How's my 'mix' & seasoning question

[Shari]

This next week we will be having a 'Splitting Party' for all of the following. My question is, will the following be seasoned by Fall 2010:

Hard maple: Cut 6/09, about 3/4 cord

Locust: Cut 8/09, about 3/4 cord

Hickory: Cut 9/09, about 2 cords

Splits will go on pallets and left uncovered all summer.

Shari

 

[SolarAndWood]

Was it cut and bucked last summer or just dropped?

 

[Shari]

Yes, cut and bucked last summer.

Shari

 

[SolarAndWood]

The locust and maple will burn fine this fall although they definitely benefit from a second year if you have the time/space. I don't think I've had the pleasure of burning hickory.

 

[smokinj]

Dont know if it will be perfect but it will be the best in your area.

 

[northwinds]

Was it cut and bucked last summer or just dropped?

The wood would be better if it was split and sat another year, but if that was all I had, I'd be burning locust, maple
and hickory in that order. Thinner splits, along with lots of sun and wind will help you for next year. Stacking single rows
will also help. I gave Wendell some two-year split hickory that still had a fairly high moisture content, but it seasoned
in the woods without ideal sun or wind and was tightly stacked on a pallet.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I think there is an excellent chance it will be ready to burn, especially if you can stack it where it will get wind.

 

[DBoon]

Hi Shari,

I started with logs of hickory last May and bucked and split them to about 6-8" on a side and 16" long. I stacked them in single rows on pallets in an open field that gets lots of wind and sun. I made the mistake of leaving them uncovered last summer - a wet summer for us - and that was a mistake. They didn't dry much at all. Once September rolled around, I bought some tarps to cover them and they have been drying nicely. I expect, based on moisture readings I took in fall and early winter, that they will be at or slightly under 20% moisture content by the start of summer. I'll be checking them soon.

So, if you were to split smaller than 6-8" on a side (which I will ultimately also do), you cover single-row stacks, and they are in an open area with sun and wind, you should be ok with the hickory.

 

[Battenkiller]

Dont know if it will be perfect but it will be the best in your area.

But the perfect answer. May or may not be perfect wood, but it'll be damn good.

We've had a cold and relatively snowless winter around here, with a warm, dry spring so far. If you've had the same conditions in Wisconsin, you should already be well on the way. Depends somewhat on what length it was bucked to.

Locust is like ash with a very low moisture content sitting on the stump. In my experience, you don't want to overdo with locust. A couple big splits on top for overnight and it's the very best wood for that purpose. Plenty of stoves have been fried in a single night with a big load of dry locust in it. Some wood burns very hot and fast (pine, poplar, cherry), some provide good heat for a long time (oak and hickory). Locust burns very hot for a long time. Use with caution.

Maple dries in a year in my experience, some say two. Maple is one of those wacky woods that don't rely on leaves for sap flow (which is why you get sap flow in the early spring), so there will likely be variations in original MC that I don't know about. Yours will burn fine, I'll bet.

Hickory dries fast in my experience. Some say it dries slow. We get mostly bitternut hickory around here, so that may be what I'm seeing. I'm promised 4 cord of shagbark in June. Hope some of it is ready by January when I'll need it most.

Get ready for the fireworks with all that locust and hickory. Major spark producers come reload time.

 

[Shari]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'm still a 'newbie' to wood burning so I sincerely appreciate the info.

I started off burning hard maple in February of this year and now that seasoned supply is depleted but have a new supply that must be split/stacked. I am burning soft maple right now - big difference! I could get overnight burns with the hard maple buy no where near that with the soft maple. Oh, I've also burned a little birch but that is just for a quick fire as it surely does not last long (makes great kindling, though!).

Shari

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes Shari, there is a big difference between hard and soft maple. We have lots of soft maple here and I cut a good deal of it too. I like to put one soft maple in with each load. It lights fast and burns hot. This helps the bigger pieces get started better. If the weather is relatively warm then at times we'll put in 3 pieces of soft maple and let it go at that.

One more hint: soft maple makes great kindling because it does light so easy and burns hot. Once made into kindling it drys super fast too! I make the kindling with the hydraulic splitter and it is fast and easy work. Fun too.

 

[jeff_t]

I don't burn a lot of hickory, but I cut one last winter that was dripping(litteraly). I started at the top, and by the time I finished bucking the trunk, the branches I cut off first were dripping moisture. I split it about this time last spring, and it burned fine for me this winter. I mixed it with a few very dry ash splits.

I threw it in a pile, too. Split it now and stack it, it should be fine by the time real cold weather hits.

 

[maplewood]

I think there is an excellent chance it will be ready to burn, especially if you can stack it where it will get wind.

+1. Post a pic, please!

 

[Shari]

Well, here's a pic of the hickory we pulled in this weekend. Seven 4x6 trailer loads! Hickory is HEAVY so I didn't want to overload the trailer. The pile is kind of deceiving because our son was 'building a tree' by stacking rounds on top of each other. Some of them are stacked 5' tall in the background.

About 252+ cu ft of hickory. A cord is 128 cu ft.

Shari

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wow Shari. I wish I had some of that! Looks like you have a winner!

 

[firefighterjake]

It will probably burn, but not burn the best since it was cut last Fall, but not split last Fall . . . best bet is to get some wood cut AND SPLIT before this Fall for next year . . . then you'll really be amazed at how well it will catch when put on hot coals, how much heat will be thrown and how intense the fire will be.

 

[Shari]

It will probably burn, but not burn the best since it was cut last Fall, but not split last Fall . . . best bet is to get some wood cut AND SPLIT before this Fall for next year . . . then you'll really be amazed at how well it will catch when put on hot coals, how much heat will be thrown and how intense the fire will be.

Heh heh heh, FFJake, I've got 2.6 cords of hickory that I haven't touched yet that was cut/bucked Spring 2009, split/stacked October 2009 and oh, around 1-3/4 cord silver maple cut/bucked Feb 2009 & split/stacked April 2009 that hasn't been touched yet either. Oh yeah, then I have 3/4+ cord locust & 3/4+ cord hard maple that were cut/bucked August 2009 that still has to be split/stacked.

So.... I have some splitting/stacking to do! Just have to scrounge up some pallets or something to stack all these btu's on...

Hubby has started to feel a little better lately so now I have to get him out there to help me. I have to do the heavy stuff, he handles the splits.

Shari