I have been burning off and on the last two weeks depending on how cold it has gotten, but now I have a question. I have roughly 3-4 cords of wood for this season (starting to cut for next year) and it all came from logs left on our property when they built the house. Its not the nicest wood, especially the logs that were on the bottom of the stack. Anyways, I have been cutting and stacking since the end of the last winter and the stuff I did first is bone dry. I can get a fire going without even using kindling the stuff is so dry so its really nice to use, but the last 1-2 cords has been split within the last few months. I can tell its not seasoned, but its not fresh either since it has sat a few years.
So do I continue to burn the really nice seasoned wood and let the other stuff dry out a bit before I get to it or should I be mixing in the not so dry stuff once I have hot fires going? I don't want it to be mid February and have trouble getting fires started or burning hot enough, but since the good stuff I have now did not take all that long to dry out it may be worth it to wait?
The wood is all hardwood, but thats about all I know. 90% of it doesn't have bark anymore and the leaves have been gone for years. This is what I got so I don't have much of a choice - it will be burned this year, but just wondering the best way to approach it. I will be purchasing a moisture meter this weekend so that should help a bit in deciding how seasoned it is.
So do I continue to burn the really nice seasoned wood and let the other stuff dry out a bit before I get to it or should I be mixing in the not so dry stuff once I have hot fires going? I don't want it to be mid February and have trouble getting fires started or burning hot enough, but since the good stuff I have now did not take all that long to dry out it may be worth it to wait?
The wood is all hardwood, but thats about all I know. 90% of it doesn't have bark anymore and the leaves have been gone for years. This is what I got so I don't have much of a choice - it will be burned this year, but just wondering the best way to approach it. I will be purchasing a moisture meter this weekend so that should help a bit in deciding how seasoned it is.