I Found A Cheap Firewood Source... But Is It Dry Enough?
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- čas přidán 18. 02. 2023
- This video is all about firewood numbers. I do some moisture testing to see how much my firewood has dried in 6 months and then I go buy a 10 yard dump truck full of firewood to see how many cords it produces and make some estimates on how long it could last. I'll also compare some dry firewood to wet firewood and get lots of moisture readings. Oh yeah, and I embarrass myself trying to spilt wood with a maul as well.
That Canadian gal that is great at chopping wood: @NicoleCoenen
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Another factor is that block wood stacks much tighter than conventional split wood so I’d add possibly as much as 20% to your number. Anyway I’d buy that all day long at that price and let it dry thoroughly. Chreers
In my book $66 per cord is a steal. I knew the volume before you stacked it since I have a similar size bed I deliver with.
Good video!
I think you should do both. Couple loads a year of the sawmill wood, then pick and choose on the firewood you cut. I think it will give you more free time.
Yup, burn it all together. A little dry, a little wet, and youll have a good fire.
Here in Quebec Canada 🇨🇦. I learned by the older that for hard wood, never exceed 20% center. And here it takes minimal of one year of drying. So here, we tried to always cut our firewood in winter when the sap is in the roots. Otherwise the wood will be used two years after we stacked it. When you burn over 20%humidity , most of the heat is used to evaporate water 👋🏼🇨🇦 🪵🔥🪵🇨🇦👋🏼
over 20% and you have the risk of chimney fire from the creosote build up
If you cut in the summer, just drop the trees and leave the leaves on until they dry up . Some trees will last a week pulling the moisture out of the log.
If I could get amish cutoffs for that price, I would sell all of my wood processing equipment. That's cheap per cord, however. I have a wood stove and those chunks are perfect for my situation. Those chunks are too small for a wood boiler but for that price, its a good option for blending what you can get for free. Great video too.
Thanks Roy!
You're so right about the "sound" of dry wood. Dry wood sounds different when you drop it, stack it or even rub two pieces together. Great videos!
Exactly!
It's the same when you drop a silver pre 65 and a cupro nickel post 65 quarter. Completely different tones.
@@m2hmghb It is the same when you drop lead ingots on concrete or tap them together. The more ring, the sweeter the lead......harder from tin and antimony.
Neil, I want to thank you for all of your content Right now I am undergoing my second round with cancer and your videos brighten up my day I am also a Volunteer Fire fighter and the video of filling to pool with the tanker truck really stuck out to me. The things small towns do for each other. Keep up the great videos. I look forward to the next one
You got this Neal! Just another bump in the road of life!💪
Hang in there Neal and fight the good fight! I'm humbled to hear that these little videos have brought you a small slice of joy during your challenging times.
I'm especially grateful to anyone that volunteers their time for the betterment of their community, so thanks for being a fire fighter to yours. Those are the people that make small towns great.
Thanks so much for sharing your story with me and I hope you continue to find joy in the videos. I'm thankful for you tuning in to watch!
All my best to you and I wish you a speedy recovery and return back to good health. Take care and if I'm lucky, I'll see you in the next one!
Sounds like a deal to me. Last firewood I bought was over $200 CDN/cord cut/split and delivered. That was about 4-6 years ago. Stock up on the block wood and let it dry over the summer, use the time gained to spend with family or do other projects that need done.
Great job sharing a lot of information for the length for the video.
I Also, like those heated jackets. I have been considering those.L
I think it’s all about what your time is worth. If that $66 per cord frees up your time to do something else more valuable than $66, seems like it’s worth it.
$66 a cord. A cord is 3.2 cubic meters in Australia. I sell a cube for $150 so a cord would be $480 here
It's about being out in nature and enjoying the experience, that's what does it for me.
@@markusplatzer8300 That's so true, but the unexpected does happen if Neil is ill unexpectedly and cant go out and cut firewood you need alternatives. Noone knows whats around the corner
Time is money
66 is a cord of punk wood
The cage totes with 2X4 wire mesh securely wrapped around the outside. Dump the sawmill cutoffs in them. They can be stacked for easier storage. Stack them where they can get sunlight & air circulation.
A cord is 4x4x8ft.
When we lived in the Pacific NorthWET we burned through several cord before Christmas. Moisture content is critical to heat output and clean burn. “Wet” wood will still burn but at the expense of thermal output as combustion energy is used to first drive off remaining moisture. Stack temperature is also reduced leading to higher creosote buildup. Supply and demand is what it is and sometimes you can’t wait for “perfect” firewood so we burned the wetter stuff on days that weren’t too cold. Starting each day with a firebox full of cardboard got things hot enough to burn out any creosote buildup. Thanks for a great video.
I would say there is more wood there than you calculate. Since that wood is all mostly square, it stacks a lot tighter than rounds or splits of firewood. Hard to quantify exactly, but maybe you have closer to 2 cords. I assume the 10 yard measurement that you bought was based on loose piles (loader buckets) bs stacked. 10 yards is 270 cubic feet or 2.1 cords. Regardless, seems like a good supplement to your yearly supply, especially if it buys you some extra time!
Well, at $66 per cord, it frees you up to do other stuff. If you spend an extra $300 per year to heat all the buildings that are connected to the water stove, but you get to spend an extra 10 hours with your family, then I say it's a win. This may be a good way to supplement your wood supply, but not a replacement for it. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely. My only concern is the handling and storage of it is all.
I like the extra time factor right now though 👍🏻
I have been heating with wood my entire life and I am well into old age now. I do love your videos; thank you so much for taking the time to make them and post them.
Heat output, BTUs, is measured at something like 7,500 btu per pound of dry wood--does not matter if it is hardwood or softwood. It does not matter if it is sawdust or the biggest block you have ever seen. All that needs to happen is a drying process and that simply takes time.
Since the energy is going into your water, burn times simply don't matter. You can always light a fire with dry wood but I know you do not want the fire to go out.
I have six drying sheds and simply rotate between them--burning out the oldest wood first and by the time I get back to the last shed, the green wood is magically turned into wood so dry it can almost be lit with a match.
A drying shed is so easy to put up--all you need are four posts and tin and that can be used tin bought for pennies on the dollar from your local scrap yard.
I would buy those sawmill cuts as many as I could get my hands on. Stack in a drying shed and let nature dry them out.
I live in Michigan, and wood has gone way up these days, we get a better deal when we buy 3 cords, so we buy 3 pre split, and well seasoned face cords @ $125 each delivered right to our driveway, yeah it was $375 this year and it fills my racks right to the top. We just burn in our fireplace, about 2 to 2 1/2 cords a season, and the rest in our fire pit in the yard, all I have to do is haul it to the racks in my backyard, it took me 3 hours by myself. If you purchase one cord only, it`s $150 each. The guy owns a tree service and lets it season for a year, then sells it all, love the videos, take care.
My mother in law lives in Brittany France. she owns multiple small farms. Brittany farms are a lot smaller than in America.
She employees a wood cutter to prune the trees between the her fields. The cut wood is stored in 3 wood sheds each a year apart. She is always burnings wood which is at least 3 years old.
There used to be an old whiskey mill on a river one county over. They would roll the barrels down holes in the floor and float them down river. I had to put that part in! lol Anyway there was also and abandoned sawmill next to it that you could buy as much as you could haul for $10. The gate keeper was an old guy that lived in a tiny with half a dozen turkeys in the yard. You would pay and get a key. I had an F 350 with a port fuel injected 460 4x4 with 4:10.1 Limited slips and a 16' trailer I would fill. I swore every time something would break, but it never did. Good memories!
I think all of us weekly viewers would like to see a firewood splitting contest between you and the woman from Canada pictured in your video! Can this be arranged? Who else thinks this would be cool? Who would your money be on?
Ha! I'm game. As long as I get to use the backhoe against her. You know what they say; "Don't bring a sword to a backhoe fight!"🤣
@@digdrivediy that might be a close race👍🤣
Leave them Canadian girls be. It'll end in tears.
You never know.. that canadian girl might just be faking the videos. Or it might be pre split or very soft wood.
@@Dirt_mountain-earthworks I dont think you would find soft wood around her. Lol
Just ignore the people giving you grief you have nice equipment and tools to use for a reason. I’ve always said I have trouble getting a handle to fit my hands when a lever or joystick fits so well. I much rather be on the equipment! Glad the saw is working after it’s re-life!
I love videos like this on a lazy, indoor-weather day. Lots of good little bits of information that I might not consider otherwise. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with some quality family time. You really know how to be engaging and entertaining without the pomp and insincerity. It's nice to see.
Thanks 👍🏻 I really appreciate it.
It depends a lot on your market. $100 a cord in Texas is an absolute steal no matter what type of wood it is. Oak is our most common (non-smoker wood) and it runs over $600 a cord. Sadly a lot of Texans don't want to sell by the cord. They sell by stack or rick.
That is a pretty cheap alternative. My stove eats smaller pieces of wood faster, it seems. The labor savings for cutting and splitting has me jealous that it isn't available in my area. As for the eyebrows and lashes, the only thing better than the sticky feeling is the smell haha.
Oh yes. The smell is how I know for sure it got me! 😋
For the past 3 years I have been buying log loads of wood to feed my hungry boiler and it’s cheaper in the long run to have the wood delivered to my property and I can take my time cutting everything up, and time to time I will do some tree jobs with family and friends and I score some wood that way to. Those nice blocks will burn extremely well in that boiler and real fast recovery as well. Keep up the great videos.
Sounds like a good value to me. I make my own firewood because I get it off my home property. Cutting up windfall trees alone usually supplies more firewood than we need.
Now that is the best way to cut firewood. I never thought of cutting right into the hauling trailer. You have some very good suggestion for ways to do things without spending a ton of money. Neil I really like your videos and look forward to more videos.
Thanks a lot Terry!
My brother and I processed some 3 to 4 foot diameter eucalyptus logs. I used the mini ex with the thumb to position the rounds so that he could chunk them up while running the 28" stihl saw at a comfortable height. They were cut into chunks that I could roll or lift into the log splitter later. After he cut them, I tossed them in the dump trailer with the mini. At home, I split one load with the splitter vertical and worked on the ground, but luckily the second load had smaller chunks that I picked off the trailer by hand and set on the horizontal log splitter. That was much easier. I don't always have access to equipment, but I use it any time possible with a body that is beat from doing the trades and health issues. I would always rather work smart than hard, when I have a choice.
300$ a cord up here in Canada, cut, split and delivered.
I like the “bowling pin sound” I’ve been trying to describe that sound forever lol.
Very interesting, is that a gasification boiler !
Thanks for sharing
As a former wood stove boiler user for 7 years and went through about 12 cords a season (old old farmhouse), I stopped stacking after the second year. :) I also had a combo of paid wood and 'free' wood. Lots to be said for having a big dump truck unload oak and not spending days cutting, splitting, stacking, etc. I think having a reliable source of paid wood is important in case the 'free' wood isn't available some times.
Watching your videos brings back some fond memories about 7 years ago, had some good friends / good times cutting and splitting, but it sure is nice to be able to hit a button and the heat cuts on. LOL.
Another great video Neil ! The variety of content you produce each week is impressive. Keep up the great work.
Many thanks!
👍 I have that identical meter . It’s actually very accurate . I tested it against others that my friends have . Just checked my sugar maple that is three years drying in full sun and air movement out on a hill . 10 too 12 % after it sits in house for few days . I can run the insert stove in the fire place on 0 dampen after loaded up . For the night . I never get build up in my chimney . Like the way you stand up and cut the wood in the trailer . 👍👍
I have been doing the same experiment as you. My local saw mill sells me a 16ft trailer load and my 6ft truck bed heaping piles for $100. You are correct it is a little wet. I have had to clean my chimney a couple times this winter. I also had some that I split last year that I ran. When I first found the saw mill wood I thought this saved me a lot of back pain labor :). I also resell it to my local guys to help offset some of the cost. I will say I’m not sure if I will be replacing this stuff with my split wood but I definitely helps in a pinch and it’s making me a little money as well. Keep up the great videos! I look forward to seeing them every Sunday.
Nice! Thanks Ben!
Neil, I prefer standing dead oak and hickory for my immediate use. That’s not a problem for me as I have acres of mature timber that is giving me dead trees constantly. (Our summer droughts and tornado alley winds combine to injure the trees and invite attack from worms and beetles.)
I mix it with one year seasoned green wood and never have creosote issues.
I bought a load of sawmill blocks a few years back. What I found is that the perfectly flat faces inhibit the air flow. It dries poorly when compared to split wood. A random stack might do better but, I never tried that out.
You hit the nail on the head about standing dead wood burning. I thought it was just my opinion about how great it burns. Then, I had a random conversation with a guy at church. He used to have a tree trimming and removal business. His son had a sideline business of selling the wood from his dad’s jobs.
In his son’s business, he sold the green logs to saw mills or firewood cutters…. But, any standing dead hardwood that he got, he cut into firewood himself.
The dad said, he too believed that standing dead wood was far superior to split green wood… it dried quicker but also seemed to put out more BTU’s over a longer period than similarly dried greenwood.
His thoughts were that gravity pulled the moisture toward the base of the tree. The xylem and phloem cells shrunk uniformly with fewer checks. That created a denser wood than if it was split.
That made sense to me… but who knows? There are three of us now who agree that standing dead firewood is the best!
I enjoyed the video… thanks.
PS: I just got my first wren this week. Spring can’t be too far off!
Well, there has got to be something to it and that's as good of an explanation as any!
My in-laws had let this tree stand, limbs intact since they moved in 5 years ago. This past fall, a large limb dribbled from the tree only hours after my mothe6in law had been walking in the woods. So, it was time for the limbs to come down. When Rick cut some of the smaller stuff up and started to burn it in the fireplace, he told me that it could be quite possibly the best firewood he'd ever burned.
Now after going through a couple trailer loads, I have to agree. There was just something about it that made it perfect.
I sure am glad to find folks that can share the same experiences and make me feel like I'm not the only one that thinks a certain way. You happen to be at the top of that list!
The bird houses are on the list for this week I hope. Just maybe we're not too far behind yet.
Thanks again, Dave.
Content: 7.9
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Over all very well done , the time you took to share this days adventure is appreciated.
Will tune in for More
Nice! :). Thanks Jean!
Wow that a good deal for 100 bucks. For 7 cords is 550 delivered here. Great video 👍
Growing up, we had a guy that owned land behind us. He ended up dumping cut up oak square timbers from a factory that made rail road ties (Non treated) and other junk. He ended up going to jail for dumping and other things. When they cleaned up the land. My dad and neighbor asked about the wood. They said we could have it. So it gave us about 7 years of fire wood! We used both coal and wood in our house 70%coal 30 % wood when we didn't need the fire going all the time.
We have started doing the same thing we’re we are there a pallet place down the road we get the cut offs from and they burn good
I've always wondered if that was a good deal. Another good video
I always wondered too. Thanks Aaron.
My suggestion would be to build a covered storage area in your yard somewhere accessible but out of the way, then stock up on the sawmill wood over the summer but on pallets that you can move around. Also continue your tree cutting routine.
Hi Neil. I don't burn wood for heat but my father used to. The last time we bought firewood, it was around $120.00/cord. That was 5 or 6 years ago. It seems like having the Amish sawmill as a source is a good thing. Even if the wood is not the same quality as what you would like, if it's readily available, it gives you the option of buying from them if you get into a time crunch or burn more of what you've cut than you expected. I keeps you from having to drop everything and cut wood because you need it now. Seems like a good option. Thanks for the video!
-mike
Ok on the woodpile……. I’m know you planned to incorporated IBC totes this year, have you abandoned that plan? Also did you not fill the lean-too all the way full before winter hit like usual? I know you enjoyed processing wood in there but I wasn’t sure if your plans had changed. Fire wood is so foreign to me but I find myself thinking of my CZcams channels that depend on it. That fear of running out of wood lives rent free in my head. If you’re down here reading comments, make sure to like and subscribe. It really helps the channel!
I never got it completely filled up like normal. I've been spending too much time working on a little tractor! 😋
Oh man. You had me chuckling at the end. I hear quite a bit in the evening the words “oh you got your eyebrows again”. Your not the only one. All the slab wood from our sawmill we use as a mix with our split firewood. Works pretty well for us. $66 bucks a cord isn’t too bad for randoms. Might work well thanks Neil. Another good one!
We burn 12 cords per year with our boiler. That heats our house, 4 car garage, in law apartment and our hot water. At 66 per cord that'd be $792 for all that heat. I could make that in a day during the summer. That sounds like a good deal to me.
I got a load of sawmill cut offs a few years ago when we started running low on firewood. If I remember right it was $20 for as much as I could stack in a pickup. I found it burnable the first year but mixed in a little drier wood with it to keep a hot fire. After a summer of seasoning though, it burned nice and hot by itself and made great coals.
Neil, I cut alot of my firewood a yr in advance or try to anyway. I've found that oak generally takes 12-16 months to get completely dry. (Boiler size pieces) we burn about 6 cord a winter, I'm only heating my 2700sq ft home right now but will eventually be heating my 32x64 shop this year. I've never bought firewood in my 38 yrs of life but I'm gonna say that $100 load of wood is worth every penny. if it frees up a week for you to spend with your girls. I'm gonna guess that load will last 3-4 weeks only because the Temps are on the rise! God bless!
Hi,what a helper with that excavator feeding wood right over your cart.Wet wood will burn but not as hot and with creosote build up.
The numbers will never tell you a lie. I sell small block ends from my firewood processor and my sawmill- it burns great! Doesn’t stack so great though. I must go near your place on my way to work. Great video, well planned months ahead- good foresight. All the best from Nova Scotia, Jeff.
Your experiments kept me interested thank you
I'm glad to see your tune-up/repair of the 036 worked out well! Now the old girl just needs a new bar.
thank you 4 a informitive vid . glad to see u had help getting that stacked . !!!!
Very interesting video Neil. That load of block wood from the Amish sawmill sure seemed like a pretty good deal.
Thanks for sharing!
Fun video! Informative.
Gotta say, Neil the last thing on m mind waking up this morning was cutting wood. Or any other morning for that matter. But here you are again making almost any subject interesting. Thanks again for the entertaining video.
I appreciate that a lot Joe!
i used to sell oak firewood in Texas and I would not sell anything with end grain moisture above 18%. You also have an advantage with the blower in your boiler. You can burn a little green wood than other people. Great video
That is a very good deal. For hard wood, very good deal. Not splitting or anything.
Even in WV it is not that cheap.
Buy a bunch this year and dry it out for next year. It is not going to go down. I do not think.
I would suggest that you do both. It appeals to me that using up the block ends is a responsible way to use what might otherwise become spoils. Since you have a few years within proximity, the supply v demand probably works in your favor.
The volume you got on the stacked block ends should have been higher than typical cordwood which has more air gaps.
I think a mix of "normal firewood" and very inexpensive saw mill scraps is a cost effective way to go. Especially if you go back and buy 3 more truckloads in the spring and let them dry out a bit over the summer and fall.
The point you make early on in the video, that time is money, is very true and you spend a lot of time gathering and prepping your wood for the season, so the very affordable saw mill wood frees up time for other things with the family (or tractors!)
Wow on that wood...buy a 2 year supply to start with and then a year supply every year there after.
Put it in toats of sorts...even build them out of FREE Pallets !
No chain saws required !
Stack them outside...separated so they dry properly ! Rain doesn't bother...if anything it helps !
Now that is the way to spend time with your family !!!!😊
good to see someone splitting the wood and testing it inside. in lots of videos, people just test the outside.... frustrating. there's free fresh cut wood in my area, but I usually end up burning skid wood because it's dry.
Great job keep up the great work love your videos thank you
Hi Neil, i just started watching your channel. I think what could help you dry your wood quicker is if you could open the back wall, set up with doors if you wantrd too. What you need is air flow. You can also adjust the height of the return/ upward stroke of the cylinder on the axis log splitter. If you look in the back and up, theres a blue bar with thumb screws. Adjust it up or down to match the height of your blocks. Give yourself a couple of inches of clearing instead of one foot and a half. It will spead it up. Have a good day and keep up the good work
Thank you for sharing
Hey greetings from Germany :) We always have our fresh wood right after snow and just before spring (to use it next winter) :) our "oven" for the house is much smaller but we get like this 30-45cm long (our oven is not longer than 2 feet) chunks of a tree and we store it from spring to summer. In summer we chop it all down to chunks not wider than your hand to make them small enough to dry more quickly :) We also stack them in a way so that no flat surfaces touches each other so that air can float around in your stack :) (made by Googletranslate, your german CC(subtitle) is really good) PS: first video I see from you Neil :) Nice one!!!
Hi Neil. That truck load would last me most of the winter, here in Massachusetts. I have a Fireplace Insert, which burns very efficiently. The last time I bought wood, was in 1985. The cost back then for 4’ split, Oak was $45 per cord. Nobody sells it like that anymore. We cut it down to 16” lengths on one Saturday. Great video.🪵👍
Lots of editing. Very much appreciated. Nice work buddy!
Much appreciated!
Very helpful and informative. Thanks for the interesting experiments!
Always enjoy the content! You found a way to not only educate but entertain us with a video about “how dry is my wood?” 😂 Seems like you probably enjoy movies or more specific cinematography. Keep up the great job!!!
I do enjoy a good movie. Hopefully this video wasn't too complicated. Sometimes I worry they get too complex and maybe I'm overdoing it.
Thanks so much for the comment Heath.
I think that the downside to buying off-fall blocks like this is the amount of poplar in there. To really see if it’s a good deal you’d need to separate the blocks by species and calculate the btu yield. Or just burn it and get a feel for it. It sure is convenient just pulling the truck in there though. There’s that. And I like the way you use the excavator to drop rounds into your trailer. I plan on building a clamp for my loader to hold logs so that I can do something similar. Great video. Thanks for taking the time to make it.
That wood also looks extremely useful for other things too. Hardwood blocking is hard to find
Neil I think you got a great deal on the sawmill lumber easy chunks to handle great price.
Here in Texas I'm blessed to have Oak, and Hackberry, and Elm. We only burn in the cold stretches but do burn 24/7 then and will go through two to three wagon loads (24" w x 48" l x 24" high) our fireplace built in can only handle four or five split pieces at a fill. Lasts 3-1/2 +/- hours has a circulation fan and uses cool air for combustion and warms our living room kitchen beautifully.
A cord of hardwood in the DC Metro area is ~$200 delivered and dumped. Stacking is extra.
I try to keep 2 years worth of wood (3-4 Cords/year) so it can air dry down to ~10-15%. For a small woodstove.
My grandfather always said that 4 inches in diameter (10 cm for us in the rest of the world) was the biggest piece he would accept in his wood pile since anything bigger would not dry completely in a year. He had learned this from a neighbour that had run wood for heating for something like 60 years at that point and hadn't yet had to remove any creosote from his chimney since the fire was hot through the whole burn. My grandfather never had to sweep his chimney either as far as I know. Doubling the size of the log quadrupled the drying time according to the neighbour.
I have no idea what the moisture content of that wood was, but it felt bone dry to my hands when I helped cary some into the cabin. We had two piles of wood at the cabin, one to use that year and one to build that year.
Could you bring in 6 trucks loads in the spring and load it into totes to dry and them used the lean-to to store more “free” wood for the season. I just think more time to do other non firewood projects would free up some time. (I’ve said all this but I fully realize how ridiculous it is that I’m giving you advice on your life. ). Also I would like to get your brother-in-law (the tree guy) on a live stream. I would guess he has some great stories about his job. If you’re down here reading the comment please like and subscribe. It really helps this channel and shows Neil we appreciate his work.
I like this way of thinking for sure. I am debating getting a lot more of this for next season, just don't know the best way to handle it. May have to pay the girls to stack every day for a month 😁
I like the idea of having brother-in-law Caleb on a live stream. We could open it up for questions from the viewers on their trees. Great idea. I'd like to do more live streams.
And don't worry. I'll take all the advice I can get Marcus!
I also burn red/white oak. Typically I season it for 2 years. Neil considering where you had the wood stored plays a factor for how it dries. Maybe that's why it's not as dry as you expected. Great Video!
Great point! Thanks Nick!
@@digdrivediy Neil, I noticed the same, there is not much airflow where you have it stored so maybe a fan directed at the stack/pile will dry it out faster/better? Just a thought.
Great work and great video can hardly wait for Brutus re-do to be finished.
Even a cheap box fan in there would probably do wonders for helping move the air around and dry the wood better
@@mbaker825 agreed, thats what I was thinking.
I live in North Central/Eastern Indiana Amish country an used to heat my home with a forced air wood furnace. And I bought my wood from an Amish sawmill that built pallets and other things. Back then it was $15 a pickup load not higher than the top of the bed. You had to load your own truck. Some guys would just toss it in the bed but my wife and I would pick out the big rectangular blocks and stack it in there like a jigsaw puzzle. We'd take 2 pickups. When they were full she'd take the 3/4 ton home and I'd take the 1/2 ton to work (we'd go early in the am) and we'd have it so loaded down that on the way I could hardly see where I was going because the headlights were shining on the trees. I think we got almost twice as much wood as the guy that just pitched it on.
It had a lot of moisture in it too but we were dumping it into a room in the basement next to the furnace and it was nice that it didn't have any bark or insects. It did tend to have a lot of sawdust thought.
Looks like the channel is getting some more traction lately. Good to see!
When I built my wood shed I used 1x6 boards spaced half inch apart horizontally for my back wall. That way I get some air flow through my wood. Some cheap garage windows you can close in the winter or even a screened vent under the rafters would help dry your wood in the shed are just a few suggestions.
We got a bunch of those blocks one year for free somehow. I can see it would work well in a setup like yours. NOT a bad option when you are short on time. The smell of burned eyelashes is the best!
As someone who lives in the outdkirts of the suburbs (partly by need to be within driving of my duty stations, and partly for convenience) i have zero experience with the needs for a wood boiler/ or wood stove for heating needs.... except for the occadional natural disaster which sadly i have a bit of expetience with....
But to me as someone whos worked in medicine for many many years... i think that making sure you have a solid backup to your regular wood procurement is very smart. All it takes is a broken leg, or some other remporary medical issue to have you run dangerously low in winter. Smart to have a viable backup!
o.k....What i learned from my grandpa.....Wood he wanted to start a fire he would always stand on its end, in a big box...he did not have one of those fancy gizmos to check dampness but it did start well.. once he raised the box and put a screen in the bottom.where the wood could drain....i was surprised how much water came out. he fixed about two rick for winter starting...he also kept coal and placed some "about two pieces" in his fire at night, in the morning the coal was still hot and made a good starter. He also put leafs in a plastic bag in the fall and let them dry till winter.. then he rolled some leafs in a news paper....like a sausage...rolled at the ends...better and faster then a paper wad to start a fire....have them ready the night before . if the coal did not work and the fire was out he would use his paper and leafs to start his fire. it was a trial and error for a while but when he got it right it worked very well....behind his two car garage was a large wood lean to....he " tried " to stay a year ahead on his wood...so it would be dry. oh ..he also saved some of ashes so granny could make lye soap...but that's another story..... keep trying to help yourself while your helping others. Thanks.
Neil your most precious resource/asset/possession is...... Priceless Time
For sure!
I like the option, use it when you need, get it when it's easy to grab it. Then enjoy cutting wood when you want to. The have to always gets frustrating. I enjoy the woods and cutting. It's still time and work. Was that a new saw sitting by the 036? Brother in law got the ms400 with 20" bar. Feels lighter than my ms361 and more torque. Seems nice, time will tell. Thanks for sharing
I think I'd like the 400. That was my 661 sitting in the truck for backup. I bought it.in 2018 for big stuff.
I think the sawmill wood is a good secondary source for you. It can help supplement what you cut and split yourself. One of the things that I have noticed and have been thinking about is your storage. Since your storage area is enclosed on three sides, I think that your wood isn't drying very fast. I built a free-standing rack that is 4' x 12' x 4' back and 6' front. Holds roughly 1.6 cords of wood. The sides are "enclosed" with 1"x4" with a 3.5" gap between boards. The top is currently just a tarp to keep the rain and snow off, but the way it is built, I get plenty of airflow through the rack. Also, I split my logs down fair amount smaller than you do, so it dries faster because of that as well. But I am just burning in my fire place inside, no boiler system or wood stoves. Thanks for the great video. Can't wait for Bill/Brutus to be done.
I had a load of cut offs from a tree company who processes firewood for retail sales. The are small pieces, so I load them in a plastic trash can and cart them in the house to the wood stove. It is all hardwood and the price was free since my brother had them remove a few hundred eucalyptus trees for him. To hold that wood and random cuts, I built a pallet bin that is about 10 feet wide, 8 feet deep and maybe 4 feet tall. The bottom and sides are made from pallets screwed together with a few braces. It also allows air to pass through and a tarp keeps snow and rain off. The 100 + degree summer heat here in the SoCal desert should dry the wood pretty well.
Agree with what I see others saying and that is to do both. You can get firewood free here and there and buy few loads in between. If you buy the sawmill stuff in bulk you can let it dry out all summer then burn the following winter.
Also like you mentioned it takes money to process even free wood, diesel in tractor/diesel in truck/ gas in saws/ gas in log splitter etc plus your time.
Nice video, I think 60 a cord is steep for an outdoor boiler, but a good deal for a woodstove user that may only go through 3 full cords a winter.
For myself, I burn about 3 or 4 full cords a year, I could go out and buy wood, but sourcing my own is more of a personal hobby for me, I generally like running the saws, machine, splitter and stuff.
First off, dye your beard purple and you'll be able to split wood. It's a Canadian thing, trust me. Buying off cuts from Jacob Yodder's brother, the other Jacob is the sand blaster, is a good thing. Very Martha. (See Martha Stewart). Paying a C note to supplement what you you go out and cut yourself is cheap insurance. You support a local business and save your back. A little can go a long way my aging brother. Never hurts to spend a little coin to save that time to do something with the girls. That vest of Kara's isn't gonna last as long as a fireplace would. Now's the time while you still have it in you to get it done. Another fun video Neil. I truly enjoy watching you do what you do and always look forward to your next adventure. Love home my brother, and thank you.
I love finding these comments weeks later. Still fun to read. I get buried every once in a while and it's nice to find these nuggets as I'm digging out. Thanks Greg!
I to burn with an outdoor boiler. I am not a "tree hugger" but I don't like cutting trees down just to have firewood if I don't have to. Around me farmers are always dropping trees along field lines, someone clearing some land for house or barn, powerline companies dropping trees, blow downs, tree service wood etc. But at times those outlets do run out and I have seen these "chunks of wood" from saw mills and have been thinking about it as well and seeing if there's any around me here in East Central Indiana. So this video is perfect for what I have been thinking. Although yes we have to pay for them... but what a great use of a bi product from making something else. I do enjoy cutting and is somewhat therapeutic. Not to mention the time spent with my sons. The eyebrows over time are "the casualties of war" LOL
My local fire wood price is $350 - $400 a cord. For green unseasoned Douglas fir. So $66 if basically free as far as I’m concerned! Haha. I always look forward to your Sunday morning video with a coffee! Thanks Neil.
I have an 036. Not sure of the year, but it’s old. That saw will out cut anything I’ve ever used. Great tool!
To get under 20% with oak, figure it getting there 1" into the wood from outside per year. Smaller splits dry faster, unsplit rounds can stay wet for years
around here, $100 for 1.5 cords is pretty good. From what I've seen, people are selling firewood for $25-30/rick. That's about $75 a cord. So it's right on par for what you would pay here in Indiana. plus most firewood here is a mix of maple, ash, oak, and pine.
I’ve found that leaving my wood split and stacked outside in weather dries quicker then when you stack it in a shed. I always thought to put it in my shed to keep the rain and snow off it but recently i left some wood stacked outside and some from the same tree in my shed and the difference surprised me. Now all my wood gets stacked outside and i know i have to double handle it when i put in my shed but it’s way nicer having wood that’s drier. We also have a sawmill here. just a band saw nothing commercial. we tried sawing some wood and stacking it to burn it. it dries way slower no matter where you stack it. they sit so tight together that they get can’t get air to it. also for the price. i sell oak firewood for $120 a face cord around me. so i don’t think that price is bad at all. but then again you aren’t getting the best wood and it’s going to take a long time to dry
Having a shed with no walls and a grated floor about a ft off the ground has the best of both. The roof keeps snow and rain off, and the open walls give excellent airflow.
@@modarkthemauler that is true but the wife was tired of looking at wood so she wanted an inclosed shed and you know how that goes
Great points!
I used to have a traditional fireplace (not a sealed stove), and I’d let my oak dry for a full year plus. It burned great but still had moisture sizzling on the end periodically. Burn-on!
Where I'm at a cord is 200-250 delivered. Not a bad deal at all. Great video Neil, looking forward to your next video on the 318.
The power company cut down a big dead red oak on the edge of my property very similar to the wood you love. Its was a pain for me to haul it out, but it burns amazing. It is so good that it almost burns too slow (tons of huge slow burning coals) for my wood stove to heat my whole house (ash burns hotter but way faster). I counted the rings on mine it it was 120+ yrs old... I'm guessing yours is similar because the wood looks nearly identical to mine.
Ya, I used to pay $65 a cord back around 2010 and then It was a mix of hard and soft wood and I still had to split and pile it. So I think you got a good deal.
Neil splitting logs is a must for seasoning
100 bucks for that amount of wood is really good price. My lazy ass would definately go that route 😄
I love this kind of analysis. I suppose it all comes down to what you value your free time at. If you are financially strapped, then cutting your own makes sense. If you want to take that time back to spend with your family, then buying makes sense.
What’s the difference between burning the greener wood vs the drier? Does the drier last longer?
Supposedly the drier wood has more BTUs that convert to heat rather than steam loss through the chimney of wet wood.
The heck with the kids and the heat. We got heated coats...lol.