Why I Oughta...

Do you have a pile of Norway Maple firewood laying around?  Processed (into rounds) or unprocessed.  Split or unsplit.  I don't think it matters.   What doesn't matter, Jake?   I don't think it matters if you've done everything you can to Norway Maple firewood to get it dry and seasoned.  You'll still have some fungus growth.  See below for a peek at the mushrooms that are growing on some of my Norway Maple that I've been working through since last Fall: We had this large Maple tree taken down last Fall and I started to split the rounds immediately .  I've worked through a bunch of it (not all, though) in the 12 months since.  I've stored the wood up on racks to keep it off the ground and it hasn't mattered. I've even measured the moisture content .   Note...this pile is NOT covered.  But, it still gets mushrooms.   #20 on my 2023 to-do list was to finish processing this wood.   Have I done that? ...

In October, I began to split all the Norway Maple wood that came from the mature tree that we took down in our front yard .  The crew that took the tree down processed the trunk and major limbs into rounds of various lengths and put them up on a rack in the far back of our property.   That work continued in November and December.   In November, I decided to begin to attack some of the large pieces with a splitting wedge to get some smaller pieces that I could split with my axe and that's been really helpful in getting some of the larger pieces processed.  I've used the fact that some of the wood is just sitting on the ground as a sort-of forcing function to compel me to split those pieces first.  They're the largest ones because I couldn't lift them up on the rack due to their weight.  By November 11th, I noted that some of the freshly-split Norway Maple was *VERY* high in moisture with a reading of 50% moisture .  But, a month later, it was ...

A few days ago, I posted some photos and an update on my annual firewood consumption and speculated that I was moving faster than I needed to (in terms of burning) and that without some intervention, I would likely consume my entire stockpile of firewood before the end of the burning season - March 1st, 2023.  In that post , I talked about how I might extend my supply by cutting in some of the recently-split Norway Maple firewood from the large tree in our front yard that we took down.   It was just a couple of weeks ago that one of my fresh, just recently-split pieces of Norway Maple was registering 50% on my moisture meter .  Norway Maple has a reputation of being VERY fast drying and gets down to sub-20% moisture very quickly.  But, how quickly?   Here's what the moisture meter is showing on a few different pieces of this same Norway Maple firewood after just 2+ weeks: What the what?  13 and 14 percent?  Anything under 20 is ready to be b...

I've gone about splitting, stacking and seasoning firewood in different bursts (of activity) over the past few years.  Usually, I process, split, stack the wood during the winter months in preparation for Fall/next Winter burning.  Here's a look at some January 2021 winter-time splitting .  I've done this with a splitting axe.  But, the Norway Maple rounds that I recently put on the new rack in the backyard are different than what I've dealt with previously.  Some of these rounds are *so* big and *so* heavy that I can't really move them, let alone put them up on a block to begin splitting.  So, the axe has worked, but it has mostly - what I call - 'nibbled' around the edge.  You can see those results here from the end of October where there are a lot of thin slices.   My Dad recommended that I try a splitting wedge on the very big, borderline immovable rounds.  The theory is that the wedge can split them in-place and by removing 1/2 to ...

I mentioned that I started to split some of the Norway Maple tree firewood that resulting from the removal of the large tree in our front yard.  In a post a couple weeks ago, I talked about how I've started to split some of the larger rounds with my axe.  I've taken a slow-but-steady approach to the project and will continue to split this wood over the next few months.  The first splits resulted in pieces that I am putting up on a rack to season for the year.  I did, however, want to begin to track the moisture content of this freshly cut, green wood.  Here, below, is a photo of my moisture meter showing 50% moisture in this piece:  The moisture level that split, dry firewood needs to get to in order to be considered 'seasoned' is below 20% - so we have a long way to go.  Norway Maple is known for 'drying quickly' , so I'll test this theory by trying to track these freshly split pieces in the coming weeks/months.  Will it be ready this season?...

As I mentioned in the post showing how we had our Norway Maple tree removed , we had the wood processed into rounds.  16 to 18" rounds.  That I could split as they dried out.  I wanted to see how hard these were going to be, so I put one of the larger rounds up on another one and began chopping with my axe.  I was able to split the round into about 40 different pieces.  Knowing I pay between 25 and 40 cents per piece of firewood, that means that one round processed into about $12-$15 of firewood.  Currently unseasoned firewood, but....still...firewood.  Here, below, is a look at the wood that came from just ONE round split by hand: As I empty out one of the racks close to the house, I'll start to fill it with this Norway Maple split wood.  Based on what I read on the Web, it doesn't take long for Norway Maple to season from green to 20% in six to eight weeks . That means...that we'll be able to burn this stuff THIS SEASON if I run out of wood....

Back in the end of June and early July, we had what felt like three-straight-weeks of constant rain.  My yard never looked better.  But it also had some other impacts - beyond having to cut the grass 3x per week to keep it how I wanted it.  I was moving some firewood around recently and noticed that a couple of the logs on TOP of our firewood racks were showing some new, white fungal growth: If you look at this post showing off the firewood rack that I built from parts I sourced dumpster diving next door, you can see that I put on a cedar shingle roof .  That *mostly* helps shed the water.  But, in one of those rain storms, our front yard Norway Maple lost a minor limb .  It came down and I cut it up into rounds.  But, I didn't process them fully as Summer tasks got away from me.  So, I just popped them up on TOP of the firewood rack.  They sat there thru all the rains.  And, you can see that they were already covered in moss from when t...

Earlier this week, I posted a photo of some of our seasoned Ash Firewood that has been processed, split and on the rack for a year and is showing cracks at the ends - checking - in firewood parlance .  That Ash firewood was from our neighbor's house pre-tear down and besides the checking and cracks, the wood has taken on a much darker color and when you *clack* them together, they give you that good, seasoned firewood sound.   This year, we had a large(ish) limb come down from the Norway Maple in our front yard.  It dropped during the "El Derecho" wind storm that came through in August .   With the help my neighbor Matt (and his chainsaw), we processed some of that limb into rounds and stuck them up on one of the racks to begin to dry out.  My plan was to begin to process these pieces later this Winter when cabin fever got the best of me.   But, I was over by the racks straightening some things out earlier this week and noticed that some of t...