You have to wait at least six months for that stuff to burn.

Using a hatchet, split bigger logs long-ways down the middle to expose the dry core inside. If the wood is still really wet on the outside, stand it up along the sides of the fire pit as the branches. Face the wet bark at the fire. After a few minutes, your wood may not be completely dry, but suitable for the fire.

When a living tree is cut down, the timber needs to age or “season” for a minimum of six to nine months before burning. Freshly cut wood, called green wood, is loaded with sap (mostly water) and needs to dry out first. It’s hard to light and once you get it going, it burns very efficiently and smokes horribly.

When you cut down a dead tree, or cut dead branches off a living tree, you can burn the wood instantly. It’s important to check the color of the wood itself once you cut through it. If it’s greenish or yellowish, it needs to season. If it’s gray or dark brown, it’s likely dead or rotting and suitable for burning.

brush piles. Most people relegate brush and slash to be burnt, but this is a tremendous misuse of free organic material….2. Create Shelter For Wildlife

1. Sanctuary. Brush piles create a sanctuary for our wildlife.
2. Shelter. In times of extreme weather, a brush pile is a perfect shelter.
3. Snacks.

Firewood that is too wet to burn will be harder to light and harder to keep burning, and may produce more smoke than usual. Wet firewood can have moisture visible under the bark or feel wet to the touch, and will have a moisture content level higher than 20%.

By Dale V. No matter which way you cut it (or split it with your trusty log splitter), fresh wood just doesn’t burn right. Fresh-cut wood has a high moisture content, which makes it hard to get burning. It also gives off more smoke.

Which Types of Firewood Burn The Hottest?

• Osage orange, 32.9 BTUs per cord.
• Shagbark hickory, 27.7 BTUs per cord.
• Eastern hornbeam, 27.1 BTUs per cord.
• Black birch, 26.8 BTUs per cord.
• Black locust, 26.8 BTUs per cord.
• Blue beech, 26.8 BTUs per cord.
• Ironwood, 26.8 BTUs per cord.
• Bitternut hickory, 26.5 BTUs per cord.

Bass will use brush piles throughout the year but the heat of summer and winter are the prime times to fill your livewell with brush pile bass, or turn that 14 pound limit into a 20 pound sack with a big brush pile kicker. I want my pile to be about the size of my boat. It’s large enough to hold multiple fish but I can fish it in 15 minutes or so.

Just like the bass, the bait fish need something they can hide and move around in if they are going to hang around. A couple of Christmas trees or bushes placed beside the main pile will give bait fish somewhere to gather. Think of these as the bass’ dinning room. What to use for the main pile?

Snow on the ground means embers will not ignite surrounding vegetation, making it safe for a couple of people to burn several piles at once. Many towns are weary of issuing burn permits in the spring and fall when dry grass and leaves make spot fires from brush piles a real danger. Winter burn permits are easy to get and are easy to watch.

Torch fuel is a two to one mix of diesel fuel and gasoline. Diesel has a low ignition point but a high flash point which makes it much safer to work with than straight gasoline. A wise friend finally put me straight about using accelerants on brush piles.