Feeling guilty burning lumber

[julian abram]

For many years I have cut and split hardwood trees for firewood thinking about BTUs and not the potential lumber in each piece. Since I have returned to woodworking now I find myself scrutinizing the grain and features in each stick of firewood put though the splitter. May need to receive professional consulting if I can't shake the obsession. Here's a photo with my helper splitting a nice piece of curly red oak yesterday evening.

[Michael Weber]

Your helper is a real cutie pie. Still a lot of work even with good help. I like wood heat and have a small Jotul insert for the back of the house where we mostly live. Don't use it 24/7 though and we just purchase the wood. I'm trying to keep a year ahead so the wood gets decently dry. Sometimes watching the secondaries is better entertainment then the television.

[Moses Yoder]

Warmth, protection from cold, is a necessity. Beauty is not a necessity, it is a luxury. If trees are properly managed there are plenty for both purposes. I hate to see farmers push them into huge piles and set them on fire.

[Jebediah Eckert]

You need firewood In Arkansas? :D More then one piece of a tree, cut for firewood, made it to the shop!

[Prashun Patel]

Splitting wood like that causes the two halves to be roughly riven. If I had such a splitter, I'd rive the log into rough quarters, drawknife off the pith, and then consider it for spindle or leg stock for chairs. Nice helper!

[Lee Schierer]

I've heard of folks that save fire wood for projects. It is very common among the folks that do spinny woodworking.


It's good to see your helper wearing ear protection that close to a gasoline engine. She could use some eye protection as well.

[julian abram]

Yeah, some folks may not realize it can get pretty cool in NW Arkansas, we have a few single digit days and a lot of teen temp days. We burn wood most nights and weekends from Nov into March. In 2008 I built a living room addition and added a Quadra-Fire fireplace. We really enjoy that nice warm heat but it does like to eat firewood. We burn about 5-6 ricks/year which is about 2 cords in northern lingo. Photos of fireplace and firewood helper 7 years ago.
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[Jebediah Eckert]

Wow, wouldn't have guessed! I have an indoor wood boiler and go through 5 cord a year, when it runs out it runs out, back to oil. Usually light it in December and I run out about now. That's a lot of bowl blanks!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Good day Julian,

First off, I know all about the cold in NW Arkansas- Calico Rock used to be one of my favorite free climbs back when I was young and stupid and thought climbing without ropes was cool. Lucky to be alive!!! I also used to canoe the White River and will never forget how I used to lean out of the canoe, stick my head in the water, and drink right out of the river. I am sure today that would no longer be advised.

Your post immediately made me think of one of the Albergues on the Camino de Santiago which we stayed in the day before I asked my wife to marry me. In the forrier they had a stack of firewood. Take a look at what they were burning!!!! Sorry, the image is too big to upload the whole thing so this is a snippet of what was a whole stack of firewood. 309328

[Izzy Camire]

Julian,
I know what you mean. I split and burn a lot of beech. When it splits in the middle you see the rays in the wood. I hate burning some of it.
Izzy

[Kevin Bourque]

I saved some spalted red maple from the wood stove 2 years ago. Around 15-20 pieces.

[Larry Edgerton]

I heated my house for 6 days with Makore and Jatoba scrap this year. No guilt here. In fact I find it very gratifying to burn the Makore as the stuff is trying to kill me. Jatoba makes the best firewood, better than ironwood!

Occasionally when splitting I see some stuff that should be something, but its a long road from the firewood stack to something you can actually work with, so like Moses I take the philosophical view and put it in the stack.

[Mike Cutler]

I'll push 5 cord a year through a Quadra-Fire 5700.
Sometimes though I do save some of the cordwood for a turner friend if I think it will be something spectacular. I got some amazing curly and quilted ash about 10 years ago and he's still making small bowls, pens, and bottle stoppers, with it. I gave him some really nice choke cherry too.
Mostly though, up the chimney it goes.

[Ken Platt]

What I really hate is when I split a piece, and it's gorgeous inside, curly or burly or something, and the split ran right through the good part so that neither part is big enough for anything any longer.

I also tend to save crotch sections. They're hard to split well anyhow, and often have really nice grain in the center. I have a pretty good collection at this point. I try to limit my firewood "saves" because I just don't have room!

Ken

[Jim Matthews]

Stove length lumber is about the right size for drawer fronts.

I'm getting to the point that the curly stuff is nice to look at,
but the last material I choose. I'm more of a long boarder,
I prefer to cruise than cut back.

I forget how far North the Arkie border lies, Fayetville is
further North than Memphis, and 1400 feet up.

It gets cold in the Ozarks.

[julian abram]

I don't complain about North Arkansas weather after seeing those 7' snow banks along the Boston and East Coast areas. We live in an area where Artic cold fronts from the north collide with moisture coming from the Gulf producing ice or ice/snow mix. Even Dallas and the gulf coast states got a taste of that a few weeks ago. Here are some photos around our house from a horrific ice storm in 2009. The night of this storm sounded like artillery bursts as large trees snapped. This produced a lot of firewood, I'm still cutting some standing dead hardwoods from this storm.