Just had an ash taken down which I'm going to split into firewood. Any suggestions on how long to season it before starting? Also, I've got a Fiskars X27, which is pretty efficient, but I'm getting tired of the frequency of having to reset the edge and the handle vibration. Anyone have a favored implement?
OT: Splitting firewood
- Thread starter Art
- Start date
bwifan
Well-Known Member
Dead by the reckoning of my tree man, but even he isn't certain. Uprooted last week during high winds.
most online reports indicate 6 months if cut in 2-foot lengths and split; longer time to weather if cut longer/not split/etc.
Ash has a lower water content than many other hardwoods, which has lead to a misconception that it can be burned green, or earlier than other hardwoods. From what I can tell, the lower water content is accurate, but it still needs to season @ 6 months.
You're using an axe to split it? Hmm. You should invite @demlion to drive over and help out. He has lots of apparatus for splitting. Of course, he may bring his boat along, so there's no telling what adventure he'll get into before departing.
Ash has a lower water content than many other hardwoods, which has lead to a misconception that it can be burned green, or earlier than other hardwoods. From what I can tell, the lower water content is accurate, but it still needs to season @ 6 months.
You're using an axe to split it? Hmm. You should invite @demlion to drive over and help out. He has lots of apparatus for splitting. Of course, he may bring his boat along, so there's no telling what adventure he'll get into before departing.
Yeah, but unfortunately it is a Fiskars x27.
If the ash was already dead, then not too long at all. Split it and stack it under a roof so it does not get rained on, and you will be easily good by fall. Even if it is green, it is one of the lowest creosote woods going. Should be ready by fall either way.
Yeah, but unfortunately it is a Fiskars x27.
If the ash was already dead, then not too long at all. Split it and stack it under a roof so it does not get rained on, and you will be easily good by fall. Even if it is green, it is one of the lowest creosote woods going. Should be ready by fall either way.
Guess I'm just looking for someone to give me an excuse to fork out $200 for a Gransfor Bruk. For that kind of money, it should split the wood without me.
Thanks for the tip. Looks like I've got a fair amount in 16-18" diameter.
most online reports indicate 6 months if cut in 2-foot lengths and split; longer time to weather if cut longer/not split/etc.
Ash has a lower water content than many other hardwoods, which has lead to a misconception that it can be burned green, or earlier than other hardwoods. From what I can tell, the lower water content is accurate, but it still needs to season @ 6 months.
You're using an axe to split it? Hmm. You should invite @demlion to drive over and help out. He has lots of apparatus for splitting. Of course, he may bring his boat along, so there's no telling what adventure he'll get into before departing.
Looks that way. The nearby equipment rental that had gas-powered hydraulic splitters went out of business.
My neighborhood lost several ash trees to this guy. Several others are still alive and being treated. But the long term prognosis isn't great.
http://www.emeraldashborer.info/
http://www.emeraldashborer.info/
Buy a lathe and turn the ash into baseball bats. Better use than firewood.
Think I'm sticking with my x27. Should be more than adequate for the task which isn't oak in this case.
LOL, you want Art to make baseball bats for the kids, actually I thought the same when i first read this thread earlier when i came home from work........
IPO
The only things I can make on a lathe are shavings and sawdust.
You have lots of time. Split a few chunks every day, stack as you go. Even at one chunk a day, how long could it take? You cant have more than 30 chunks, right.
Think how buff you will be.
On the bat issue, in Warren County where I grew up, near a town called Akeley, there was a bat mill that made 4 foot long blanks for ball bats. All our LL bats were free from H&B. All that is kind of over, as the switch to soft maple in well underway.
The Nortons?I knew the daughters of the guy who ran the bat factory in Akeley VERY well
I knew Norton's, but talking about Donaldson's
my memory is getting bad, now you have me wondering if Mr. Donaldson even was involved with the mill; I do know Mr. Norton, he was neighbor to one of my best friends growing up.
Jack Norton was the son of the guy who owned it when I was a kid. Jack was a Social Studies teacher at Eisenhower when I went there, then he retired and I think took over the Bat Mill from his dad. Jack would be 70-ish now.
The Donaldsons were farmers right up in that same neck of the woods. The dad's name might have been Jack, too. I think he was a Commissioner in Warren Co. His son Mike Donaldson was one of my HS teammates and friends. Still in touch with him.
Other nearby residents included the Cable family: Dudley, Diana, Bruce, Mandy. They would all be in their 50s-60s now. Not sure how old you are, so hard to line it up.
I had one cut down a couple of years ago because of this and another which will have to be taken down in a year or two. It is right now full of holes from woodpeckers eating the bore beetle.
Thirty-five more or less, but you're right, I'll do 2-3 a day and should be fine. Just recalling my last adventure with a pin oak, just a major pain even after sitting for two years. This one should be a lot easier
Yes, I went to school with all those families, graduated Ike in 86.
Yes, Jack D lived on a farm on top of the hill.
Also out that way were the Bortz's who own Cable Hollow GC, played football with them both.
Maybe you were coached by Jim Wilkins(?) RIP (he was mu guidance counselor who told me I was too smart to be an accountant and should look into engineering lol). I broke in the new coach Conrad Danielson who sorta stunk his first couple years but developed a pretty good FB program over the years.
The Donaldson I was referring to was Amy, who was adopted, and from what I understand is sorta estranged from the family now. Jenny was a year older than me.
Nope. I was at the end of the Firth Era. My younger bro had a year or two of Wilkins.
BTW, up til 85 or so, my Dad was a French and English teacher at Ike.
Last edited:
Didn't even know Firth had coached FB. He was my PE teacher. I had some fun with his daughter too, who walked on to play for Russ Rose; actually played a bit, and is now coaching East Carolina VB
A few things about ash. It is a rather dry wood to begin with. It doesn't have the moisture content of wood like some of the maples, oak and most other hardwoods. I've sawn millions of board feet of ash logs on a sawmill. I've also burnt quite a bit of it, and 6 months should be plenty. I've never had ash hiss in the wood stove.
Ash is one of the easiest wood to split. Unless you have a bunch of knots, you should be able to bust it apart with a decent axe.
Ash will attract powder post beetle, as will many other species. You'll know they are there after you find piles of sawdust that are sitting on top of your firewood. It doesn't hurt the firewood, but you don't want all that dirt in the house. Ash mills will keep the logs wet to keep the beetle away.
Ash is one of the easiest wood to split. Unless you have a bunch of knots, you should be able to bust it apart with a decent axe.
Ash will attract powder post beetle, as will many other species. You'll know they are there after you find piles of sawdust that are sitting on top of your firewood. It doesn't hurt the firewood, but you don't want all that dirt in the house. Ash mills will keep the logs wet to keep the beetle away.
I am not busting your balls (well, not ONLY that) but how many years have passed since the pin oak?
Quite a few. Fortunately I don't have to have trees taken down every year. That would make for some pretty expensive firewood.
I'll be damned, they still make the chopper 1! I heated our old house a half dozen years with the wood that puppy split. Handle to short, the only shortcoming (no pun intended) less having to burn wood at all! I'm talking over 40 years ago I used the chopper 1!
I loved using the Chopper1 ! In my youth I used to split pick up truck loads with it and sell the wood to make some extra cash. I think it may still be in the family tool shed! I used it at one of my houses way back and I was a little too close to the driveway and a piece went flying and dented our minivan adding character to it! Wife wasn't too happy,
True story: My first visit to Ireland back in 1989ish, a buddy and I were on the road between Dublin and Galway where we stopped at a little roadside museum. Upstairs in a section called things found in the bogs, next to an old rusty rifle was a Chopper 1!
Very interesting and odd story. Do wonder how it ended up there! Murder weapon?
Similar threads
