firewood; poor year for drying

[barnartist]

It seems my firewood is just not drying/cracking up this year like other years. It has been way cooler summer here in Mid-eastern Ohio. I wonder what I can do to accelerate the process yet this fall? Probably not much, but I may purchase one of those carport enclosers this season. I wonder how many cords a 12x20 would fit? I guess I can just do the math and not be so lazy...

 

[stee6043]

I just posted yesterday about how quickly cherry seasons. Perhaps you could look for some cherry or ash to cut yet this year? My cherry is below 20% and it was cut, split, stacked in March....

 

[Greg123]

It seems my firewood is just not drying/cracking up this year like other years. It has been way cooler summer here in Mid-eastern Ohio. I wonder what I can do to accelerate the process yet this fall? Probably not much, but I may purchase one of those carport enclosers this season. I wonder how many cords a 12x20 would fit? I guess I can just do the math and not be so lazy...

My guess would be 10 to 11 cord can fit into a 12x20, given the hight is 6 feet.

 

[Corey]

I concur - it has been a very cool, wet summer out here in KS, too. On one hand we are getting taxed to stop 'global warming' and on the other, taxes are increasing to buy more road salt and pay for extra road repair due to the cooler / harsher winters!

12 x 20 x 6 ft = 11.25 cords, so Gregs guess is right on, though you probably wouldn't want to stack it solid. The wood in the center would never dry. Rows and spaces would probably work better, so maybe closer to 5-6 cords.

 

[barnartist]

As a guy who makes a living outdoors, I am troubled by even the next 7 day forecast. Here, after tomorrow, we are to see mid 70's, and then low 70's and rain/clouds. It might be too early to make such a statement, but winter might be early this year. Just weird fellas.

 

[Greg123]

As a guy who makes a living outdoors, I am troubled by even the next 7 day forecast. Here, after tomorrow, we are to see mid 70's, and then low 70's and rain/clouds. It might be too early to make such a statement, but winter might be early this year. Just weird fellas.

I agree, very weird weather, here in WNY today is the last nice day for awhile, 85 today going into the 60's for high low 50's at night and rain by the end of the week. Leaves have started changing and falling. Good time to do another break-in fire in my new LOPI.

 

[smokinj]

My piles are getting smaller every day

 

[pybyr]

Soggy/ unpredictable weather here, too, for most of the summer.-

I have my wood under an overhanging roof that isn't directly on top of the wood (to encourage air movement), and the whole stack is thin enough that it's got a lot of surface area and the long open side faces straight south-southwest to maximize the sun hitting it.

The rate at which my wood dries (judging by checking, weight, etc) seems to accelerate rapidly once it's stacked in that configuration, as compared to being "around" and cut to length but not yet finally stacked.

If you have any way of doing something that uses some or all of those ways to get sun (when it's out) and air movement on as much of the ends of the individual pieces of wood as possible, that's a big help.

A friendly acquaintance of mine stores, seasons, and moves his firewood in "cribbed" boxes made of wood slat sides on top of 4x4 foot wood pallet bases- if you put a plastic cover over the top, it seems like you'd still get fairly good air exposure and circulation.

P.S.- the sooner you can get it arranged in a way that accelerates drying, the better- I learned the hard way last winter that wood loses moisture a lot more slowly once there are substantial periods of time in which water is frozen. And I "second" the observation above that Ash seasons quite rapidly, with cherry doing fairly well, too.

 

[Chris D 101]

CONGRATS Smokinj !! O wait , You meant your WOOD piles ! just kiddin :lol:

 

[smokinj]

CONGRATS Smokinj !! O wait , You meant your WOOD piles ! just kiddin :lol:

lol now thats funny

 

[sdrobertson]

As a guy who makes a living outdoors, I am troubled by even the next 7 day forecast. Here, after tomorrow, we are to see mid 70's, and then low 70's and rain/clouds. It might be too early to make such a statement, but winter might be early this year. Just weird fellas.

Sure does seem like the heating season is really close. I started to burn today just to clean up the misc. branches and limbs that I have collect over the summer. Don't need the heat but it takes several burns to get all my storage warm. Might as well start now as its starting to look like fall already! Football practice (little kids - 5 to age 13) has already started and going strong

 

[Gooserider]

On wood shed sizing - my shed is nominally 8' x 16', 6' high on the low side and 7' on the high side. I figure it at 6 cords, packed tight... I have it divided in two 8' sections by the center roof support posts, so I have ten 8' long rows of 18" nominal length splits, each stacked to the top of the shed... I still seem to get some air circulation through it, or at least the wood in it seems to be dry... It probably doesn't help that on the few days where the sun has been shining, I seem to get a fair amount of solar heating due to the clear corrugated plastic roof...

I agree, this does look to be a strange winter coming, but. the sheds are full, and that's way more than I've burned in the past.

Gooserider

 

[barnartist]

Man, I'd hate to think of burning anything in August. I only hope I can hold off till the first of November. I don't live quite so far north though as some of you guys.They are hollering early frost here, but I have not seen the farmers almanac for myself yet.

So Goose, your roof is that clear sheeting? Might be the way to go.

 

[Gooserider]

Man, I'd hate to think of burning anything in August. I only hope I can hold off till the first of November. I don't live quite so far north though as some of you guys.They are hollering early frost here, but I have not seen the farmers almanac for myself yet.

So Goose, your roof is that clear sheeting? Might be the way to go.

My shed is kind of minimalist, and I was looking for a light weight / low cost roofing method. Plywood and roll roofing got really expensive, and would have needed more support underneath, raising the cost of the building even more... I couldn't find any decent salvage material, but the corrugated plastic stuff did really well - it was fairly cheap, IIRC about $12 a sheet for 3x8's, and another $30 or so for the required special screws and foam backing strips. It is light in weight, I would guess the entire 8 x 16 shed roof weighs about as much as one sheet of plywod decking. As a bonus it is clear, so I have plenty of light when working in the shed, and as I've said, it seems to produce at least some solar heating - on a sunny day when I'm filling it, there is a perceptible temperature difference between stepping into the shed and out of it.

I got the stuff at Home Despot, but you may have to call around, only some of the stores carry it... When I was looking, of the stores I called, only the Salem, NH store had it in stock. It apparently is mostly a question of how big the store is.

Gooserider

 

[MishMouse]

Been hard here to for seasoning wood.
Been cool, cloudy and wet.
We only had around 7-10 days where we got into the 80's.
Only problem then was we had very high humidity and fog till past noon.

If this was the 70's and they were talking global cooling I would be getting concerned.
:gulp:

 

[Gooserider]

Been hard here to for seasoning wood.
Been cool, cloudy and wet.
We only had around 7-10 days where we got into the 80's.
Only problem then was we had very high humidity and fog till past noon.

If this was the 70's and they were talking global cooling I would be getting concerned.
:gulp:

If you look hard, you will find that the global cooling people, and the global warming people were often the same people, and were often pointing at the same studies as "proof" of their theories - as one example, try finding a list of the books written by Paul Erlich... He has been writing to warn us of the ever-changing "crisis du jour" for as long as I can remember, and hasn't gotten a forcast right yet....

Latest pattern since "global warming" seems to not be happening as predicted, is to change the name to "Climate Change" so that the predictor's behinds are covered whether the temps go up or down...

Gooserider

 

[barnartist]

Well, the TV likes to show us the melting ice all the time. Don't know what to make of all of it, all I know is here it has been just not normal. Last winter was the coldest we have had in some time, but then it was more like it used to be 20+ years ago. We were then so dry in the early spring, we had to haul water, then it was very wet for early summer, and we were only in our pool probably 7-8 days this year, some of that because every night was into the 50's.

 

[DaveBP]

Once you get a year ahead on your firewood and burn only wood that has been split, stacked and covered on top from rain but not from air movement through the stack, well the weather doesn't make that much difference one year to the next. The wood is about as dry as it's going to get. Use that moisture meter for a christmas tree ornament.

Seems that here in northern new england, at least, the weather has been cooler than the last few years. But, then again, from here in northern new england, the planet looks flat and I could swear the sun rotates around the earth. Maybe my perspective is a little narrow.

 

[MishMouse]

For me I am going to be buying a portion of my seasoned wood this year.

Been, kinda a bad year for me.

My April, May and June cutting/splitting got delayed until the July, August, September timeframe.
Hopefully I won't have to start burning until late October this year so the stuff I did have time to split and stack in March will get me through until my July stuff is close to usable.

What I might be doing to get me through is burning the brush from the brush piles, they been there for over 2 years so they are good and dry.

 

[Gooserider]

For me I am going to be buying a portion of my seasoned wood this year.

Been, kinda a bad year for me.

My April, May and June cutting/splitting got delayed until the July, August, September timeframe.
Hopefully I won't have to start burning until late October this year so the stuff I did have time to split and stack in March will get me through until my July stuff is close to usable.

What I might be doing to get me through is burning the brush from the brush piles, they been there for over 2 years so they are good and dry.

Unless your wood guy is going to be willing to give you a guaranteed minimum moisture level on the inside of a split, you are taking quite a risk paying for "seasoned" wood - if you look through the posts about it here, you rapidly get the idea that most wood guy's have a considerably different definition of "seasoned" than those of us that actually burn the stuff...

If you are going to buy "seasoned" wood, I'd at least do it now so you can get it under cover and let it dry a bit more...

Gooserider

 

[flyingcow]

I was also bummed about the weather. Got wood cut/split early. Didn't seem to be drying good cause of the crappy summer. But the last few weeks has been very good weather, wood really catching up on the drying out. i'll put a moisture meter on it later, but when you beat the sticks against each other has that good crack like a baseball bat. Cracking and checking really good. Leaving it out in the open until mid/late oct. Don't give up yet.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Once you get a year ahead on your firewood and burn only wood that has been split, stacked and covered on top from rain but not from air movement through the stack, well the weather doesn't make that much difference one year to the next. The wood is about as dry as it's going to get. Use that moisture meter for a christmas tree ornament.

Seems that here in northern new england, at least, the weather has been cooler than the last few years. But, then again, from here in northern new england, the planet looks flat and I could swear the sun rotates around the earth. Maybe my perspective is a little narrow.

+10...right on Dave.
I only had 2 cords last winter...about 1.5 ready to burn, and the other 1/2 cord was only seasoned a little....this year, I have about 6 cords (burn 2/year...not 24/7) and I am happy for this year, but psyched for next year as I will have a good 3.5 cords left that will have been seasoned 18-24 months for next years burning season.....the key is that you just need to get one year ahead, and you will be good to go

 

[MishMouse]

Listening to NOAA on my way in this morning.
Scattered frost expected Sat. and Sun. :down:

Hopefully it won't be cloudy those days so I can use the sun to warm it up in the house during the day.
The worst Springter and Fallter days are when it is cloudy and raining during the day with temp in the lower 50's and gets below 40 at night.

 

[maplewood]

I've finally gotten 2+ years ahead.
Don't give up on this year yet. I've seen my wood crack more in the last 3 weeks than in the 6 before that.
(But I'm now a believer in moisture meters. Then are consistent, and I can trend my drying progress.)
Happy burning.