Firewood
Wood is a renewable source. When used as firewood, it’s cheap and eco-friendly.
Do you have a felled tree you want turned into firewood? Or are you looking for the right kind to use in your wood-burning appliances?
When trees are felled for whatever reason, the wood is either disposed of by a hired dumpster service, sold to a saw mill, or turned into mulch. Depending on its quality, some people create furniture and crafts.
Another great and easy way to use it would be for firewood.
Why Firewood?
We underestimate the importance of firewood because of all the electric heating we conveniently have in our homes today.
Add to that the fact that most fireplaces can only be found in expensive homes and we’ve completely forgotten how cozy having an indoor or outdoor fireplace can be.
However, there are a lot of people still relying on wood furnaces, if not fireplaces, for indoor heating. This can be attested by businesses that sell firewood in our area.
Here in Michigan, we don’t underestimate the cold weather as it can plunge into the negative 50’s. We are, after all, the 10th coldest state in the country.
If, for some reason, a power outage occurs, kindling a fire in your wood stove or fireplace is the next best thing to having a running generator.
You don’t even have to wait for a power outage. A well-maintained fireplace or an outdoor boiler furnace used for heating up your home and water can cut your electricity bills in half, if not more. This is often done during wood burning season, which lasts 6 months or more every year.
And you won’t have to worry about environmental damage as modern wood-burning appliances are now designed to emit less carbon and harmful gases into the atmosphere by burning hotter and longer.
Other uses of firewood would be for outdoor fireplaces, wood-burning fire pits, campfires, and bonfires.
Everyone knows that there’s nothing cozier than a fire. Memories of camping, roasting marshmallows, or just enjoying the company of loved ones and friends around a bonfire are truly unforgettable.
A cord is a stacked bundle of split firewood measuring 4’ x 4’ x 8’. It is about 128 cubic feet in volume. To fully get your money’s worth, check to see if the cord is bundled compactly.
A cord of firewood within the state of Michigan typically costs about $200 each, not including delivery fees.
There are also synthetic fire logs made up of waxes, sawdust, and cellulose. They are designed to burn longer, cleaner, and more efficiently than regular firewood.
There are many brands, priced around $8 a piece. These logs last about 3 hours each.
While these features can be advantageous, it’s also more expensive than using the wood you already have from a felled tree.
Firewood burns hotter than fire logs, as you can pile up more for extra heat. Fire logs however, can only be used one at a time.
And, if you’re a sentimental person, you’d want to enjoy the crackles and pops of real firewood.
Get Your Free Firewood Quote Now!
The amount of heat emitted by firewood depends on whether they’re dry wood or green wood.
Dry wood is produced traditionally by air-drying wood for a season, usually about half a year. It can also be kiln-dried.
There are some species with a lot of sap that takes longer to dry, like birch, which takes about a little less than a year to season.
You get more heating efficiency with dry wood as it contains less moisture than green wood. Dry wood is also easier to split than green wood.
If you’re buying firewood, telltale signs of it being dry are the cracks you can spot on its surface. If they’re in log form, the bark would come off easily. As you split the log, dry wood will emit a dry, cracking sound.
Green wood is recently cut wood and still contains moisture from the sap of the tree.
In order to become dry, it should be allowed to season for 6 months or more to attain no higher than a 20% moisture content. This rate should start to give you optimal heating efficiency.
Beware though, as green wood can spread diseases to other trees especially if transported. Michigan state law advises not to move firewood from long distances to avoid the spread of tree diseases and pests such as the Emerald Ash borer, beech back disease, or oak wilt.
So when sourcing firewood, look for a reputable seller that offers certified heat treated or seasoned dry firewood.
What Kind of Firewood Should I Use?
There are a lot of choices for firewood in the Michigan area and you can select several depending on your intentions.
If you’re looking for the hottest burn, get high-energy firewood. Kindling is easy for some types, but may not last long in your fireplace or stove.
Coaling ability is important, as wood that creates coal makes for longer-lasting fires.
This table shows different types of firewood available in the state.
| Wood | Type | Energy | Coaling | Description |
| Sugar maple | Hardwood | High | Very good | Burns long and steady with little smoke |
| Red oak | Hardwood | High | Very good | Emits little smoke |
| Beech | Hardwood | High | Very good | A lot of sparks, burns cleanly |
| Apple | Hardwood | High | Very good | Fragrant, best for grilling |
| Yellow birch | Hardwood | High | Good | Takes longer to dry |
| Tamarack | Softwood | Medium | Good | Fragrant, crackles and pops, burns completely |
| Cherry | Hardwood | Medium | Very good | Emits a sweet scent |
| Elm | Hardwood | Medium | Very good | Hard to split, moderate smoke |
| Paper birch | Hardwood | Medium | Poor | Often used as for kindling fires, burns completely |
| Red maple | Hardwood | Medium | Poor | Burns hot but very quickly, good for kindling |
| Black ash | Hardwood | Medium | Poor | Minimal smoke |
| Pine | Softwood | Low | Poor | Best for kindling, good smelling |
| Fir | Softwood | Low | Good | Emits a lot of smoke |
| Spruce | Softwood | Low | Poor | Easy to split, leaves very little ash |
| Aspen | Hardwood | Low | Good | Easy to split without a lot of knots |
| Basswood | Hardwood | Low | Poor | Burns easily, wood is light but strong |
Never use poisonous species like poison oak, poison ivy, or poison sumac as firewood.
The smoke will carry the allergens and may be life-threatening to some.
Some people prefer thin logs or half logs when buying firewood especially for outdoor furnaces, while some like the smaller pieces. They even split firewood as an outdoor family activity.
If you’re looking to split your own firewood, here are some tips.
Bring home your log in as big a form as possible. It’s easier and more compact to transport it whole because it’ll take up more space if you split it first and then transport the pieces.
The length of your firewood would depend on where you’ll use it. If you have an indoor fireplace, an outdoor fire pit, or a wood stove, the average is 16 inches. A wood boiler would need 24’ to 36” long pieces.
Take your log and chop it up cleanly into your preferred length using your chainsaw.
Tip: If you don’t have a table or a pallet to place it upon, you’ll have to cut it on the ground. To prevent chainsaw kickback while trying to cut through, cut the top half first and then roll the log over. Then you can cut the other half.
Now it’s time to split the fire logs.
You’ve seen the movies and watched the shows on TV—all of them feature men splitting logs with an ax. But that’s all Hollywood. The real splitting is done with a maul, which is a longer version of the ax and has a heavier head.
Split a piece of chopped up log in half. If your hit goes through more than halfway, you can just use a mallet to push the head of your maul though.
Take half of the log and slice a triangular-shaped size off of one edge using the maul. Depending on how big your round was, keep splitting it into triangular-shaped pieces.
Folks who are serious about their firewood spend a pretty penny for a hydraulic, kinetic, or gas-powered wood splitter machine. These are the ones you see on advertisements splitting rounds like those apple cutters without the corer. They can be hauled to places and some can even cut with the log standing upright on the ground.
Warning: If you have a table saw, don’t use it to cut firewood as it is unsafe.
How Do I Store Firewood?
After chopping up or buying your firewood, you’ll have to store the woodpile in an open space that allows for air flow.
Make sure you stack them on pallets or bricks and not on the ground to prevent moisture from reaching them.
Firewood shouldn’t be stacked between trees as these may sway and ruin your woodpile. Tie them up securely but make sure there are spaces in between. Cover only the top.
If you’re bringing some indoors for your fireplace, don’t take too much. A couple of day’s worth of firewood should be enough to prevent allergens and insects from infesting your home.
When you ask Rochester Trees to take down your tree, it doesn’t have to go to waste.
You have the option to have it chopped up for use as firewood. We would love to do this service for you if you need it for your fireplace or furnace.
We’ll cut it in the sizes you prefer and stack it up neatly in your storage.
Rochester Trees can also prepare and deliver locally-sourced, quality firewood straight to your doorstep. Place your orders now by calling (248) 290-6343.
Keep your heart as warm as a hearth with a cozy fire.
Talk To A Human
You’re not going to hit a ridiculously long phone menu when you call us. Your email isn’t going to the inbox abyss, never to be seen or heard from again. With Rochester Trees, we provide the exceptional service we’d want to experience ourselves!
Rochester Trees
(248) 290-6343
