Drying firewood in a pile?

[stihl sawing]

That would be a hell of a scrounge!

Tornado blew it over, Can't see most of it. The huge top went through a house.

 

[stihl sawing]

Damn, I also posted this in the wrong thread.

 

[olyman]

That would be a hell of a scrounge!

you saying,,that might take more than a day,,with you and johnny???

 

[olyman]

Tornado blew it over, Can't see most of it. The huge top went through a house.

they demolish the house??

 

[stihl sawing]

they demolish the house??

The tree did, Ain't been back since the tree cutting. It probably got cleaned up. it was near the road.

 

[Marshy]

you saying,,that might take more than a day,,with you and johnny???

I know splitting it would, probably not blocking it unless you were usin a Stihl.

 

[jrider]

I tell ya, I made a big mistake 2 years ago. I decided to cut my rounds without moving the logs off the pile. It worked well but all the sawdust fell on the logs lower in the pile and I didn't get to cutting the rest of the pile until this past spring/summer. All the saw dust held the moisture and even started decomposing on top of the logs low in the pile. It just made a friggin mess of the lower logs. I'll never do that again, I'll always roll them off for now on...

I made a very similar mistake once myself. We have a JD 1070 with forks I use to pick up logs. I got the brainiac idea I would lift the logs over the rounds already on the ground and cut them over the pile to just let the rounds pile up and lay till I got around to splitting. Only a few months but a total soaking mess.

 

[jrider]

I say no, it's not possible. The moisture from the ground will always be wicking up unless it's elevated on some sort of pallet or platform. The other problem is that airflow is what drys wood, not time or sun. Airflow. A big pile doesn't allow any airlow. Most guys that burn dry in stacks, long single width rows, and move to a shed if they have one after 1-2 years depending on species.

Please tell how the sun does nothing to dry wood.

 

[zogger]

Please tell how the sun does nothing to dry wood.

I would imagine there are all sorts of details to this, but just generally speaking, direct sun hitting the wood would raise the temperature, which would increase evaporation.

 

[jrider]

I would imagine there are all sorts of details to this, but just generally speaking, direct sun hitting the wood would raise the temperature, which would increase evaporation.

Those are my thoughts exactly.

 

[BoBDoG2o02]

Please tell how the sun does nothing to dry wood.

The sun does help, but without airflow to move the dampness away the wood will sit in a humid cloud of its own sweat.

 

[jrider]

The sun does help, but without airflow to move the dampness away the wood will sit in a humid cloud of its own sweat.

Right, airflow AND sun. In your one post you said airflow is what dries wood, not sun or time.

 

[BoBDoG2o02]

Right, airflow AND sun. In your one post you said airflow is what dries wood, not sun or time.

With only sun it won't do anything, air is the most important

 

[BoBDoG2o02]

Think of it this way.

Your in Florida, 98 degrees in the sun, 99% humidity an no wind. You are DYING cus the sweat won't evaporate off your body.

Other side of the coin, arizona, 98 degrees and 30% humidity with 5Mph wind. Hot but bearable.

The Florida situation is what it's like at the bottom of the heap. Might be warm, but it's probably damp and still. Humid and sweaty.

 

[stihl sawing]

Both of you are right, Stacks need room to air out and release the moisture, The sun greatly helps in that process. Without it the stack stays moist longer cause no radiant energy from the sun and thus molds faster. Covering stacks with tarps is ok if you do not cover the whole stack. Best to only cover the top. Better to build a lean too or any covered building that air can get to but no rain. Wood will keep a very long time if kept dry.

 

[jrider]

Think of it this way.

Your in Florida, 98 degrees in the sun, 99% humidity an no wind. You are DYING cus the sweat won't evaporate off your body.

Other side of the coin, arizona, 98 degrees and 30% humidity with 5Mph wind. Hot but bearable.

The Florida situation is what it's like at the bottom of the heap. Might be warm, but it's probably damp and still. Humid and sweaty.

You are changing 2 variables in your scenario- both humidity and wind. If the humidity is 99%, wind won't do much because the air is basically saturated.

How about this, why do moss and lichens grow on the north side of trees? Lack of sun on that side of the tree in the northern hemisphere.

 

[Saddle Mander]

Just because I don't have much room on my property, I had to neatly stack a bunch of oak on two pallets, so I have a 4x4x8 stack. I actually have two of them with a 2-foot gap between them. To make matters worse, they are up against a garden shed and completely in the shade. Once I burn up the wood that is stacked along my fence, I plan on moving the oak there so at least it will be stacked in single rows.

Life in the NJ suburbs...

 

[zogger]

Just because I don't have much room on my property, I had to neatly stack a bunch of oak on two pallets, so I have a 4x4x8 stack. I actually have two of them with a 2-foot gap between them. To make matters worse, they are up against a garden shed and completely in the shade. Once I burn up the wood that is stacked along my fence, I plan on moving the oak there so at least it will be stacked in single rows.

Life in the NJ suburbs...

Well, could be worse man, at least you have a house and yard. I rented a room once, second floor, had a fireplace in it. Zero room to store wood, plus, no ride then and no saw, I scrounged daily by going down alleys and kicking apart pallets and anything wood I could find, busted chairs and tables, you name it.

 

[farmer steve]

@ValleyFirewood take this for what it's worth. For me, I'd only buy your product if the price was right and I could season it myself for another 2 years. I'm not trying to be rude or insulting. I am really interested in the average MC of the wood that goes out on your truck. I'd wager its at 25-30%.

That being said many people give no ****s about MC and are happy to burn fresh cut wood.

hi Bob in langcasster. had a couple stop the other day for wood. i directed them to the nice dry oak. nooo!! they wanted "that"stack" i told them it wasn't ready to burn for about a year. the lady said that's what she wanted 'cause it was stacked so nice.

 

[AmateurSawer]

Years ago, ariend in the logging buisness got us a load of limbs/small wood which they sawed up as it was unloaded in a pile.I got the bright idea to cover it with a tarp so the sawdust in the pile did not get wet and stick to the blocks.Wet ,moldy mess.