# Fastest way to dry?  Tarp it?



## Yarzy (Sep 4, 2013)

Hi Everyone

I know there has been in the past a bunch of questions on the drying of wood, but I did not find a straight answer on this particular question, perhaps there is none.  The question/problem I have is I have about 5 cords of mixed hardwoods that I have stacked in a straight line for a least a year.  Recently I went to move some of the fallen stacks closer to my house and I noticed how heavy they were indicating to me that they are still wet.  With my moisture meter, after taking a sampling of 3 different splits, I got readings of 17, 22, and a whooping 35 (all taken from center of split)

So, after all that babbling, my question is if I could speed up the process by hanging black plastic over the tops and sides to “bake” the wood and dry it faster.  I know I should really build a solar shed to do this but in a pinch would this work?  I have seen people say yes and I have seen people say it will trap the moisture in.  

Any help on this would be great, I only have a few months left before the burning begins!


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## Bster13 (Sep 4, 2013)

Whether black, white, clear, or colored plastic, wrapping anything but the tops of the stacks will trap moisture in, regardless if a dark tarp would increase the heat inside.


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## Mr A (Sep 4, 2013)

Bster13 said:


> Whether black, white, clear, or colored plastic, wrapping anything but the tops of the stacks will trap moisture in, regardless if a dark tarp would increase the heat inside.


I've seen it done(online) with plastic sloped from a fence and this article, http://www.endtimesreport.com/storing_firewood.html
Here is a forest service study, http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rn450.pdf
Results- The firewood; under the polyethylene film was no drier at the end of the study than 
the firewood in the control pile (table 1):. At the beginning of the study, moisture 
content of individual pieces ranged from 73 to 108 percent (dry weight basis); at 
the end of the study, from 28 to 38 percent.


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## ScotO (Sep 4, 2013)

Alot of your results will be based on what kind of wood you have.......oak, in almost every instance, needs two to three years (cut, split, and stacked) to be ready for the stove.  Other woods may only need a year or two.  Those factors play a huge role here.  Also, splits larger than 5x5" or 6x6" are goings to take longer to dry out than smaller ones.....

I top-cover my stacks........
Top covering your wood helps keep the rain off, but rally doesn't help the actual seasoning of the wood.  It helps keep the bark from soaking up water, and also keeps the sapwood of some species from punking out.  You do NOT want to totally wrap your wood stack.....that would be a bad thing.....


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## Augie (Sep 4, 2013)

I have 18% Oak in 120 days(started at 52%).... simple solar Kiln, I used this article to get the idea then modified it to suit my available materials.

Here is a link to an article from Cornell summarizing a study of this very fact. They say that in 3 months 8inch splits and rounds are below 20% moisture content. My Experience backed this up

Looks pretty easy Air in from the bottom and a small vent at the top. For my situation  it  cost $40 for  four cords. cost was the cheap plastic and I have enough scrap lumber to fab up the frame. $40 for 4 seasoned full cord is pretty cheap IMHO.


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## oldspark (Sep 4, 2013)

Augie said:


> I have 18% Oak in 120 days(started at 52%).... simple solar Kiln, I used this article to get the idea then modified it to suit my available materials.
> 
> Here is a link to an article from Cornell summarizing a study of this very fact. They say that in 3 months 8inch splits and rounds are below 20% moisture content. My Experience backed this up
> 
> Looks pretty easy Air in from the bottom and a small vent at the top. For my situation  it  cost $40 for  four cords. cost was the cheap plastic and I have enough scrap lumber to fab up the frame. $40 for 4 seasoned full cord is pretty cheap IMHO.


 
Augie, everytime we (this forum) gets into an argument about drying wood I research all I can about the subject, drying firewood and lumber both so your results are no surprise to me and could be very helpful to some of the newbies or people who have limited space for firewood.
.....


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## ScotO (Sep 4, 2013)

oldspark said:


> Augie, everytime we (this forum) gets into an argument about drying wood I research all I can about the subject, drying firewood and lumber both so your results are no surprise to me and could be very helpful to some of the newbies or people who have limited space for firewood.
> .....


I absolutely agree.  If a method like this works, and you are limited on space, it'd be a great way to help your woodstack along a little bit.......read the Cornell article and it makes sense to me.........if I had a space to try it, I would.  But I'm 4 years ahead so I really don't need it......


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## Augie (Sep 4, 2013)

Based on my experience over the last year I know now I need to be about a year ahead, No need to kill myself, I can be picky about the wood I take, or not picky and take what my tree service guy drops in my driveway knowing as long as I have 3-4 cords of Something by the 4th of July Ill be ok.


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## Yarzy (Sep 4, 2013)

Great, thanks so much for the help.  Augie, do you have a picture of your final product?


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## Augie (Sep 4, 2013)

Yarzy said:


> Great, thanks so much for the help. Augie, do you have a picture of your final product?



Nothing is tented right now, but if you look at the link that Mr A posted http://www.endtimesreport.com/storing_firewood.html basically what is there but the ends were closed, the bottom is about 2inches off the ground and there are a few small openings at the highest points to let the hot moist air escape. 

I did some math to justify to myself it would work before I did it using kiln dried for the example, have no idea if my assumptions are correct but here they are regardless. 
kiln dried takes 7 days at 150 degrees so we have 180 x 7 x 24 for 30240 degree hours

the Solar kiln is routinely up to 125 for 3-4 hr stretches. and 100 for 2hrs on ether side of that say 3 days a week. 

in 4 months that gives me 125*(3hrs*3days a week)*16weeks + 100*(2hrs*3days a week)*16weeks= 17280 + 9600 =26880 degree hours plus all the time it is under 100 but over ambient temp still drying....kiln dry gets to single digits but im just looking for under 18%...


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## Yarzy (Sep 4, 2013)

Thanks Augie.  Just so I am reading things correct, it sounds like your experience contradicts the forest service study, correct?  Also, do I have the basic idea that if I cover the front and top of the stack and keep the top at an angle with the plastic tarp, that should suffice?  If so, how close can I get the plastic to the front of the wood?  I was thinking of stapling it to the wood with staple gun just to keep it in place. Let me know if you think that would work.  

Thanks!


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## My Oslo heats my home (Sep 4, 2013)

Augie said:


> I have 18% Oak in 120 days(started at 52%).... simple solar Kiln, I used this article to get the idea then modified it to suit my available materials.
> 
> Here is a link to an article from Cornell summarizing a study of this very fact. They say that in 3 months 8inch splits and rounds are below 20% moisture content. My Experience backed this up
> 
> Looks pretty easy Air in from the bottom and a small vent at the top. For my situation  it  cost $40 for  four cords. cost was the cheap plastic and I have enough scrap lumber to fab up the frame. $40 for 4 seasoned full cord is pretty cheap IMHO.



just out of curiosity, do you have full sun all day and a fairly steady wind to help this process?


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## Augie (Sep 4, 2013)

My Oslo heats my home said:


> just out of curiosity, do you have full sun all day and a fairly steady wind to help this process?



Nope Id say I am getting 3-4 hrs full sun on sunny days, I have trees that block it from being a "steady" wind Id say more of a gentle breeze, And the Humidity in SE Michigan is usually pretty high. 

I can sense a skeptic ..LOL 



Yarzy said:


> Thanks Augie. Just so I am reading things correct, it sounds like your experience contradicts the forest service study, correct? Also, do I have the basic idea that if I cover the front and top of the stack and keep the top at an angle with the plastic tarp, that should suffice? If so, how close can I get the plastic to the front of the wood? I was thinking of stapling it to the wood with staple gun just to keep it in place. Let me know if you think that would work. Thanks!



Im not saying it contradicts it because the kiln I built was different. Similar but different. If the Poly tarp is closer than the diagrams in the forest service paper that would approximate the setup I had... I have some wood that I need to get CSS that was dropped off last week and when I get it tented Ill put some pics up.

I know that by saying you can have oak ready to burn in 120 days I am a heretic... but that is the way it is!lol


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## ajreid (Sep 4, 2013)

Augie said:


> kiln dried takes 7 days at 150 degrees



Wasnt aware of that. Seems like here in the midwest we should be able to get the tempature up to 150, but we have got high humidity also. Last year we had several days with the ambient tempature over 100 degrees.




Augie said:


> Nothing is tented right now, but if you look at the link that Mr A posted http://www.endtimesreport.com/storing_firewood.html basically what is there but the ends were closed, the bottom is about 2inches off the ground and there are a few small openings at the highest points to let the hot moist air escape.
> 
> I did some math to justify to myself it would work before I did it using kiln dried for the example, have no idea if my assumptions are correct but here they are regardless.
> kiln dried takes 7 days at 150 degrees so we have 180 x 7 x 24 for 30240 degree hours
> ...


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