For all the Nay Sayers

[sunfish]

For me, white oak can be ready in one year, red & black oak two years.

Both burn better with another year stacked in the dry.

 

[fastLeo151]

I agree that well seasoned wood burns very good, but I know a lot of people that burn stuff thats been cut a month ago. Mostly because they don't have the space to let wood season.

 

[blacklocst]

I am having my best luck so far with the stacks really up off the ground, pallets set over rail road ties. In retrospect, I should have put down a ground layer of plastic first. And loose stacking over tight stacking.

I"ve started to put plastic down below the pallets thanks to this site, Didn't do it with the Oak.

 

[Festus]

I'd love to be able to have 2 year old wood, but I never seem to have the time to get that far ahead. I'm hoping we don't get too much snow this winter and that's just so I can get enough wood for next year.

 

[Cerran]

Last year I was burning wood that was seasoned for about one year. One year was the magic time that was always preached to me, "Your wood needs to be cut for one year before burning!" After reading the advice on this site I decided to get more wood cut and split so I was a year ahead and my wood better seasoned. This burning year my wood will be 2 years cut split and stacked. I have to be totally honest!!!! My wood heated the house great last year, it was plenty warm and the boiler only turned on to ad extra heat 2 times. I know its still early in the heating year but the difference in the way the stove burns is definitely noticeable.

Last year I would load the stove N/S of red oak and had plenty of heat with enough coals to restart after 10 hours. I also had to leave the fresh air opens slightly to maintain a good burn, 450F stove top which I thought was acceptable. This year I am loading the stove with silver maple and have plenty of coals for a reload after 12 hours. The biggest difference is I now am closing the fresh air completely off, the only air is coming from the secondary burn tubes. OHH yeah my stove top stays around 550F.

I loaded a few splits of oak when it dipped below freezing and it burned even longer. with a beautiful bed of coals and a 200f stove after 14 hours. The best part is how fast the DRY wood catches fire.


For all the old school folks who thing a few months is enough to season wood let me tell you YOUR WRONG. yes it will burn but it will burn so much better if you have the ability to let it season longer.

It entirely depends on the type of wood you burn, the conditi and how quickly you get it processed

 

[fastLeo151]

If you split it immediately after its cut, how fast can it season?

 

[Fred Wright]

Fred how does that willow oak burn? Never saw any till I went to Delaware this summer. Now I'm I'm the process of buying a place there and moving in the next few weeks. I had to get out the field guide to ID it. Looked like oak bark but the leaves looked like willow. There is quite a bit on the farm I'm buying.


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Burns nice and hot. It just takes a couple years on the stacks to get there.

I'd never heard of willow oak before we moved here in '02. Started cutting on the adjacent lot, felled a tree that, when being bucked smelled a lot like red oak. It was the leaves that threw me off. Didn't look like oak. So I did some online researching and got educated. Now that I know what to look for, I see 'em growing in lots of places here. Some have been planted as landscaping trees.

Welcome to The First State, home of tax-free shopping and The Delaware Way.

 

[olyman]

. Most of the time this stuff is ready to burn.[/quote]
nope!!

 

[sunfish]

If you split it immediately after its cut, how fast can it season?

Doesn't really start to season until it's split, so doesn't make much difference when it is split. I cut mostly dead oak and wood will rot quicker left in the round setting on the ground, so I split as soon as I can.

I stack mine on pallets out in the sun for a year, then into the shed for 1-2 years.

 

[fastLeo151]

I have only been burning wood for 5 years as my main source of heat. And I use about 4-5 total cords per winter. I let my piles season approximately a full summer, but often if its been down a while , I will burn it the day I cut and split it. I think wood will still season if its dead. But not as fast if its split

 

[4seasons]

For me, white oak can be ready in one year, red & black oak two years.

Both burn better with another year stacked in the dry.

I find the opposite to be true. My red oak will burn after only a year, although not the best but white oak smolders and goes out unless I burn it with something else in the box. Now after 2 years the red oak is prime, and the white oak will burn. I like to give white oak 3 years. If I am hurting for seasoned wood I use ash, elm, and maple, in that order.

 

[sunfish]

I have only been burning wood for 5 years as my main source of heat. And I use about 4-5 total cords per winter. I let my piles season approximately a full summer, but often if its been down a while , I will burn it the day I cut and split it. I think wood will still season if its dead. But not as fast if its split

I used to cut Fall & Winter for the next season and it does work. But my stoves work so much better with direr wood. It will season some what left in the round, but much quicker split.

 

[sunfish]

I find the opposite to be true. My red oak will burn after only a year, although not the best but white oak smolders and goes out unless I burn it with something else in the box. Now after 2 years the red oak is prime, and the white oak will burn. I like to give white oak 3 years. If I am hurting for seasoned wood I use ash, elm, and maple, in that order.

Odd! But one thing is for sure, two Years+ is a good thing.

 

[Cerran]

Okay my post made no sense which was caused by the server issues.

I've found that with wood the season time depends on a lot of factors and any one can change the seasoning time:

1) Condition of the wood when cut. Standing dead trees can take substantial time off the seasoning when cut. I've cut Lodgepole Pine standing dead that was 21-22% moisture and virtually ready to burn. I've cut green tress that have taken ~ 2 years to get to a reasonable level of dryness for burning. I typically cut red fir and as a rule of thumb I let it sit at least a year to season. I've found that after a year unless it was a green blowover that was really wet, more than a year with Red Fir doesn't do a lot for making it drier.

2) How fast you get it processed. Splitting the wood into smaller sizes increases surface area and speeds up drying.

3) How you stack it. Do you stack your wood covered? How much airflow is through the stacks? All these are contributors to how fast the wood seasons.

4) What is the weather like when you are seasoning? What's your relative humidity? If you live in relatively dry climates with a low relative humidity your wood is going to dry much faster than somewhere with a high relative humidity.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I must be impatient or lazy ( I admitted to my laziness in another post ) I've never kept any wood around for more than two years. Never got any further ahead with my stacks than two years. Maybe I'll put a little oak to the side from this years two year old stuff and see if I notice a difference in burning quality in year three. Doubt I'll notice the difference though. I have an OWB and do not know that I will notice any difference with that type of furnace. Heck, I can't tell much difference between the one year old and two year old stuff, maybe a little more Creosote buildup on the furnace door with wood thats only been seasoned one year.

 

[Whitespider]

Just trying a test %...
addendum; Yep, the problem with the % appears to be fixed.

 

[jrider]

Okay my post made no sense which was caused by the server issues.

I've found that with wood the season time depends on a lot of factors and any one can change the seasoning time:

1) Condition of the wood when cut. Standing dead trees can take substantial time off the seasoning when cut. I've cut Lodgepole Pine standing dead that was 21-22% moisture and virtually ready to burn. I've cut green tress that have taken ~ 2 years to get to a reasonable level of dryness for burning. I typically cut red fir and as a rule of thumb I let it sit at least a year to season. I've found that after a year unless it was a green blowover that was really wet, more than a year with Red Fir doesn't do a lot for making it drier.

2) How fast you get it processed. Splitting the wood into smaller sizes increases surface area and speeds up drying.

3) How you stack it. Do you stack your wood covered? How much airflow is through the stacks? All these are contributors to how fast the wood seasons.

4) What is the weather like when you are seasoning? What's your relative humidity? If you live in relatively dry climates with a low relative humidity your wood is going to dry much faster than somewhere with a high relative humidity.

Don't forget
5) exposure to the sun
6) length of cuts
7) temperature - you mentioned weather but I find wood to dry faster when it's hot out, even if the relative humidity is higher in the summer compared to winter.

 

[imalogger]

I'll have to say in an owb (pre - emissions stove) the best mix is about 50/50 green and dry unless it's the middle of summer and were just heating hot water, then I prefer to have dryish wood. I've heard many ppl say green and dry works the best with a owb, especially if your burning something low grade like poplar or box elder, I prefer to burn them green, seems like they last so much longer and you get more heat out of them than dry. If your burning all bone dry wood, it seems like it can't get enough, air smokes and I think excess heat is wasted out the stack. Green wood just takes longer to burn, so by the time the drier wood has burned in the box, the green stuff is just taking over. Since the water only needs to be heated to 150-180 excess heat tends to be wasted I think. Green and dry keeps the owb fan running more constantly and reduces the stop and start of the fan which smothers the fire then brings it back to life. Dry pine slabs in an owb smoke about like somebodys burning tires, however green is not so much of an issue.

 

[Chris-PA]

I burned more wood this year that I expected, so I need to get cracking on it ASAP. This year's wood won't have as much time on it as I want, but fortunately I have some standing dead ash to take.

 

[CTYank]

Ohhh, it does have meaning. At least in your state it does. From here: http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/forestry/tips_for_buying_firewood_new_final.pdf

---Seasoned wood is defined by law as having been “cut and air dried for at least six months."

Sorry Steve, I can see you're "tongue-in-cheek". At best that is still meaningless. How about if it's stacked in the shade in a marsh?
How 'bout if it was c/s/s in Nov.? Such a "definition" anyone capable of critical thought, will laugh at. Some will use as basis for scam.

In OH, it's 50% MC or less. So? There are more states than CT, many with their own silly specs.

Boil it down. The whole thing about time or "seasoning" is a sorry kludge. It's all about MC. But you likely knew that already.

GFY, trucky.