Got wood... but is it oak?
 

Howdy Brethren.

So here's the story: for my latest project (soon to be unveiled), I need lots of oak firewood. Snooped around craigslist, and found a guy giving some away. He cut down a few trees on an empty lot he owns. Said I could go by and pick up whatever I wanted.

So I went over and picked over the lot. Mostly pine trees, but I found one felled tree, cut up into logs, in the back.

The million dollar question: is it oak?:confused:

It doesn't smell like pine, but I have a cold, so sense of smell is a tad off. I sure hope its oak, because now I have an SUV full of it :eusa_clap

A picture of a leaf would help here.

Any pic will do. Leaf, bark, grain, end grain....

agree...

a picture bark would also be helpful if leaves are gone

What does the bark look like? Oak and pine bark look different. Pine has a smell, resinous, does it? If not sure, wait until your cold clears and cut some up. Oak will never smell like pine.

A thousand apologies... this cold has messed my head up. Forgot to post the pic :doh:

The branches with leaves were all piled up on one side further away, so I didn't get a look or pic.

Thanks.

I'm rolling with oak.

That's oak! I love oak.

Bob

Looks like oak to me, but a leaf will tell the whole story.

yep, oak, and I'm thinking probably a red oak.

that's not pine

Awesome! If its oak, then I'm officially labelling this my CL score of the month. :-D

Is red oak better than white? Seems like sellers of firewood around these parts have been advertising red oak, but have not seen much mention of white oak.

How long do folks typically season their oak? I don't know how long this wood was baking in the sun after the tree was cut, but I can find out. I split one log to see what I could do with an axe, and it seemed pretty dry.

My second mission of the day was to stop by another fellow who had to trim the top of one of his oak trees because it was dying or something. No price like "free", so I grabbed a few armfuls of smaller branches and such from him for kindling. Does it matter if the branches were dead/dying? I figured they should burn up ok.

Thanks everyone for helping me out!

Sounds like a huge score! Touchdown!

I am sure it is OAk...not much diff in whie or red...same family same properties. DEFINITLY oak

Yeah if anything I've ever seen the wood in white oak seems.. pulpier.. or lighter.. just a LITTLE bit different, but in all honesty I can't tell heads or tails if the smoke tastes any different, cold or not.