Seriously?

Ok, so my guess would be Q. Alba or Q. Rubra which are the 2 common ones.

It's probably a type of red oak, but which one is difficult to tell. White oaks generally have lighter flaky bark, depending on the type.

Looks like red to me also. Most likely northern red or pin oak, both are native to your area and both are rather large trees.

Thank you all for the replies - I plan on splitting and stacking this weekend.

Judging from the look of the sap wood, that tree was very sick or already dead when you cut it.

I don't believe it's black oak, black has a lot coarser/rougher bark at that size caliper.

I do believe all 6 pictures are of the same wood?

Yeah, very good, long lasting wood when dry.

bill_minn_2b I Saw an ad posted on Craigslist for free wood in a nearby town…I
showed up and there were 40 or 50 trees cut down. Some bc were sick some bc the
homeowner wanted to get away from house…

I looked through what was available and took the Oak along
with some Cherry (not pictured)

Ah, thanks! Brings back memories of the many years that I burnt wood exclusively for home heating. I had an opportunity once to cut some large white and red oaks that had been bulldozed out by the roots to clear a field. They had sat behind a barn for several years, whole trees, laying dead and uprooted. When I cut & split the wood, it still had quite a bit of moisture and you could hear it sizzle when burning and it created a lot of creosote in the stove pipes. Oak is a very hard wood and can take a couple of years to dry so it's suitable for burning, this is after it's split. So just an FYI: :^)

It also depends on how small you split it. Anyway, I use to wait for two summers before I burn oak and other really hard woods

huggorm - i was thinking 1.5 - 2 years..

'I use to wait for two summers before I burn ' Me to. And that was for ash, oak , poplar you name it.

For a long time, I cut green wood in the winter, split & piled on wood pallets with a roof over it. After 2 summers it was about perfect. It was the only way I could stay ahead on having dry wood. Just not enough dead stuff to keep up.

Also wood can get too dry to make decent firewood. You don't notice that quite as much with the hard woods but pine, soft maple and poplar you do.

'i was thinking 1.5 - 2 years' a lot depends on how dry it was when you got it. If partially dry, it might not take as long. If your piled wood gets plenty of air or if it's stored in a nice dry place, it will dry better.

If wood is not dry enough, you'll get more soot & creosote in the chimney. not as big of a deal if you keep and eye on things and maybe do a cleaning of the pipes & such during the winter. You do not want a chimney fire! That's when the built up creosote in the chimney gets hot and a spark causes it to start burning. bad, bad! My insurance insisted on a fire extinguisher nearby. But just keep an eye on things. I used to use a small mirror, you could look up through the clean out door on the chimney and see all the way up the flue. If it got too bad, I'd go up on the roof and drop a chimney cleaner down the flue, then clean the crud out of the bottom through the clean out door. I found out, if your wood is dry, you won't get enough build up to worry about.

Brings back memories of cold winter days, watching the fire through the glass in the stove. Stay so warm & cozy compared to this furnace. lol:

Looks like red oak, Q. rubra. Does it smell a bit funky, like canned peaches and old dog pooh. There are derogatory names assigned to red oak because of its peculiar odor. Piss oak is one I've heard in NH. It's good firewood and burns long. Split, stack and let it dry well. Lucy you that you got all of that free. Did you fetch it with a truck or SUV or trailer?

petalique - yes, all free - they were larger logs (32" - 60") I cut up and loaded into an old work truck...there is more wood there (no more oak) I may go back for the Cherry and Maple...

I use a moisture meter for my firewood now, and I found out that birch that was felled last winter or spring is below 20% now, ready to burn. Oak is not that dry yet, at least not the big chunks. But I also found out that spruce branches was dry enough "green" from the tree. Only the bark had some moisture, the wood was around 20%.

Wish I lived closer, Gerard.

Huggorm, from where did you get the meter? Expensive?

We find that it helps to leave the branches and leaves on to help dry the wood. That can be inconvenient.

You've heard what they say about unstacked and UN-split firewood? It heats you twice.

Huggorm, from where did you get the meter? Expensive?

From a local hardware store, cost about $20 so no big money

Started splitting today...seems nice

Thanks, Huggorm!