Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

[Toomulla]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

The safest way is to use a solid bench a lever arm and 'u' bolt to cramp the timber and two people one operating the cramp and one cutting you will be surprised at the speed. Much faster then a the trip to hospital

[wotavidone]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

I've tried them all.
Hydraulic log splitters, chainsaws petrol and electric, tractor mounted bench saws made for the very job at hand, handheld circular saws, drop saws, mitre saws, axes sharp and blunt, jigsaws, reciprocating saws, etc.
They all have one thing in common.
Anything that can go through wood will have absolutely no problem going through human flesh and bone.

[stonecutter]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

They all have one thing in common.
Anything that can go through wood will have absolutely no problem going through human flesh and bone.

Thats a fact...but some are more proficient at it than others.

Personally, if I cut anything under 8", it was right off the crown of the tree I just dropped....everything is cut to length with a chainsaw. Anything under 3"-4" is for the chipper or burn pile. Granted I had all the wood I wanted so I could pick and choose. But you won't see me using a miter saw to cut rough timber..ever.

[mikku]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

Thats a fact...but some are more proficient at it than others.

Personally, if I cut anything under 8", it was right off the crown of the tree I just dropped....everything is cut to length with a chainsaw. Anything under 3"-4" is for the chipper or burn pile. Granted I had all the wood I wanted so I could pick and choose. But you won't see me using a miter saw to cut rough timber..ever.

You can say that for any type of tool that we every use. They might be designed for one thing, but there are a lot of other uses than what is printed on the sales literature.

Stonecutter- sorry to hear you throw all the small stuff away, you still have to go through the process of chipping it or burning it and you get no benefit out of it by disposing of in that manner. Long time ago when a person could talk freely and not have to worry about political correctness, you'd day. Injun make small fire and stand close, White man make big fire and stand far away! Make big smoke and waste too much wood! Not even peace pipe or happy smoke! But both stay warm!

All that good small stuff makes really good fire--just a little effort handling it. Just like utilizing a resource that in other places of the world is so highly prized!

[stonecutter]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

It takes way too much of my time to fiddle around with brush. If I needed it because of a limited supply, that would be a different story

[Gulf]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

I guess my time is not quite as valuable. So I'll just keep cutting "brush.....under 3" to 4" ................ But, I do agree with using the right tool for the right job.......It is a hll of a lot safer .

[wotavidone]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

It takes way too much of my time to fiddle around with brush. If I needed it because of a limited supply, that would be a different story

It takes way too much of my time fiddling around with splitting the big stuff.

It's different over here, obviously. Eucalypts have an endearing habit of dropping branches. Which is fine if you aren't parked under them at the time.
With some gums, that can be a live branch that will take for ever to season.

However, the really long lived eucalypts have branches die on the tree. Then it snaps off clean. By the time it hits the ground there is nothing but extremely dry timber. No bark. And then the firewood scavengers come along and take the bigger bits and leave the thinnings behind.
Then I come along and say thanks very much for leaving me the smaller wood.
Which is already the size I want, is light and easy on my mangled back, and cuts easy in any saw. Some varieties actually shatter into the right lengths when they land on the ground - no BS.
Anyway, the best bit about eucalypts - you never have to actually kill a tree to get a ute load of very well seasoned wood.

[stonecutter]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

I guess my time is not quite as valuable.

Not what I'm saying...and not what I mean.


This is a matter of prospective. There was so much wood where I came from, you don't bother with the brush, and that is exactly what the small stuff is. The btu yield is not as high as split logs, the time it takes to break down small branches is comparable to processing large wood...with the right equipment. I know that this thread is about wood for recreational ovens, so I guess my point is useless.

I am sometimes guilty of posting things that come from a professionals prospective, this type of work was part of what I did for years during the winter. So in this case , the value iis not on the small branches. And I do get the value of using deadfall and such. But sometimes " killing" a tree is actually better for the health of the wood lot...and customers don't want dead wood.

[Gulf]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

Where I come from there is also a lot of wood. And it is very true here too, that most don't bother with the brush. I follow behind the firewood cutters who sell their split hardwood pickup loads for about 125 to 150 bucks. It seems that they regularly think of 5" to 6" and under as brush. I guess it depends on where and how it is laying on the ground once it is felled. I wouldn't want to cut and haul firewood every day but, I get a kick out of getting something for next to nothing. I'm not sure about the BTU's of split vrs. limbs, but I do know that limbs will clear a dome .

[wotavidone]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

And I do get the value of using deadfall and such. But sometimes " killing" a tree is actually better for the health of the wood lot...and customers don't want dead wood.

It really is different in your neck of the woods.
My mate dabbled in firewood supply as an income supplement.
Over here people grizzle if the timber hasn't come from a fully dead tree. They want well and truly dead redgum, or mallee roots. Nothing else. Red gum that died several years ago has no bark, is grey on the outside and red on the inside, and that's just the way they like it.
The branches are the same whether they are 2 inches thick or ten. Pound for pound same calorific value. But redgum is a very dense slow burning wood, which is another reason I like the thin stuff - for a given weight there is much more surface area burning, meaning quicker release of heat to the bricks.

Over here of course, wood sells by weight, not volume.
So we don't have discussions about whether a cord of wood is well packed, etc.
I imagine if timber is being sold by volume, split logs would pack best and thus deliver the most BTU's per cord.
Instead we have arguments about whether the wood dealer's ton was really a ton.

[stonecutter]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

It really is different in your neck of the woods.
My mate dabbled in firewood supply as an income supplement.
Over here people grizzle if the timber hasn't come from a fully dead tree. They want well and truly dead redgum, or mallee roots. Nothing else. Red gum that died several years ago has no bark, is grey on the outside and red on the inside, and that's just the way they like it.
The branches are the same whether they are 2 inches thick or ten. Pound for pound same calorific value. But redgum is a very dense slow burning wood, which is another reason I like the thin stuff - for a given weight there is much more surface area burning, meaning quicker release of heat to the bricks.

Over here of course, wood sells by weight, not volume.
So we don't have discussions about whether a cord of wood is well packed, etc.
I imagine if timber is being sold by volume, split logs would pack best and thus deliver the most BTU's per cord.
Instead we have arguments about whether the wood dealer's ton was really a ton.

By weight? Man, talk about volumetric variables. Depending on how green the wood is, weight is all over the place. No wonder you guys want dried up deadfall by the ton, that would be a lot of timber.

[wotavidone]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

By weight? Man, talk about volumetric variables. Depending on how green the wood is, weight is all over the place. No wonder you guys want dried up deadfall by the ton, that would be a lot of timber.

Yep. It's a lot of heat. Can be anywhere from $150 per ton up to $300 or more, depending on demand, and whether the seller is trying to make a living or beer money.
The theory is, by weight most timbers fall within a very small range of calorific values. On the other hand, by volume timbers can vary quite markedly with regard to how much heat you are buying. So it depends what you are used to, I guess.
Of course over here, half the shonky buggers selling you a "ton" of wood haven't ever seen a weighbridge in their lives.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

G'day
Most Aussie hardwoods have a wavy grain which is nigh on impossible to split in a block if its still green. But on the other side if completely dry is nigh on impossible to cut into blocks if fully dry. Most wood getters will cut as damp as they can then leave it as long as there are able till selling it. As a buyer sometimes it luck of the draw in what you get.
I burnt part of the hardwood house frame left from my neighbor Reno. After a few cuts with a tungsten blade all you produced was black dust instead of sawdust. 50 yrs to season in a dry wall makes for really hard wood.
Did burn well though.
Regards Dave

[mikku]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

Anyone ever use a saw rig?

It scares me to think of it and I'm really happy nobody ever got hurt cutting wood.

The rig was something my father made in the time before chainsaws--quite a while back. He welded together a steel frame that would mount to the back of our old Farmall tractor. At least I think it was a Farmall.

The steel frame also formed the mount for a long shaft and some bearing mounts- One end of the shaft had a flat pulley that a wide flat belt would run on--powered from a side PTO and matching large flat pulley. The other end of the shaft had a threaded arbor- with a huge flange , another big flange and finally a big nut. Installed on the shaft was a 36" circular saw blade.

The sliding table that ran on grooves and a weight to help return the sliding table to the safe position.

Thinking now, there were no guards on the flat belt or any kind of guards around that big blade--just that big mother whizzing along at PTO speeds. You could make it run faster by running the tractor engine faster!

But that is how we cut up wood when I was growing up. The old man could lift the 100" logs onto the table and force the log thru the saw blade at desired lengths. We would be on the drop end--next to the blade to catch what came off when the log was cut. Crazy Finlanders in the backwoods of Minnesota trying to make it through the winter months with firewood for the house stove and sauna. I still can remember the sound of the saw blade singing when it got up to speed! That is over 55 years ago! We did use the branches in those times also! Cutting down a tree took a lot of time with an axe or big hand saw. So all the wood gathered was precious!

I'm trying to remember, but there was something on the cut off side of the blade that would deflect the log pieces away from the blade. We didn't have to hold on to the piece when it was being cut or stand right next to the blade.
When there were two adults running the rig, then they would catch the block and throw the wood into a heap.

[stonecutter]

Re: Kiln dried Vs Seasoned?

Those were days when men were men, and the logs were huge. I would have liked to see your fathers set-up.