# difference between dry and seasoned wood



## cdirks (Mar 2, 2011)

I'm working on my wood supply and have been cutting up dead trees. The wood has kind of dry hollow sound when dropped on concrete. What is the difference between it being dry and seasoned? I store the wood inside a pole barn with corrigated tin roof and sides. The south side is open halfway up and the splits and rounds are stored against the interior wall. Is this ok? This wood is for the next burn season.


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## shawneyboy (Mar 2, 2011)

Seasoned means the water at a cellular level has left the wood.  Dry means the water externally has left the wood.  Wood gets wet when it rains, after a few days it is dry, but not seasoned.  Wood that is seasoned can not be unseasoned by a rain storm, but it can and will get wet.

Shawn


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## Backwoods Savage (Mar 2, 2011)

Shawn, storing the wood in a pole barn is pretty good but you'd do even better to store it outdoors for at least a year and then move it into the pole barn. The reason is quite simple:  for wood to dry, it needs air circulation. Inside the pole barn there simply can not be much air circulation, therefore, it is still best to dry it outside and then move it inside, out of the weather. 

Dead wood is one of those things that is easily misunderstood. Most folks tend to think that because a tree is dead that the wood will be ready to burn. It is the same thing as long logs that have been cut and stacked for many years. Folks tend to think that wood will be dry and ready to burn. Most times, it is not. Wood will dry out.....after it is cut to firewood length and split. Then it needs to be stacked outside where it gets good wind. Sunshine is good, but wind is even more important. 

Next fall we will move some wood inside the barn. This wood was cut during the winter of 2008-2009 and then split and stacked in April 2009. It has been covered, top only, since the first winter after it was split and stacked, which means December, 2009. It will burn nicely. 


btw, be sure to check out, The Wood Shed part of hearth.com's forums.


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## cdirks (Mar 2, 2011)

Even though it sounds dry when it hits concrete or you tap 2 pieces of wood together it may not burn right? I live in Kansas with plenty of wind. Just need to decide how to cover the top without the wind destroying everything.


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## begreen (Mar 2, 2011)

If you can open up the building so that the prevailing wind blows through it without much resistance, it will do a good job. Can some panels be removed for the drying season on the windward and leeward sides?


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## shawneyboy (Mar 2, 2011)

As Dennis said best to store it outside exposed to the wind and sun.  I have a wood shed but it is only filled with wood that has been out in the elements for at least 2 summers.  Then it goes into the woodshed for burning in the fall.  Storing it in a pole barn when it is green will only slow the seasoning process.  If you can, even the standing dead, stack it outside the barn until the fall.

Shawn


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## BrotherBart (Mar 3, 2011)

"Seasoning" is just the process of drying the wood. If the stuff is dry in the middle then it is seasoned and will be fine in that shed.


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## Kenster (Mar 3, 2011)

Dry  means no moisture on the surface as in the wood has not been rained on.  Seasoned means 80% or more of the natural moisture in the wood has disappeared.

As others have said, stack it outside until just before the burn season starts.  Move into the barn what you think you'll burn that year.  Personally, I don't see any reason to cover your stacks that are outside.  I try to get max exposure to sun and wind.  Why put a roof on it until it's almost burning time?  Mine stays uncovered until I move it to the front porch whereupon it will be burned within three or four days max.  Plenty of time for any surface moisture to evaporate.


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## BrotherBart (Mar 3, 2011)

Kenster, move to this swamp and you will change your mind. There is a reason most of my property is eighty to a hundred foot trees. A butt load of rain, year round.

Fact remains. If it is already dry in the middle of the splits. Get it under cover. 

BTW: Next time you are in Houston have a meal for me at the Ragin Cagun. I miss that stuff. Chicken fries I can do myself with wall paper paste gravy.

BB - Transplanted Texan.


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## rottiman (Mar 3, 2011)

Bucked up some 8' beech, hard maple and red oak today that was cut a year and a half ago and left in an open field last summer. Split a few of the 16" blocks and registered from 28 to 35% on the meter.  That is wet for sure........................


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## CTYank (Mar 3, 2011)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> "Seasoning" is just the process of drying the wood. If the stuff is dry in the middle then it is seasoned and will be fine in that shed.



Tell me where I'm wrong, but "seasoned" is much better defined for herbs & spices than fuel-wood prep. From posts here, it's really fuzzy.

Since MC has so much effect on dimensions & other properties of lumber, folks in the lumber industry approach this scientifically. From reading in the literature, it seems to me that for our purposes there are three things going on:
1) fermentation of sugars and other nutrients, which may affect moisture retention; sure smells great.
2) transpiration & evaporation of "loose" water (inter-cellular water). Radial shrinkage occurs here; typically done when down to 20% MC.
3) transpiration & evaporation of "bound" water (intra-cellular water). Shrinkage does not occur here.

The latter two are referred to in the industry as the drying process; can be air-drying or kiln-drying or a combination. But it's simply DRYING, and it involves the entirety of the wood, not just surfaces.

So "seasoned wood" has whatever meaning one wants (as seen in various sales scams), but nothing exact enough that it can be legally enforced.
OTOH, "dry" says it all, if specified a percentage MC. That MC is generally the worst- in the center of the pieces. So, you could say "20% MC" and be understood that "it's getting there." Once you understand that it's on a dry basis.

Sorry, but as an engineer, I try to avoid fuzzy or circular logic. Vice facts.


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## Intheswamp (Mar 3, 2011)

rottiman said:
			
		

> Bucked up some 8' beech, hard maple and red oak today that was cut a year and a half ago and left in an open field last summer. Split a few of the 16" blocks and registered from 28 to 35% on the meter.  That is wet for sure........................


I cut some 16" oak last weekend...bark falling off...measured in the 40 percent range when split...had been sitting in log length for probably nine months.  Cut some 6" oak rounds that had been in log lengths during that same period of time...no bark, had big cracks running parallel with the grain....still was in the low 40-percent range!  ...and I thought I had some good dry stuff.<sigh>
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n153/intheswamp00/FW-_20110226_8556Medium.jpg

Ed


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## gyrfalcon (Mar 3, 2011)

cdirks said:
			
		

> Even though it sounds dry when it hits concrete or you tap 2 pieces of wood together it may not burn right? I live in Kansas with plenty of wind. Just need to decide how to cover the top without the wind destroying everything.



Don't cover it.  Particularly if you're in a windy location, as I am, it's just not worth it.   The ends will get wet from the rain anyway, and the tops of all but the top layer or so will stay dry anyway.  So what's the point?  In any case, water-wet wood dries out quickly once it's under full cover even outdoors, like an enclosed woodshed, and within hours piled next to the stove.


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## firefighterjake (Mar 3, 2011)

cdirks said:
			
		

> Even though it sounds dry when it hits concrete or you tap 2 pieces of wood together it may not burn right? I live in Kansas with plenty of wind. Just need to decide how to cover the top without the wind destroying everything.



In my own opinion there is only one true way to tell if the wood is ready to burn or not . . . using a moisture meter.

Barring that . . . and being a cheap guy like I am . . . I cut, split and stack my wood and leave it outside for a year . . . then stick it in my woodshed where it continues to season a bit slower for another year . . . and then I burn it in Year 3. Usually at that point the wood is fine to burn.

That said . . . one possible sign that the wood you have may be good to burn is the sound of the wood . . . of course this is not an end-all, be-all tell-tale sign . . . but it's often a good sign when you hear that distinctive sound.

As for covering the stacks . . . there are lots of opinions on this . . . it's one of the great and perennial debates here . . . right up there with cat or secondary burn, steel, cast iron or soapstone, vertical vs. horizontal splitting with a hydraulic splitter (of course most of us agree that horizontal splitting is best  ) . . . me . . . I don't bother to cover my stacks . . . they get covered with snow . . . and rained on . . . but typically they're good to go . . . of course they've also been under cover for an additional year after being outside.


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## Backwoods Savage (Mar 3, 2011)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

> cdirks said:
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Jake, with all due respect, I disagree. The reason is that I have never owned a moisture meter nor do I plan on purchasing one. Simply put, I don't need it; I know my wood is ready to burn.


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## firefighterjake (Mar 3, 2011)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> firefighterjake said:
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And you never ever get one errant spitter in the firebox? Nix that . . . just thinking . . . in your special case . . . having wood put up for 6-7 years in advance I suspect all the wood is seasoned by the time you put it into the firebox . . .  

Don't own a moisture meter myself -- too cheap and too lazy -- and I figure after two years the wood I use is usually good to go (no oak), but even after 2+ years I get a spitter once in a blue moon . . . which is why I said the only true way to tell if the wood is ready to burn or not is to use a moisture meter . . . of course this would be on every piece of wood and that is a little crazy . . . and come to think of it . . . after 6-7 years of seasoning I suspect you may be right . . . the chances of having a split that is not seasoned would be pretty slim in your case.


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