Replies

1. 
   JeffHeath | Jan 01, 2006 12:14am | #1

   It will definately dry faster if it's split.  Why in the heck are you chopping up a cherry tree for FIREWOOD, aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!  We shoot folks around here for committing such heracy.  Is it too small to be milled into boards and put to a higher use than firewood???

   Just my .02

   Jeff

1. 
   Quickstep | Jan 01, 2006 12:50am | #2

   Hold the phone, I'm innocent!!!! It was a neighbor's tree and I had no say in its disposition. It wasn't real big anyway and wouldn't have yielded much good lumber.

1. 
   JeffHeath | Jan 01, 2006 01:03am | #3

   LOL.  Did I forget to say that I was just kidding.  Sorry.

   Jeff

2. 
   mapleman | Jan 01, 2006 03:29am | #4

   Quick,

   I split hundreds of cords of firewood per year. Any wood will split easier, by machine or hand, when wet. Split it as soon as possible. It is much harder to split when it's been drying for a few months.

   Lee

1. 
   WillGeorge | Jan 03, 2006 08:41pm | #9

   Any wood will split easier, by machine or hand, when wet. YA BET! I tried some Maple from a tree I HAD to cut down about two years ago.. My AX just bounces off.. The 16 Lb. mall does a bit better if I could get them iron wedges to stay in the crack!

3. 
   Jfrostjr | Jan 01, 2006 04:51pm | #5

   For ten years I heated with a large woodstove. I split and dried 20 Tons of pole-length logs every year.

   Split? YES! But, when you stack it to dry, the top of the pile must be covered to keep the rain and snow from circulationg down into the pile. I fastened a blue tarp so that it covered the top and about two feet of the sides.

   Jerry

   P.S. I figured that by the time I had consumed the yearly supply of wood, I had handeled it SEVEN times. Good way to stay in shape. Start now. It's a lot cooler now than in July.

4. 
   mike4244 | Jan 01, 2006 07:46pm | #6

   Spilt now, cherry or any wood splits much easier when green. You might want to save some for wood working. Even small pieces are worth it if you have a lathe.If you save any,paint the ends thickly with any paint. Store 18" off the ground, loosely cover the top.Remove bark too, hatchet ,drawknife or whatever.

   mike

1. 
   EdHarrow | Jan 03, 2006 05:56am | #7

   When I want to dry wood for firewood, I just chuck it in the oven.  ;-)

   View Image

   When forgotten it turns into charcoal.  DAMHIKT

1. 
   h12721 | Jan 03, 2006 11:13pm | #10

   You are cheating, what is the red thing for? The one sitting on the left side with the hose sticking out.

   Happy New Year to all ,  Hilmar

5. 
   Telemike | Jan 03, 2006 06:21am | #8

   I cut and split about four cords a year for the house and the workshop. That's about 95% of our heat. I cut trees, mostly euclayptus I planted 20 years ago, in may and june after the orchard trees come to life and pruning ends (done or not). We cut it and slice it into rounds. Then, we leave the rounds in the (California) sun in the pasture until late july/early august when we split.

   By mid summer, the rounds have checked deeply along naturally weak planes and it splits well. If we try to split the wood wet, the splitter stalls and I use the maul to beat the round off the wedge.

   Here, leaving the splits in the pasture until late september dries them pretty much completely.

   On another note, we may be facing restrictions on wood heat soon due to the PM 2.5 rules. Having no other heat, I'm a little worried about it. We live in the country and have no green waste pickup to haul downed branches and limbs away. So, we make firewood from any piece > 2" and chip the rest for compost. At least the fireplace insert is EPA certified low emissions!

1. 
   h12721 | Jan 03, 2006 11:15pm | #11

   What is PM 2.5?

   Hilmar

1. 
   Telemike | Jan 04, 2006 06:41am | #13

   pm 2.5 is air borne particles less that are about 2.5 microns in the largest dimension. They are the finest particles that air scientists normally measure and travel down to the air sacs into the innermost parts of the lungs. We've regulated ozone and other smog components for years but the fine particles are the only ones that can be correlated with human disease and death. When the fine particle count is high, emergency rooms see lots of people in respiratory distress and people having heart attacks.It seems to me that the worst particulate is fine combustion particles, especially diesel soot. Each microscopic particle of diesel soot has a few atoms of metal from the refinery catalysts like vanadium, ruthenium, etc. These atoms are quite toxic and each atom serially kills lung cells until expelled in mucus.Maybe a real expert in dust control could chime in with the size distribution of wood dust. I suspect that a significant fraction of sanding dust is very fine also.

1. 
   tinkerer2 | Jan 04, 2006 07:05am | #14

        It has been an awful long time since I've had chemistry.  What is ruthenium?  What atomic number is it?

1. 
   Telemike | Jan 04, 2006 08:06am | #15

   It's one of those lanthanides way down at the bottom of the periodic table. I'm too far from chemistry myself to remember the atomic number or much else about it (like who Ruth was). Plus, I've had too much wineium tonight to bother looking it up.Simple answer: a toxic metal like most of the ones farther down in the periodic table.

2. 
   tinkerer2 | Jan 04, 2006 08:49am | #16

   Thanks

2. 
   h12721 | Jan 04, 2006 06:36pm | #17

   Telemike,

   thanks, I am in NY state and had no glue about the 2.5

   again thanks Hilmar

6. 
   cmyk45 | Jan 04, 2006 05:24am | #12

   I always split the wood in the next January or Febuary, after the trees are felled, when the temp is well below zero. It always splits nice and easy when it's frozen solid. Plus it heats me up 3x: once when I spit it; once when I haul it to the house and when I burn it. We get oak and birch mostly. I let dry outside for two years.

7. 
   user-79217 | Jan 15, 2006 09:54pm | #18

   We would split it wet and then just pile it out in the open, uncovered. The wood will actually dry faster in a pile than when stacked, as the air will circulate through it better.

   Either way, it's a lot of work....

   Dave