slab wood newbie question

[Woody]

I have a chance to buy some oak slab wood bundles that are just under a cord. They want 45 a bundle. Would this stuff work ok or would it burn too fast? I'm remodling my house and won't have the time to cut firewood for next spring.

thanks

[Haynes Forest Products]

You left out one important part of the equation..how many bundles are we talking? I personally would rather have all Oak then all Pine. Combining wood is the best of both worlds getting good hot Oak with all the other mixes gives you a good hot STEADY fire.

[Woody]

Not sure how much I'd need. I was going to start with 6 bundles. Last year I had 135 taps out and would like to at least double that this year. Last season I cooked with some other guys but want to go on my own so I'm not sure how much wood I'd need. We burnt pine pallet wood last and boiled about 2000 gallons between us all. Any recomendations on the amount of wood I'd need if I doubled my taps??

thanks

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Woody,
I burn lots of slabs of almost all species (I have my own sawmill). Oak are fine. How old are the slabs (how dry)? If they are wide, you probably should split them. red oak takes a looooong time to dry and splitting will facilitate the process.

[Fred Henderson]

When firing with them try standing them on edge so as not to block the draft.

[Woody]

Don't know if this would be an accurate comparison but can someone give me a best guess on about how much wood I might go through per gallon made. I know there's a lot of variables but assume a fairly tight cooker with fire brick, etc. I'm thinking about a drop tube back pan.

thanks

[upsmapleman]

Figure at least a Full cord for every 25 to 30 gallon. 300 taps gives 3000 gallon of sap to make 75 gallon of syrup. so 3 full cord minimum but I always double what I think i will need at least for the 1st year.

Upsmapleman

[dschultz]

I have a 4x14 evaporator and I go through a stove cord of wood for every 300 gallons of sap

[KenWP]

What is a stove cord. I would like to see this oak wood burn. Many years ago I used oak for a forge and it worked well for me.

[brookledge]

i think you will actually be in the 15-20 gallons per cord. The biggest variable will be the sugar conntent
Keith

[Woody]

Stove cord, furnace cord, face cord......I think all of them reference a quantity of wood 4' high x something less than 4 foot wide x 8' long. Most often I've taken a face cord to mean 4' x 8' x 16 or 18". Don't know what others think.
Well I got my oak slab wood delivered a little bit ago. Pretty exciting. Now I can finish my house, build my cooker and not worry about having enough wood at least to start. Winters always a good time to cut more wood....
I also need to build a cupalo on my shed. Any secrets to that? The roofs at about a 6 /12.

thanks for the advice you guys....

Last year we had good sugar content - we were at about 28 to 30 gallons of sap / gal. syrup. It was my first year but the guys said everythings sweeter in Wisconsin......

[Clan Delaney]

Just today, I was actually looking through notes I took in Verona this past January.... this was one of them: Avoid slab wood, doesn't burn well in evap.

The reason is it's geometry. All those flat slabs layered on top of each other creates a barrier for air trying to move through your firebox. More air = hotter, more efficient boil.

That being said, a good price on wood is a good price on wood. If it were me, I think I'd split it into sticks before throwing it in the fire, but that's just cuz I'm a sucker for manual labor. :lol:

[3rdgen.maple]

Clan I burnt slab wood for years the key is splitting it and stacking like lattice in the firebox and there will be no problems. Since all my slabs were burnt up last year I burnt all good dry seasoned firewood of mixed hard and soft and it was split small. I miss the slabs I believe I could achieve a much hotter fire.

[220 maple]

Newbie,

I attended a seminar about 10 years ago , the guys from Leader who did the seminar at that time said it was ok to mix slab wood in with split and round pieces of firewood, they said it would not burn very good with all slab wood.
We use it when we have it.

Mark 220 Maple

[KenWP]

My family has run a roof truss factory for going on 35 years now and have burnt anything from 2x2s to 2x12s over the year and found it to work really well. Being lazy we allways stuck a bunch of wood in the truck and went camping even. Made for a quick fire when you get to the campground especially in the winter during hunting season.

[3% Solution]

Hi all,
We have always used Hemlock slabs.
We split them small, no larger than 3x3 or so.
Once in awhile there is a knot so the whole piece gets tossed in.
Turn the blower on and away they go.
Did try some split pine fire wood and didn't like it, didn't burn good.
We have put some pine in and then put some Hemlock in and wow what a difference with the Hemlock.
Spruce and Balsom is the best, the flue pan will some hop with that stuff under it!!
Just my two pennies and what works for us.

Dave

[TapME]

Woody, I've got a block arch 3x8 and we use about a cord of wood 4x4x8 to 20 gallons of syrup. I would guess that 4 cord would make you 80 to 100 gallons of syrup if your sugar % is 2.5 or better. It's always good to have extra for those test boils and more than expected sap. Our arch take a while to heat up but once it hot it works as good as the metal ones. Just remember that it's fun your trying to have not more work. Tap count for this coming season will be better than 300 for us. Have fun building the house and enjoy the maple syrup.

[Cardigan99]

Spruce and Balsom is the best, the flue pan will some hop with that stuff under it!!
Just my two pennies and what works for us.

Dave

Got to agree with you there Dave. they both dry pretty quick, split nice and burn like no tomorrow.

[green4310]

I used slabs for a few years before I converted to oil. Just stand them on edge all the way across. the space in between acts like a little chimny for each peice. They generaly have one face that is rounded so they don't fit too close. They may not be the best but they aren't bad. I'm talking about the thinner stuff two inches or less. The bigger stuff I put in the Hardy to heat the house.

[syrupkid]

during the 09 season i had some pine slabwood and my flat pan that usually has hot and cold spots was one huge leaping boil in it i usually got 15-20 gph for the few hours i had the pine slabs we got 25+ gph and the fire was huge and hot it burnt really fast but the extra boil rate was well worth it i got to bed before 2:00 that night

[3rdgen.maple]

Syrupkid is right i have gotten the same results. You have to fire more often but it boils hotter.

[brookledge]

I agree. Burns very hot and good boiling rates. Same thing goes with pallets. Down side is alot of feeding the fire.
Keith