■36—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 21,1981
Buying wood or cutting your own?
LANCASTER If your bum
wood in your fireplace or in a
woodbuming stove, maintaining
an adequate supply of well
seasoned, ready-to-burn wood is an
essential. How you get it is im
portant. And, what you get is
perhaps even more important.
On the “how” side, there are
many considerations. You may
want to do-it-yourself. It may be
the physical exercise, the outdoor
activity involved that motivates
you to cat, split, haul and stack
your firewood. It may be the
economics...if you provide the
labor, it’s got to be cheaper!
So, you buy a chain saw, a
splitting maul and have access to a
station wagon, van or pick-up to
transport it.
You do need a source of wood. If
you have your own woodlot, fine. If
you have a friend with a woodlot or
know a fanner with a fence row to
cut, that, too, can satisfy the
source question.
Given all the considerations
mentioned, plus a few others, you
should then jot down and tally up
your'best estimates of cost. Add
one more item to your list. You
won’t be able to put a dollar figure
on it, but it is important, your
time. It does take time to harvest
the firewood, process and stack it.
And this is a judgement decision
only you can make.
A few woodbumers have had
their experiences with cutting
their own and have opted to buy.
The chore became too time
consuming, and then, too, there
were problems in locating a source
of wood.
Others from the beginning have
chosen the “buy” route.
First, calculate your needs for
the season. Locate a seller and look
over what he has to offer and
consider the price.
Be sure the wood is dry. Buy by
volume, not weight. About half the
weight of “green” wood, fresh-cut
from living trees, can be water.
Buy wood that is air-dned,
seasoned and buy by volume.
Remember, there are several
types of cords: standard, face,
short, long, solid and more.
The standard cord is a “tightly
stacked pile of wood with all the
pieces lying in the same direction,
measuring 4 feet high, 8 feet wide
and 4 feet long, or any other
measures which multiply out to 128
cubic feet.”
Pound tor pound, all species of
wood produce about the same
amount of heat when burned;
however, the weight for a given
volume of wood, the density, varies
considerably among the species.
Woods weighing 3500 to 4000
pounds per cord, (dry wood that is)
are best. They include hickory,
locust, dogwood, apple, hard
maples, ash, beech, birch and, oak.
-Woods with moderate density
include cherry, soft maples,
walnut. These are considered to be
“medium” in relative amount of
beat produced.
The poorer burning quality
woods include aspen, poplar, pine,
spruce and other softwoods.
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rirewood
may hurt
HARRISBURG Homeowners
trying to break the stranglehold of
energy costs may see firewood as
the solution to their problem, but
indiscriminate cutting of trees
may, in the long run, be quite
harmful to wildlife.
Sometimes overly dense stands
need to be thinned to benefit
remaining trees, but forestry and
wildlife management practices
need to be understood before
cutting is done.
State game lands are purchased
and managed primarily for the
production of wildlife, and ,un
supervised firewood cutting can
have a severe impact on the
welfare of many birds and
mammals. Some may think dead
wood is worthless and should be
cup up, but such is not always the
case. It may be a death sentence
for countless birds and animals.
Numerous bird and mammal
species have evolved to fit narrow
Fenceline
Please send me information on:
□ cattleguards □ waterers
bunks
name
address
city
phone
CONCRETE
SAFETY SYSTEMS,.
Route 1095
cutting
wildlife
and specific places in nature.
Without a hole in a dead tree, for
instance, the redheaded wood
pecker won’t nest. Without nesting,
redheaded woodpeckers will
disappear. It’s that simple!
Backyard feeders are
frequented by chickadees birds
which depend on dead trees to
provide holes for their “homes.”
Raccoons, nuthatches, fox
squirrels, bluebirds, screech owls,
flycatchers, wrens and many other
birds and animals also depend on
tree cavities.
The importance of den trees has
long been recognized by wildlife
managers, who arrange with
foresters to leave sufficient
numbers of them intact when
planning timbering operations.
Great care must be taken before
undertaking firewood cutting, and
there must be planning for the
well-being of wildlife.
8-Foot Sections •
state
zip
Bethel, Pa. 19507
(717) 933-4107
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