Pretty new to this, and struggling to find inexpensive (ideally free...) source of wood for fire. Can buck/split. Any suggestions/advice would be much-appreciated. Also--is it OK to burn sumac? Thank you!
Wood source; sumac
Pretty new to this, and struggling to find inexpensive (ideally free...) source of wood for fire. Can buck/split. Any suggestions/advice would be much-appreciated. Also--is it OK to burn sumac? Thank you!
Any wood that is not treated or painted should be fine. Some people burn pallets which are often free. As for sumac, I'm assuming you mean staghorn sumac. That will burn but don't expect a lot of btus out of it. We used some last year in our block arch. It's pulpy and burns hot and quick. It's not hardwood but you can't beat free.
“A sap-run is the sweet good-bye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.”~John Burroughs, "Signs and Seasons", 1886
backyard mapler since 2006 using anything to get the job done from wood stove to camp stove to even crockpots.
2012- moved up to a 2 pan block arch
2013- plan to add another hotel pan and shoot for 5-6 gallons
Thinking small is best for me so probably won't get any bigger.
In our area we have a sumac that some call poison sumac. I burn it to get ride of it. Pound for pound it has great btu potential if dry. What it really sucks and smells bad. Relative said don't breath the smoke...maybe that's why he is a little off. LOL
Pallets are a cheap source...check out some warehouses in your area. I know one place that pays $500/ week to get ride of them. I was taking them for free, then they paid me $50/wk. But I had a mountain of them and couldn't take any more so they had to hire another outfit. Hard to burn 100+ pallets a week in my wood furnace and the evaporator.
Good Luck!
The reason to not inhale the smoke is because some people are sensitive to poison sumac and can react to the smoke from it.I would avoid using it in case it could cause a reaction by the smoke or ashes getting into the syrup.
How many taps do you plan? You can often pick up free wood roadside as you drive around. Just split it small, wrist size is what you need for a good hot fire. When you think you have enough, keep getting more. It really sucks to run out before the season is over. Buck and split it now and stack in 2 stacks, one is pretty dry now, the second needs lots of drying. Then if your dry pile is big enough for sure, only burn that next year. If not, mix as needed. Just remember, wet wood uses lots of BTU's to dry so you will not boil as fast and will use lots more wood.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.
It is easy to ID staghorn sumac vs poison sumac especially this time of year when the fruiting red staghorns should be very visible. It's likely this is the sumac you mean as poison sumac is uncommon while staghorn is abundant and almost weedy in many places. That said, in my experience many people wrongly believe staghorn sumac is a poisonous tree.
Poison sumac should not be burned for the same reason poison ivy shouldn't be burned- the irritating, rash producing oil is carried in the smoke and should not be inhaled. But you probably don't even want to touch let alone cut the would of poison sumac if you are sensitive. Staghorn sumac doesn't contain those oils and is safe to both touch and burn.
“A sap-run is the sweet good-bye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.”~John Burroughs, "Signs and Seasons", 1886
backyard mapler since 2006 using anything to get the job done from wood stove to camp stove to even crockpots.
2012- moved up to a 2 pan block arch
2013- plan to add another hotel pan and shoot for 5-6 gallons
Thinking small is best for me so probably won't get any bigger.
Thanks
Thanks very much for ideas and info. 2012=12 taps, 2013=22 taps, 2014=72 taps planned on ~60 trees, all red. Collect into icing buckets from grocery store bakery (they give me buckets, very generous).
Happy Thoughts, the reds tops of Sumac, is that the only difference between the the two? We have a lot of Sumac in the area that has the red tops. Just wondering if we have both.
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Red clusters on top are definitely staghorn. Poison sumac has berries. Leaves and stems are also very different between the two species so you really can't mistake the difference. Staghorn branches are fuzzy like velvet and its leaf edges are jagged. Poison sumac has smooth branches and leaf edges.
Here's a link with pictures for better ID
http://www.poison-sumac.org/
hope that helps
PS- the pithy stems of staghorn can be hollowed out and cut for use as maple taps
Last edited by happy thoughts; 09-20-2013 at 07:20 AM.
“A sap-run is the sweet good-bye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.”~John Burroughs, "Signs and Seasons", 1886
backyard mapler since 2006 using anything to get the job done from wood stove to camp stove to even crockpots.
2012- moved up to a 2 pan block arch
2013- plan to add another hotel pan and shoot for 5-6 gallons
Thinking small is best for me so probably won't get any bigger.
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