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Madison Co. Virginia | Felled timber is usually wet. Almost too wet to be worth it, unless you're desperate for heat.
"Good" firewood is wood that's been split and stacked for at least a summer. Ideally it's been stacked for a year or more, and ultimately it's been stored under a roof.
After it has dried, the different species and the different amounts of decay will yield vastly different weights. You want the heaviest dry wood you can find. The heat content of the wood is almost completely proportional to the dry weight of the wood.
If the sapwood looks spongy, it's junk. If there's enough solid heartwood, it might be worth working up, but if it's a treetop with only spongy sapwood, leave it lay.
The best way to sell firewood in my opinion, would be with a moisture tester and a truck scale. If you can confirm that the wood is consistently below a certain moisture content, you can legitimately sell the wood by the ton. This way, the customer is getting a consistent amount of heat per dollar from a mixed-specie load of wood.
Here, red oak and white oak are the primary firewood species. The red oak are dying enmasse, so they're easy pickings right now. I'd rank Walnut a little below white oak, but I have no experience with Ash and Sweet Gum.
Edited by kipps 9/22/2020 22:00
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what makes good fire wood
