Okay all of you wood burning guru’s…. I found a motherload of birch at a friends place – easily accessible and free (two awesome traits in firewood). It is all dead/standing birch that has been dead anywhere from 2-5 yrs. I know birch generally gets punky and will rot if not split to dry……so how long will a standing birch tree last before going punky?
I would test cut one but I would think its punky already. We do not bother with birch at all for the reason of going punky even when split. Does look great on the rack in the house.
Mwal
From my experience you’re looking at about three years before the tree starts to get punky. If you cut the trees down, and they break into 10 pieces, move on to the next one. If the tree falls and stays solid, you’re good to go 
its a fast burning wood, but puts out a LOT of heat. 
If you are in a cutting mood, there are plenty of campsites that might be interested in the birch. You can maybe make some money or work out a trade of some kind. Just a thought.
Quote:
From my experience you’re looking at about three years before the tree starts to get punky. If you cut the trees down, and they break into 10 pieces, move on to the next one. If the tree falls and stays solid, you’re good to go
what he said!!!!! once its split its good for a while. makes great campfire wood for cooking over. could make some ching selling to people with fireplaces! i would think if dead 3-5 years it should be good if there still standing upright.!!!
Thanks for the replies. If they turn out to be in good shape, I plan to cut/split 15 or so cords this fall. This will be for home heating. Lots of standing trees that still have their little branches on them, but are dead. All within truck/trailer access…….hundreds of them.
Free is key.
Quote:
Thanks for the replies. If they turn out to be in good shape, I plan to cut/split 15 or so cords this fall. This will be for home heating. Lots of standing trees that still have their little branches on them, but are dead. All within truck/trailer access…….hundreds of them.
Free is key.
Be prepared to fire often, very hot but often and it does not leave any coals like a hardwood does.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
