Moving into a new area is challenging, even when there’s an abundance of service providers. When I first moved to Marblemount and into the Cascade River Park in 2017, buying wood was an intimidating task. Everybody warns to buy dry, seasoned wood, but not actually how to get dry seasoned wood – (without cutting and aging it yourself)! I bought from random ads on Facebook or Craigslist that resulted in a few tiny pickup truck loads of soaking wet wood before I started to get more particular about the wood I was being offered.
The first thing to know is that freshly cut wood may be too green to burn efficiently and cleanly. Green wood smolders creating a lot of smoke, but not a lot of heat. Wood that has been aged for over a year or dried in a kiln is much better. The next is that not all wood is the same. Seasoned pine burns easily, hot and fast. Pine is perfect for kindling! Maple wood is difficult to light, but will burn hot and slowly. After your coals have been established, use a large piece of maple to make the fire last through the night. Cottonwood is not at all good for burning, retaining too much water and then burning so hot and fast it’s almost a waste of time to use it. Wet wood refers to wood left outside to be rained on and exposed to the snow. While wet wood can be left to dry, leaving it under tarps can lead to wood rot and mold.
Take the guesswork out of buying wood by the cord. When you buy wood through Sibi, you can be assured of getting a full cord. Buy wood in bulk, by type and within your budget. If you have the space, Sibi offers a deal for 3 cords of mixed green and dry wood near the earlier part of the year. Check their website for pricing and get on the schedule early to ensure the wood is in place before the cold weather hits. www.sibifirewood.com
Wood should be stored stacked and under the cover of a shed or tarps. The wood should have air around it to further age and dry it for suitable burning. Keeping wood wrapped tightly in tarps or plastic can accelerate wood rotting and molding. Store wood off the ground whenever possible.
Chopping wood can be a lot of work! One of my favorite tools for the job is a kindling splitter. Essentially, a kindling splitter allows you to place the sharp edge of the ax on the bottom and split it with a sledge hammer from the top. You can use a smaller tool to hammer the wood and create smaller pieces for kindling.
Sibi Firewood and Processing
Papis and Jacqueline Sibi
www.sibifirewood.com
206-229-9678
