John,
here are the basics
HEATING WITH WOOD - A VERY BASIC PRIMER
Part One
INTRODUCTION This is written as a very basic guide to selecting, cutting, splitting, storing, and
burning woods as a heat and cooking source. The overriding consideration at all times is safety. I
make no apologies for that. If you are an experienced wood cutter/burner, this post is not for you.
WOOD BASICS Virtually all wood produces approximately the same amount of heat per pound
when burned. The difference in heat output for different woods lies in the fact that some woods are
denser than others. Since it takes just as much effort to cut and split a cord of poplar as it does a
cord of oak, it doesn't make sense to use poplar for firewood when it contains less than 1/2 the
potential heat output that oak does. Of course, if the power is out and all you have is poplar then
poplar it is.
Wood has to be seasoned (dried) before it makes an effective fuel. Green wood from live trees
contains up to 50% water. Before it will burn the water content must get down near 20%. If you
have ever thrown a green piece of wood on a fire and seen the water bubbling out of the ends you
saw the excess water being driven off. This is why green wood makes a very poor fuel. A large
amount of the heat output of the fire is consumed in driving off the excess water (instead of heating
you).
It takes time for firewood to dry - typically 6-12 months. A couple of things to remember:
Wood dries almost totally through the cut ends of the wood. This means that the wood must be cut
to length to season properly. Ninety percent of the drying of firewood occurs over the summer
months. Wood that is left out in the rain will take twice as long or longer to dry as opposed to wood
that is covered.
WHAT KIND OF WOOD IS BEST? There are two basic kinds of wood - hardwoods and
softwoods. This doesn't mean that some hardwoods aren't soft (such as poplar) or vice versa.
Resinous evergreens such as pines and firs are considered softwoods. Deciduous trees such as oaks
and maples are considered hardwoods.
Generally, softwoods are not considered suitable for firewood. This doesn't mean you can't burn
softwoods in a wood stove but you should not utilize them as your main source of fuel. The resin they
contain contributes to creosote buildup (we'll discuss this more in the section on burning wood) . If
you must burn some softwoods use at least 50% hardwood with the softwood.
There is a vast difference in the quality of hardwoods used as fuel in wood stoves. Let me start out
by saying that cutting firewood is darn hard work. Thoreau said that firewood heats us twice - once
when we cut it and once when we burn it. Speaking from experience, he was dead on. For this
reason you should try to optimize your efforts by cutting the best quality wood you have access to.
I will list the various types of hardwoods from best to so-so.
EXCELLENT Hickory The very best there is. Heavy, dense, limited availability. Easy to cut and split
when GREEN. A single dry hickory tree will dull multiple chains before it's cut up. If there only a few
in your area, leave them. White Oak The premier acorn tree. Hard dense firewood. Splits well. Not
many in my area so I leave them for the deer and squirrels. Red Oak My favorite. If you've walked
on an oak wooden floor you've seen red oak. It cuts easily and splits like a dream. It makes a very
satisfying "thunk" sound as the wood lets go when you split it just right. Sugar Maple A sweet dense
wood. Not available in my area so I don't have any experience with it.
GOOD Ash Used for baseball bats and handles. Limited availability. Wild Cherry Sweet smelling.
Trees in the wild are often contorted so they require extra effort. Beech Would be an excellent wood
if it weren't so hard to split Birch The wood with the white bark. Common in New England. Apple A
fragrant burning wood. Availability very limited. If someone offers you some, take it.
FAIR Soft Maple Common on the Eastern Seaboard. Not a bad wood - just a little light to be good
firewood.
POOR Poplar Forget it. It will take 8-9 cords of poplar to equal 4 cords of red oak.
FORGET IT American Gum It has an interlocking grain that you have to split to believe.
OKAY. HOW MUCH WOOD WILL I NEED? That depends a great deal on how cold your
winters are. In Maryland, where I live, winters can often have a bite. Of course if you live in the
upper peninsula of Michigan you'd think they were balmy. If I rely exclusively on wood I use about 4
- 5 cords a season. In Michigan you might use 8-9.
A cord is a unit of measurement for firewood that consists of 4' x 4' x 8' or 128 cubic feet. Of that,
85-90 cubic feet will be wood, the rest is air. If you cut your firewood 16" long then it will take three
rows 4' high by 8' long to make one cord of firewood.
WHAT AND WHEN DO I CUT? If we plan to use firewood cut from live trees in the winter of
1999-2000 we have to cut it down before the sap begins to rise in the Spring of 1999. If we want
the wood to be dry in 6 months then we must utilize every shortcut we can. The very best shortcut is
to cut the tree down before it becomes saturated with Spring sap. Why can't we just cut dead trees
for firewood? Mainly because it is not (in most cases) practical. Trees that die don't just fall over and
lay there waiting for us to come along and cut them up. They usually stand for many years slowly
decaying. They become weak, unstable and unpredictable. This makes them dangerous to cut. They
will often drop large limbs as they fall and falling large limbs can maim or kill you. But maybe you're
lucky and you have a good supply of safe dead wood. If so go ahead and use it. It will be harder to
cut and split than green wood but not excessively so. In addition, cutting live trees does not harm the
environment if done correctly. A mature hardwood forest consists of many older (30-75 years old)
trees. It forms a dense canopy that allows little light to reach the forest floor. This inhibits the growth
of replacement trees. If you walk through a mature forest, you will see a minimum amount of
undergrowth and the undergrowth that is there consists of scrub species or poorly shaped, weak
hardwoods. When you selectively cut older trees you create a break in the canopy that allows sun in.
If you go back a few years later you will be amazed at the lush growth that is now occurring.
IT'S FEBRUARY, LETS GO CUT SOME WOOD. The first rule of cutting wood is: NEVER CUT
ALONE. In most cases you are going to be out of sight or earshot. If you have a serious accident,
you are going to lay there helpless. Most of my wood cutting was done with my brother. This was
perfect as we were both experienced and we were able to work quickly and efficiently. But when,
for some reason he wasn't available, I took my wife or in later years one of my daughters along. Their
primary function was to go for help if something went wrong. They also acted as my spotter but I'll
explain that later. You should dress warmly and in layers. You will be removing layers as you warm
up. On calm days I have gotten all the way down to a T-Shirt when engaging in strenuous splitting.
Wear boots, preferably steel toed boots with good wool socks. Do not wear tennis shoes. Bring a
good pair of properly fitting leather work gloves. Take water to drink - you will need it. The tools
you will need will vary with what you are planning to do that day. If you are cutting trees down you
will of course need a good reliable chain saw with a bar and chain long enough to accomplish the job.
Please don't try to cut firewood with a small, 14", happy suburban homeowner chainsaw that you got
at Home Depot for $99 on sale. These are for cutting branches off the trees in your yard. If you are
serious about cutting firewood you will be cutting trees with a diameter of 12-24 inches. A 22" saw is
a reasonable size. There are a number of good chainsaw brands available. I have always gotten
decent results with Stihl and Echo chainsaws. You will need several SHARP chains. If you have only
one dull chain, don't waste your time and endanger yourself to boot. Stay home and watch TV. Bring
the appropriate tool to adjust the tension on your chain bar and to replace the chain when it becomes
dull. Most good saws include an all-in-one tool for replacing sparkplugs, replacing chains, and
adjusting bar tension. Bring an extra spark plug (a new one - not an old one you took out of your
saw 5 years ago and you found rolling around in the bed of your truck).Bring an adequate amount of
2 stroke oil and any measuring device you may need to mix the oil with gas in the proper proportions.
Bring a container of premixed oil and gas. Bring a second container of plain gas for mixing.
(Remember we are going to do some serious work today). Last but not least bring along a sufficient
quantity of oil for the chain bar. Several quarts is not too much. A multifunction tool that hangs in a
holster on your belt is also nice to have. It's amazing the mechanical problems that can beset you in
the woods.
OKAY WE"RE IN THE WOODS. WHAT NOW? This can vary a lot so I'll give you a typical day
when I'm cutting.
o First survey the area and decide which trees make good candidates for cutting. Look for trees that
are the desired species. (This can be hard for a novice since there are no leaves on the trees in
February. A good Guide Book for trees may help. Don't despair. It won't be long before you can
identify a leafless tree with a glance).
o Look for trees that have straight, smooth trunks with a minimum of branches. Branches make for
knots which mean more effort trimming, cutting, and particularly splitting. Look for trees that are the
desired width. Trees fourteen to sixteen inches in diameter at chest height will produce a good
quantity of good quality firewood. Look for trees that are bunched together within 15-20 feet.
Cutting all but one will help the survivor grow.
o Look to see if you can make the tree fall in such a way that it is easily accessible for trimming and
dismembering. The best tree in the world isn't much good if you drop it in the neighboring swamp.
Watch to see if there's any way you can drop one tree on top of another without creating a terrible
mess. Let me explain. The hardest tree to cut up is the one dropped on flat ground. None of it is up
in the air so the main trunk must be cut up into sections so it can be rolled over to complete each cut
through the main trunk. Each time you cut through the trunk you run the risk of hitting the dirt, or even
worse, a stone. Hit the dirt with a chain and the odds are it will need to be resharpened before you
can use it again. Do this a couple of times and your wood cutting expedition just ended hours early. If
you can drop a tree across another one that is perpendicular to it, you can trim a large part of the
crown and trunk with a minimum of fuss. When you get to where the tree crosses the other tree and
you simply have to cut it, before you do, put a smaller diameter piece of wood (it's best if it's 8' or so
long) under the middle of the trunk that remains. This will continue to hold the trunk up even if not as
high as before. Then you trim back to that point (usually you are trimming from the small end to the
large end). If you keep doing this and you do it right you can trim until you have only a short section
of trunk left which is easily cut up by cutting 3/4 through on one side, rolling it over, and completing
the cut. You can save a lot of work if you can drop a tree in just the right place.
o Okay, now I'm going to cut down my first tree. How do I go about this? If you take a broom and
hold it as straight as you can and let go it is likely to fall in almost any direction. A tree cut improperly
is just a much larger version of your broom - only this time you're standing there with no time to get
clear. You can make a tree to fall in a certain direction if: 1. It's not leaning in one direction. The most
skilled tree cutter cannot make a tree that's leaning 10 degrees fall the opposite way without heavy
duty equipment. So don't try. Gravity will win every time. 2. Not so easy to detect is a tree that is off
balance in it's crown. If a tree is off balance it will try it's mightiest to fall to the side with the most
weight or longest branches. It's hard to teach this. Take your time and examine the tree thoroughly.
You are about to unleash some strong forces. You don't have to always be correct - if you are
careful and take adequate precautions. 3. Is there any wind? One time my brother and I ignored
what we knew to be safe and decided to cut down trees on a windy February day. After the first
eight trees were cut, we had only three trees on the ground and five standing because the wind was
holding them up. We decided at that point this was entirely too dangerous a place to be. We came
back the next day and all the trees were on the ground. Were we stupid? Yes. Did we ever do it
again? No.
o Okay. You've selected a nice 12 inch oak that is tall and straight, the crown is compact and
regular, and as near as you can determine after examining it from three directions it's not leaning in
any direction. Time to take it down. You've selected a place for it to fall where it won't hit any other
trees and get hung up. What's around the base of the selected tree? You are going to need a retreat
route 135 degrees from the direction the tree is going to fall and it has to be on the side you will be
standing. If something goes wrong you don't want to run straight back as the tree will often kick
straight back nor do you want to go to the side as the tree could go that way. However a tree will
rarely go in an oblique direction so that is where you want to be. Make sure there is ABSOLUTELY
NOTHING IN YOUR WAY. You are liable to be backing up with a running chainsaw in your
hands. Do you really want to take the chance of tripping? Great! Now you've got a safe area to cut
in. You are going to make you first cut on the side you want the tree to fall on but perpendicular to
that direction. It will be a notch cut 1/3 of the way into the tree. Make the notch around 45 degrees
total. Remove the piece of notched wood if it didn't fall out on it's own. Don't stick your fingers in to
remove it. If it doesn't come out fairly easily the notch isn't cut all the way through. Finish it.
Okay, you're almost there Paul Bunyan. Let's finish it. Here is where a spotter is a great help.
Position your partner 25 to 30 feet to one side where you can see him/her clearly in your peripheral
vision. Your spotters job is to watch the crown (top) of the tree you are cutting and to let you know
when the tree starts to come down OR IF IT STARTS TO MOVE IN THE WRONG
DIRECTION. A millimeters movement where you are cutting can become 6" of movement in the
crown. Agree with your spotter that he is not to move unless he is signaling you. Remind your spotter
that you will not be able to hear him so he better wave his arms well when the appropriate time
comes. Let's make the final cut. This cut will be around 8" above the previous cut but on the opposite
side of the tree, exactly parallel to the first cut and angled down at 35 to 40 degrees. It will generally
go no closer than 1-2 inches from the first cut. DO NOT TRY TO CUT THROUGH THE TREE.
The object is to get the last 1-2 inches of wood to act as a hinge and hold the trunk in place as it
begins to fall. When the tree begins to fall, move away at an oblique angle and get back at least 10'.
Do not turn around and ignore the tree as you are moving - it might be falling the wrong way. If
you've done everything right the tree should fall approximately where you wanted it to be. And if it
isn't no big deal. It's kinda like the early days of flying when they reckoned any landing you could
walk away from was a good one. If the tree is on the ground, no one is injured and nothing is
damaged you just successfully cut down your first real tree. |
