Wood Burner Advice Please

[rasputin]

birch is a soft hardwood

 

[Tonka]

3 hours ago, tree monkey said:

Sorry, I carn't let it go, silver birch is a hardwood. 

Balsa is a hardwood

[Mac of Cygnet]

42 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Balsa is a hardwood

 

But not a hard  wood!  Hardwood and softwood are terms rather loosely linked to flowering and coniferous trees respectively (what TM said but in English).   An opposite example is yew (which I'm burning at the moment) which is a very hard coniferous wood.

Alan de E is entitled to his opinion of course, and it may well be that canalside firewood is hard to come  by in busier parts, but as I said I've never had a problem foraging.  I do carry a chainsaw.

[mrsmelly]

10 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

But not a hard  wood!  Hardwood and softwood are terms rather loosely linked to flowering and coniferous trees respectively (what TM said but in English).   An opposite example is yew (which I'm burning at the moment) which is a very hard coniferous wood.

Alan de E is entitled to his opinion of course, and it may well be that canalside firewood is hard to come  by in busier parts, but as I said I've never had a problem foraging.  I do carry a chainsaw.

There lies one of the problems. You may well be fully conversant and knowledgable about the potentialy lethal chainsaw but many people just buy them and use them without any instruction or protective gear, much like the numpties we see every year on motorbikes with just a T shirt and shorts on in the summer. A chainsaw in the wrong hands, let alone if its a petrol one with the petrol storage issue could and is every year a problem for some people. Cutting open a bag of smokeless fuel with a pair of scissors if done incorrectly would not have quite the same repercussions.

[rasputin]

Accidents with chainsaws are seldom trivial 

[tree monkey]

1 hour ago, rasputin said:

Accidents with chainsaws are seldom 

Surprising maybe but trivial/minor accidents are reasonably common

Edited October 16, 2018 by tree monkey

[Movin' on]

Too big and don't buy a wood burner  - I think you will probably have got the message by now?

[Jen-in-Wellies]

2 hours ago, tree monkey said:

Surprising maybe but trivial/minor accidents are reasonably common

Trivial/minor limb loss?!!!

'Tis but a scratch.

 

Edited October 16, 2018 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Sea Dog]

18 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

...it may well be that canalside firewood is hard to come  by in busier parts, but as I said I've never had a problem foraging. 

How do you season it though Mac?

[Mac of Cygnet]

7 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

How do you season it though Mac?

 

It's already 'seasoned', which just means dry.   Dead standing wood is best, or branches which have fallen and are still clear of the ground.   My present supply is from a pile from some clearing done last year and left by the towpath.  The past very dry summer means that it has dried out well, and there's plenty.

But I'm not revealing where.

[Sea Dog]

11 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

It's already 'seasoned', which just means dry.   Dead standing wood is best, or branches which have fallen and are still clear of the ground.   My present supply is from a pile from some clearing done last year and left by the towpath.  The past very dry summer means that it has dried out well, and there's plenty.

But I'm not revealing where.

Ah, that would work - I see there's a bit of thought gone into this!

 

[nicknorman]

“Seasoned” is in no way the same thing as “dry”.

[Mac of Cygnet]

20 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

“Seasoned” is in no way the same thing as “dry”.

 

Yes it is, for wood-burning purposes.   For other uses, eg carpentry, there may be a distinction, but we are talking about fuel here.  How do you think it is different?

[Guest]

All the 'seasoned' wood we have ever bought is confirmed as dry when checked with our moisture meter.

[nicknorman]

When wood seasons, as well as losing moisture there are chemical changes, including in the sap. Cell walls break down etc. So for example if you cut a tree down that is in leaf, it will take a very long time to dry out sufficiently to burn, because a lot of the moisture is “locked in”. If that well seasoned wood subsequently gets very wet (floating in the canal for example) it will dry out much more quickly once removed from the water.

 

I can agree that perhaps this is a fine point but the relevance is that wood that is not properly seasoned can seem dry, and measure dry with a moisture probe that only goes a few mm into the wood, whilst the core of the wood still has a lot of moisture in it. Even kiln dried wood tends to have a lot more moisture in the centre than it does near the outside. So the best thing is to seasons the wood for up to 2 years (depending on species) without necessarily worrying too much about keeping it dry. It will then dry out fairly quickly once cut and split and put in a sheltered and well ventilated place.

[GUMPY]

I don't dry/season any of my free wood I just burn it as it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It all comes from a carpentry firm that makes windows/staircases etc and is Oak and Mahogany

[Mac of Cygnet]

2 hours ago, nicknorman said:

When wood seasons, as well as losing moisture there are chemical changes, including in the sap. Cell walls break down etc. So for example if you cut a tree down that is in leaf, it will take a very long time to dry out sufficiently to burn, because a lot of the moisture is “locked in”. If that well seasoned wood subsequently gets very wet (floating in the canal for example) it will dry out much more quickly once removed from the water.

 

I can agree that perhaps this is a fine point but the relevance is that wood that is not properly seasoned can seem dry, and measure dry with a moisture probe that only goes a few mm into the wood, whilst the core of the wood still has a lot of moisture in it. Even kiln dried wood tends to have a lot more moisture in the centre than it does near the outside. So the best thing is to seasons the wood for up to 2 years (depending on species) without necessarily worrying too much about keeping it dry. It will then dry out fairly quickly once cut and split and put in a sheltered and well ventilated place.

 

I can agree with a lot of that, but in context I was replying to Sea Dog's question of how I 'season' the wood.  He meant get it sufficiently dry to burn efficiently.  The chemical changes you mention are virtually irrelevant to woodburning, although some very resinous species can produce surprises.  I don't need a moisture meter to tell whether wood is dry enough to burn - after 40 years of cutting, stacking, chopping and burning wood, I can tell by appearance, sound, and weight whether wood is ready.  The last of course depends on species - one perfectly dry log of oak or yew can weigh more than a freshly cut spruce log of the same size.

The 'two year' thing is another misleading idea - drying of wood depends on the weather, situation, and how short it is cut.  I'm burning wood at home now which was cut and stacked against the house wall in a south-facing conservatory in March this year.  It is the driest and best-burning wood I've ever had.  And species of course - I was just totting up how many different woods I have burned recently, and got to 21 species before I lost track!!  All have their different features of course, but all burn efficiently if properly dry.

 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

All have their different features of course, but all burn efficiently if properly dry.

 

[tree monkey]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Stuff and nonsense, bah humbug.

 

Seriously there's a great deal of misinformation in that poem

[Mac of Cygnet]

2 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Stuff and nonsense, bah humbug.

 

Seriously there's a great deal of misinformation in that poem

 

You just beat me to it!   At best, it may have a grain of truth when applied to open fires, but is totally irrelevant to woodburning stoves.

[tree monkey]

Just now, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

You just beat me to it!   At best, it may have a grain of truth when applied to open fires, but is totally irrelevant to woodburning stoves.

Obviously apart from the bit about Elm, it's rubbish wood, waste of time, so best give it to me to deal with

[Mac of Cygnet]

2 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Obviously apart from the bit about Elm, it's rubbish wood, waste of time, so best give it to me to deal with

 

Are there any elms left darn sarf?   Still a common tree round here.

[rusty69]

......We used to have some down our street. They were a Nightmare.

[Dr Bob]

34 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

 

   Still a common tree round here.

 

25 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

......We used to have some down our street. They were a Nightmare.

What. Nightmare on tree street?

[tree monkey]

39 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Are there any elms left darn sarf?   Still a common tree round here.

Plenty of small regen in the hedgerows, I know of 2 fully mature specimens in Cheshire