Should I be frightened?

[68bird]

just got some pine slabs today. Bucked em up. Hope I can get them dry in time. This will be my first year. useing a leader halfpint, and about 50 buckets. Hope I can pull this off!::

[Mark-NH]

How fresh are they? I don't think they are going to dry much in the next 4 weeks unless you can get creative.

[oneoldsap]

Green pine slabs are worthless for making heat , and not much better when they're dry ! Dry hardwood is what you want , split small , so the air can get through . Buy yourself some dry firewood , and make some syrup !

[68bird]

Thanks guys I'll split small and maybe put in garage, and then mix with ash,and pallets to make some heat.

[Starting Small]

I just bought a 2X3 from Bill Mason and he said "...I recommend soft wood , pine or spruce slabs cut short, split fine, building debris that are not painted or glued, the junk wood that you wouldn’t burn in your house wood stove." Is this because of the evaporator and blower or just a different opinion?

[Heart Stone Farm]

I use pine that I get free from the neighbors who do not want it. I split it up pretty large then let it dry for a few years. The pine is great, it gets hot very quickly, but it does not last very long. Having done some time feeding a coal fired locomotive, it can feel pretty much the same, just keep adding and adding. If I need a break, I throw some hard wood in because it does last longer.

Good luck!

[Starting Small]

When you cut the hardwood do you cut it small or leave it large? When you say for the air to go through split small is that for drying or during burning?

[smokeyamber]

split small to start with ( wrist size ) for everything, I learned this as well, the only time I use big stuff in my batch setup if is if I am going in for dinner and want there to be a fire when I get back. Can't do this with a continuous setup.

One time I got my stack to glow red with 10ft flames coming out was burning pallets... boil was insane and at 2am ... outside ( block arch ) it was pretty neat except I was close to pulling off the batch so not good timing... :o

Pallets work great for mixing with wet wood, but in the end wet wood just sucks for boiling... been there the first two years and now I have nice dry stuff cause I like to sleep a bit :lol:...

If you are spliting by hand one neat setup I came upon is to stack two tires, screw them together and then fill with the blocked wood and split away, the wood stays put and you can really split fast and small. Actually this method is a serious workout too.:D I have doing my stuff this way for a couple of years and love it, though I have been collecting stuff to build a splitter for the bigger stuff ( likely with a 3-way splitter on it ) .

[Dill]

With all of the wind/ice/snow storms we've had the woods are full of standing and down dead trees. Look around, I bet you can find some standing dead free pine that will burn a lot better.

[SSFLLC]

If you have dry dont mix with the wet wood. All the BTU's from the dry wood goes into drying the the wet to burn. Find a place to get pallets or scrap. I went the route of mixing very tough trying to keep a good boil. If you have ash cut that now and split it down to wrist size or smaller. Smaller at this point is better to get it dry. Stack it so the air can get thruogh it. Make sure its covered on the top so snow and rain stay off of it. Keith

[steve J]

My experience is particularly with blower slabs burn fast so I mix slabs with hardwood that has been split as stated abovue about the size of one wrist.

[Starting Small]

When cut to wrist size how long does it take for wood to dry?

[SSFLLC]

That depends on the weather and temp. The wood you choose is also going to play a part in this. Most standing dead wood will be drier than fresh cut pine slabs. Unless the standing dead wood has already started to rot.

[Starting Small]

What do you think about Catalpa and maple for length of time to dry?

[Dill]

green or dead?
I've been cutting pine that blew down 2 febs ago. Its been off the ground in log length. When I cut it, the wood is wet. However its just water not "green" wet. So after a couple weeks under cover it burns great.

[Starting Small]

The wood that I am thinking of would be green/wet as in alive before the October storm but not cut till last week.

[Starting Small]

Sorry put in wrong month...Oct not Feb

[Dill]

Its not going to burn well. I'd start scrounging now.

[oneoldsap]

When you cut the hardwood do you cut it small or leave it large? When you say for the air to go through split small is that for drying or during burning?

During burning ! Slabs tend to lay flat and bunch together , restricting air flow . Mixing some dry slabwood in with your hardwoods is okay if not overdone ! Now that being said , nothing will boil harder than good dry Hardwoods , all by its self ! Of course forcing air into the arch just makes it that much better !