firewood: chop it green or dried

So do most of you cut trees down that are alive? Or dead trees? or do you cut up "downed" timber?... I just read http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/2004/dec04/deadtree.htm
this and they suggest not cutting dead trees...I've always tried to cut up stuff that got knocked down from storms or logging...

depends on the design of your woodshed....ours is closed on 3 sides so we put in seasoned but alot of woodsheds are built by skipping a slat (space) every other board for ventilation...in which case green wood would work but it still needs time to cure...leave a half-log length space between rows either way and dont stack right to the roof

Our shed wasnt built to be a woodshed but thats what we use most of it for, and so we have no sign

I had one area that the beavers downed several cords of trees. Dead wood like that is dry and useful...and saves on some chain saw sharpening and fuel.

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I'm not one to waste, so even though I have lenty of trees available I tend to cut dead and downed. If I want better wood and to be easier on my saw though I cut green. When we have a storm though, I tend to take adantage of the best of the two and cut the green down damage first.

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Frank I have several Large hollow trees that I leave standing for Squirrels and Coons.I cut the smaller dead trees that are too weak.Problem is with brush fires around here,fire gets in them hollow trees you can hear them burning for a long ways sounds like a small Jet Engine.Plus if their close to a Fire Line you have to go cut them down not a fun Job.

big rockpile

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the wood shed is mostly for your seasoned wood.the green wood will take forever to season in a shed ,mainly due to the lack of air circulation.fill your wood rack by the house out of the shed.

Mostly depends upon how big your trees are as when to split and also what vareity they are.... mostly up where you are you wont run into anythhing that canno be split when dry as easy as when it is green. Even dead trees are gree to a degree and need to season out before using if a person can.

Ive sold wood for use that i cut one day and folks started to burn it that night, dead trees, big 36 inch trees that take 2 men and a boy to load a round in the pickup so we split those.....for the most part.... i did take a load or three home with some of those rounds on and took some pictures even had the wheelbarrow tied on top.

Smaller than 6 inches dont usually need be split to dry, but I like to make everything uniform as i can for sale, and easy handleing on my part so i split big rounds to 8ths or halves depending upon where i am putting them on a load....

As far as what splits easier, an 8 pound mall goes through just about everything around these parts, but sometimes needs help from a 3 pound doublebit which is what i use for most everything after the initial split if its big or full of knots. I have seen my 8 pounder bounce out of greener dead trees [needles red but still on] espeacially pine trees

It really is up to you as to when you split it, wood warms you twice, once when you cut/split it and once when you burn it.

William

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