Firewood Observations

With the recent cold snap in New England I've been burning a lot of firewood. For several years now I've been cutting and splitting my own wood (it's cheaper than joining a health club for exercise), and I've learned quite a bit about firewood. Birch burns like plutonium, beetles will eat all the pine before winter arrives so don't waste your time on it, and oak smells like ketchup when you split it.

One particular thing I've noticed is that fork sections, where a trunk separates into two big limbs, are a pain and a half to cut, and are infuriatingly difficult to split. You wind up with irregularly-shaped pieces which are a bother to stack properly. It's tempting to just leave them on the forest floor to rot. But I don't do that.

Because another thing I've noticed is that those fork sections, being full of strong, high-density wood, make the best fuel. They burn long and give off lots of heat.

Metaphor alert!