Best Wood for Fireplaces + Chainsaw Safety

Auxilio Tovar from Davey's Chicago office talks about the best wood to use in your fireplace, safety tips when handling a chainsaw and how to determine when you should leave work for an expert.

In this episode we cover:

• Softwood vs. hardwood in fireplaces (1:13)
• Letting wood sit before burning it (2:57)
• Chainsaw safety gear (4:31)
• Determining what work to leave for the pros (6:40)
• Chainsaw sharpening (9:03)
• How Auxilio started his job and his favorite parts about it (11:14)

To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.

To learn more about cutting your own trees, read our blog, The Best Advice on DIY Tree Removal and Cutting.
To learn more about chainsaw safety and other landscape safety tips, read our blog, Landscape Safety Tips Every Homeowner Should Know.

Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company

Transcript

Doug Oster: Welcome to the Davey Tree Expert company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host Doug Oster. Each episode showcases one of Davey's certified arborist sharing advice with everyone about caring for your trees and landscapes. We'll talk about everything from introduced pests, seasonal tree care, deer damage, how to make your trees thrive, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more, because here at the Talking Trees podcast, we know trees are the answer.

This week I'm joined by Auxilio Tovar, District Manager in the Chicago area for the Davey Tree Expert Company, and our official topic is all about firewood and chainsaw safety, but both of us have dealt with some weather events. In my case, I had freezing rain all night, and I've been out in the driveway, looking at my trees covered in ice, and you had, what? 10 inches of snow near Chicago?

Auxilio Tovar: We had about anywhere from 12 to 14 inches of snow [inaudible 00:01:02], and that was all along the Lakeshore front. The whole Chicago got about 14 inches last night.

Doug: Ouch. For all the time that I've had a fireplace. I've always been taught not to use pine. Why aren't we using pine when we're burning wood in the fireplace?

Auxilio: Well, one of the things that happens with softwood pines, for example, firs, cypress, they have softwood, which burns really fast, and that can affect your chimney, and actually, they can smoke a lot. That's one of the reasons why you don't want to burn the softwood like the pines and all evergreens.

Doug: Oaks, any of the hardwoods, hickories are those all contenders for my fireplace?

Auxilio: Yes, the best wood out there, [unintelligible 00:02:06] that we can do, that we can burn. You have your maple, oak, the birch trees, they burn really, really good. Most fruit trees as well, they can burn good. Ash trees, I'm not sure if you have any ash trees in your region, but those are one of the good ones.

Doug: We have ash trees, but they're all dead.

[laughter]

Doug: Emarald ash borer.

Auxilio: That's what's happening across the country, or at least on this side of the country, but when-- There's some silver lining with these-- With the ash borer, you can use wood for a fireplace, but yes, those are some of the best. Beech tends to be one of the best ones. It burns a very high heat, and it's great for colder climates.

Doug: When the guys from Davey Tree, come here, and they have to come once or twice a year and cut something down, it's troubling. How long do I need to leave that wood sitting there until I can burn it?

Auxilio: Well, the best thing is, it depends obviously if a tree is dead, it would always be ready to burn, but if the tree is alive, you want to leave it there for a good time until the wood dries out. It all depends, if you cover the wood, for example, it will take a lot less time as opposed to leaving it exposed, but ideally, you want the wood to be dry. It all is going to vary on the wood that you have out there. Basically, I would say anywhere from gosh, it's hard to say but one a year or two.

Doug: Pretty safe with a year if I've got it split, I've got it covered, and mostly oak.

Auxilio: Yes, I would say about a year once you have a split, it will be a good workout to get all that split, but yes, mostly I would say around that time.

Doug: Well, I was going to say that I was hoping I could get you to visit Pittsburgh, and give me a demonstration on splitting, for about eight hours, and then maybe I'd have it down after I watched you for that long.

Auxilio: Yes, the next summer I'm over there. I can [inaudible 00:04:27] Although that I hope you got a good chainsaw to cut the wood with.

Doug: Well, that's the next thing to talk about is chainsaw safety, and I do not have a chainsaw because I don't personally feel very safe using a chainsaw. I'm not really good with power tools, and it's always that thing. I think, if you're a little nervous using a power tool, you shouldn't be using it, and the only people that are using chainsaws on my property are actually from the Davey Tree Expert Company and as I said, they're here at least twice a year. First off if I just have some basic safety tips about using the chainsaw. First off, let's talk about ear and eye protection.

Auxilio: Yes, for chainsaw use, it's important to start with our own personal protection. Like you mentioned, gloves, safety glasses, hardhead if you have one in handy, ear protection, it's very important, whether you use earplugs or earmuffs, some of these new hard hats that they sell out in the store, they come with built-in ear muffs. One of the other things that people tend to forget when using a chainsaw are those chainsaw pants, or how we call them the chaps. Those are very important to have on, the fabric that is on these pants or chaps will help protect you from any cuts.

What this does is I don't know if you've ever seen a chainsaw hit some chaps or pants, that would stop the chain in a matter of seconds. It's almost immediately when the chain hits the chaps. Those are some of the safety protection that we can use at home, and all of this you can find out, in stores, I don't think you have to order this safety of PPE, like we call them, personal protective equipment, from any special site, you go to those-- Any store with chainsaw, they will provide all of this safety for you.

Doug: How do I know whether I should tackle a tree or approach to tackle a tree? I'm telling you, I have seen friends nearly kill themselves, thinking they can do a job where I'm looking at him, and I'm like, "You got to be kidding me just pay to get a pro here." This is crazy, determining how a tree is going to fall? Just give me your best advice on when I'm looking at my forest, what I should leave for the pros.

Auxilio: Yes, what I would say Doug is that one of the rules or one of the things that where I would call a tree company or professional is, anytime you have to leave the ground. I think that anytime you have to leave the ground, and at that point, it's time to call someone that knows how to use a chainsaw as a professional like Davey Tree Expert. The other thing that I see a lot is ladders and chainsaws.

That's one thing that you want to avoid. Ladders and chainsaws, they don't go together, and there was a reason why we don't use ladders and chainsaws, but anything that you have to cut on the ground with a regular, what we call a topping saw or a small chainsaw with a 14-inch bar, anything from the ground, I would say it's safe using, or safer using some of these the PPE that I just discussed, anything bigger than the chainsaw, I would definitely consider using a professional because there are many things that could go wrong from the notch, from the way you cut the tree, the back cut, the direction the tree is going, the weight in the upper canopy.

A lot of times people out there think that just by making a bad cut, the tree is going to fall forward and that is not the case. You have to look at the canopy which direction is leaning, and like I mentioned the weight that is super important. I would say anything-- Honestly, anything, bigger than 10 inches. It also depends on the height as well.

Doug: That makes good sense. As far as the tool itself is-- Concerning the tool itself, how often should a chainsaw be sharpened? Now I know in your case, it's very often but let's say that a homeowner is using it 2,3,4 times a year just for cutting things that are already on the ground with their protective equipment on. I'll ask, how often am I supposed to sharpen that thing? The way I was always told to do it, you just take it down to the hardware store and they'll sharpen the blade for you and usually they have two blades.

Auxilio: Yes, it's going to depend on how much you use that chainsaw. A lot of times you'll be able to tell by looking at the sawdust. If the sawdust is-- When you cutting wood or a tree if the sawdust is very thin, and it's not flaky like it's supposed it's supposed to be. That's a sign that you need to sharpen your chainsaw. There's several ways to do it. The hardware store like you mentioned, they will be able to do that. There's also some sharpening kits that they sell out there where it tells you how deep and how to sharpen a chainsaw.

I would say if you use it three to four times a year at least, make sure that that sawdust is coming out when you cut the wood that is coming up flaky and not like a thin sawdust. It's all going to depend on the use.

Doug: If you're working on wood and the blade hits dirt or rock, that's an automatic, you need it to be sharpened, right?

Auxilio: Absolutely. That's a great point. Anytime you hit any concrete, dirt, sometimes trees when you cut them, they'll have decay. Some of the wood would have decay and that's going to dull the chain. Immediately, after you do that, after you-- If you happen to hit any of those things that we discussed, yes, absolutely, you need to sharpen up that chainsaw immediately.

Doug: Tell me a little bit about how you got into this, how this job was right for you.

Auxilio: Oh, well Doug. I've been with Davey for 18 years, almost 19 years. I came to this company knowing nothing about trees. All I knew about trees was they had leaves, and a trunk, and branches, that's it. Slowly, I fell in love with his job. Once I knew that this was going to be for me, I decided to make it a career. Actually, my father, an interesting fact, my father used to work for the company. He's the one that got me the job here. Like I said, he brought me in with no experience, and slowly, I fell in love with his job. 18 years later, I don't think I'm going anywhere.

Doug: What is the best thing about it for you? Is it helping people? Is it the supervising all these guys or what is it that satisfies you at the end of the day?

Auxilio: At the end of the day, it's helping people, helping people improve their landscape, their properties, educating with everything that has to do with trees. That is the best reward doing this job. Obviously you're outside dealing with mother nature, looking at trees in the middle of the summer? That's the best job that you can have. In the winter, it can be a little tough with all the snow like we mentioned, but that's the most rewarding part about the job, helping clients and teaching them how to take care of trees.

Doug: All right. It all sounds good. Thanks very much for the safety tips and the information. I hope you dig out of that snowstorm you had. In my case, I hope my wife gets up the driveway today. Thanks so much.

Auxilio: Thank you, Doug. Thanks for having me.

Doug: Tune in every Thursday to the Talking Trees podcasts. From the Davey Tree Expert Company, I'm your host, Doug Oster. Next week, we're talking about how trees help a host of wildlife including pollinators, birds, and so much more. Remember on the podcast, we know the trees are the answer.

[00:13:32] [END OF AUDIO]