, you need a cord of wood stored in a dry area, to what you want to do.


In 2023, we had a windstorm that blew down several of our big oaks.

A friend and I cut and split 2 large red oaks (we share a wood splitter).



If you get to it pretty quickly, split interior wood without bark. I has no insects and can be kept inside for a long time with no problem. (I have some stored in my basement, garage, and front porch).

If conditions are dry, I use what's stored outside first, then always work from worst until first as I need firewood.

I live in a "low priority" area when it comes to electrical restoration.

I don't consider myself a "prepper," but being where I live for 23 years has taught me to have several sources for backup heat.

1 - Normal HVAC (heat pumps first, then emergency LP gas)
2 - LP gas (plumbed) - I only have one non-vented space heater in my basement, w/o a pilot light (might as well have basement full of black mambas!)
3 - Wood fireplace
4 - LP gas portable heaters (bottles)
5 - Kerosine space heaters
6 - Electric space heaters powered by gasoline generators (very wasteful, but, sometimes, you do what you have to do)
7 - Cold weather camping gear

I also have a camper parked outside, so I'm good for a few days with a charged 12V battery and two- 20 pound propane cylinders. (It will have been "winterized" at this point, so I won't have water).

 

[farmer_john]

Hello chaps.

Winter is well and truly upon us here in WI, so my mind has turned to firewood.

My fireplace is mostly an aesthetic thing. I like the appearance, the smell, the noise, and the coziness, but realistically it isn't a primary heating source. It's a fairly large, totally open grate fireplace with an excellent draw. To be perfectly honest it's probably pulling as much heat up the chimney as it's putting into the room. The advantages of old, brick built Tudor-revival style houses.

I muddled through the last couple of winters purchasing bundles from the gas station on an ad-hoc basis, which worked fine, but this year I'm thinking I want to use my fireplace a bit more regularly and should probably buy some wood in bulk.

A few questions to those with more experience with that.

Firstly, how much is a reasonable quantity to last a season, assuming a couple burns a week, call it 4-6 hours each? I'm thinking a 1/4 cord should be sufficient? This is WI, so I'm using it now, and I'll still want to use it in late March.

Do you have specific recommendations on type of wood I should consider? Oak seems a default choice, but open to Cherry, Hickory, or whatever if it's worth it. Again, smelling nice, looking pretty is as important as actual heat output, but it does need to chuck out enough to make the room feel cozy. I'm happy to do some tending of it, but something that'll last a little while without stacking on more logs would be welcome. Price isn't really a factor, I'm not using much and there doesn't seem to be meaningful differences either way.

Where are you guys storing your wood, and do you have a recommendation on a storage frame or similar? I can set something up in the basement, or outside, and am happy to spend a few hundred bucks for a convenient solution. I'll probably buy kiln dried stuff for the most part, so bugs etc shouldn't be an issue if storing inside.

Cheers!

IF you have to buy it. Buy it by the chord or half chord. Way cheaper

 

[DaddyFlip]

Hickory and Hackberry are my favorite in Tennessee. Make sure to stack it off the ground or the bottom stack will rot pretty quickly

Tell me about it! I started splitting hickory rounds today that been piled on the ground uncovered for some time. Not only is it a stringy mess on the inside and hard to split, but the bark is all peeled off and the outer ring is soft. I knew I should have split it green. Will still work for outside fire pit after drying out.

 

[Rimbaud]

I love the old saw about firewood heating you twice: once when you cut it, and then when you burn it. I used to keep four or five cords scattered around my property that was taken from our oaks and now am just down to a cord or two. I love splitting wood with various mauls, axes and then aging the wood like wine or Cuban cigars. If there’s a chill in the air, we have fires going in the house. We have a wood-burning stove at a home in eastern Long Island that we keep well fed. If memory serves, Norwegian Wood is the title of a book about that country’s ways of stacking wood, and using the resource. Highly recommend - along with high-quality axes, mauls, chain saws.