Is a year long enough to season oak?
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BrotherBart said:
Cool, that's definitely encouraging. The ones you have there are about what I was thinking of shooting for on max size. The wood guy uses a processor and there are some big ones, but I doubt there's anything that will need to be split again more than once. Luckily he got within tossin distance of where I'm stacking so it won't be bad to split some first before tossin. The pile is about 6 feet from my big ol maple round that I split on too
For around $25 bucks on ebay, you can buy a wood moisture meter that wil give you a pretty good answer to your question.
I get mostly oak from my wood guy in spring April-May delivery & it is "semi seasoned"
I split some of the bigger stuff & stack early June. I live on a lake so there is lots of humidity
My chimney guy checks my wood when he comes & does the annual cleaning & says my wood looks good but suggests I get it in April rather than May
As my neighbor stores his pontoon boat in my yard, its a matter of the boat not being in the way (and my cash flow too, single mom 2 teenagers nuff said) when I get my delivery, but its always April or may no later.
If anything seems not ready during the cold season I split it more & leave it in the house & it dries out.
So far this has been working. I only had one year of heavy creo build up & that was my fault, I think I was damping down too soon.
I don't burn till late mid November either only as needed in that month.
I split some of the bigger stuff & stack early June. I live on a lake so there is lots of humidity
My chimney guy checks my wood when he comes & does the annual cleaning & says my wood looks good but suggests I get it in April rather than May
As my neighbor stores his pontoon boat in my yard, its a matter of the boat not being in the way (and my cash flow too, single mom 2 teenagers nuff said) when I get my delivery, but its always April or may no later.
If anything seems not ready during the cold season I split it more & leave it in the house & it dries out.
So far this has been working. I only had one year of heavy creo build up & that was my fault, I think I was damping down too soon.
I don't burn till late mid November either only as needed in that month.
Just my two cents here: I paid ten dollars for a permit at a local state park near by to take downed trees. the park thinned out their forest, smoe of the wood was diseases but most of it was just old trees that posed a risk to the bike / walking path. All the logs have been either lying on the ground, on each other or stacked since around March of 07. Alot of the wood was dead way before that. I have been loading up rounds, transporting them back to my driveway, splitting inspecting for parisites and stacking. I have been burning it after a month of being stacked in a wndy perimeter of my property and it burns just fine. ANything that is questionable is stacked for next year.
Hey SPED, I took delivery of the first of 5 cords this AM.
Looks good to me, but I still can ID wood too well.
Of course it's snowing on it.
Are you going to stack your wood in between snows?
I would only use mine year after next, I guess, but the hemlock I have will go fast, so who knows.
I've having trouble keeping track of the ages of all the piles of wood.
Looks good to me, but I still can ID wood too well.
Of course it's snowing on it.
Are you going to stack your wood in between snows?
I would only use mine year after next, I guess, but the hemlock I have will go fast, so who knows.
I've having trouble keeping track of the ages of all the piles of wood.
velvetfoot said:
I was wondering how that went, meant to ask you, how's it look size-wise? I know it's hard to really say until you stack it, what did it come delivered in?
I just got finished(literally ten minutes ago) splitting up and moving some maple I had from a tree I cut down this past year. That was the last thing I needed to do to make room to stack new wood. The new wood right now is covered with a tarp, well most of it anyway, ran outta tarp. So tomorrow I'll start stacking the new load. Basically what I do is go out and spend my lunch doing that, weather permitting, since I work out of my house, makes for good exercise and breaks up the day. Hopefully I'll have it stacked by end of the month.
He had an Easy Dump, I think he called it, which is a hydraulic dump on a heavy duty pickup.
The sides had some wire extenders to increase the capacity.
I have no idea if it's a good size, but looking at it, it seems good, but I also know that can be deceiving.
I did get 10 pallets from the local hardware store, making use of my nearly unused (lol) utility trailer.
The sides had some wire extenders to increase the capacity.
I have no idea if it's a good size, but looking at it, it seems good, but I also know that can be deceiving.
I did get 10 pallets from the local hardware store, making use of my nearly unused (lol) utility trailer.
Cool, pallets are definitely the way to go in my book. My first year I had a really elaborate setup consisting of cinder blocks with deck boards on top and fence poles on the sides, what a hassle. I picked up some pallets on friday as well, the beverage mart near me seems to be overloaded with them lately. I may try and make sides out of them as well instead of the poles. Probably gonna be a lot of trial and error there....
My new place has rocky ground so it's hard to pound in those poles.
I've been cross stacking (or whatever it's called) the ends.
I've been cross stacking (or whatever it's called) the ends.
Hi WoodJack,
Your wood will season. I always buy about 4 cords of green oak, then stack it under my deck. This is an enclosed, dry area with a gently sloping rubber roof. There's not a great deal of airflow, and the wood never sees any sun. The area is square with about 4 rows stacked up against a concrete foundation, so it's not very open.
I buy green oak in the early summer, let the pile sit out in the sun for about a month, then transport it down under the deck. Some of the wood sees the sun, some of it doesn't, depending upon where it ends up after being dumped on my driveway. The wood sits through one winter, then I burn it the next winter. So by the fall, I have two 4-cord stacks, one for this winter, one for the next.
This approach works just fine. I will get a few larger pieces that will hiss as they heat up, but it takes off after about a half hour.
I have tried buying "seasoned" wood, then burning it the first winter, but it has always been a problem to get any heat out of it.
Dan.
Your wood will season. I always buy about 4 cords of green oak, then stack it under my deck. This is an enclosed, dry area with a gently sloping rubber roof. There's not a great deal of airflow, and the wood never sees any sun. The area is square with about 4 rows stacked up against a concrete foundation, so it's not very open.
I buy green oak in the early summer, let the pile sit out in the sun for about a month, then transport it down under the deck. Some of the wood sees the sun, some of it doesn't, depending upon where it ends up after being dumped on my driveway. The wood sits through one winter, then I burn it the next winter. So by the fall, I have two 4-cord stacks, one for this winter, one for the next.
This approach works just fine. I will get a few larger pieces that will hiss as they heat up, but it takes off after about a half hour.
I have tried buying "seasoned" wood, then burning it the first winter, but it has always been a problem to get any heat out of it.
Dan.
Same type of location as Woodjack and same problem. My solution is buying 5 cords of red cedar every spring (mill ends). It dries fairly quickly and is ready to burn in the fall. However it tends to burn hot and fast, so I mix it will fir-2 parts cedar and 1 part fir. All my wood goes straight into the woodsheds. Also buy my fir a year ahead. So it is usually 15 months seasoned before burning. Still not perfect though. Fir is usually 25% moisture content, and cedar is average 14%. This solution works as far as keeping creosote to a minimum(just one annual chimney clean per year). Whenever you use a lighter wood, you will burn more of it,that`s the only downside.
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![[Hearth.com] Is a year long enough to season oak?](/talk/data/attachments/6/6902-a0333538d4c0415b63ea66a3d9415aa3.jpg?hash=0ojdEuU51W)
I can share my experience. I had some maintenance done on my trees September 2006. The branches cut were left at the bottom of the trees for a couple of months, and then put in a stack in my car port. We had a fairly wet Fall that year. The wood was not split, but most of it was not too big, on the order of 2" - 6" in diameter. I've been burning them this year, and they are fairly dry, but I can tell that they could be dryer. The 6" burn OK, put out heat, but they burn mostly red-hot, and not with a lively flame.
I read somewhere that when the wood is dry, you can see radial cracks - and I see those - so I'd say that this is a necessary but not sufficient condition. I'm sure that next year it will burn much better. With split wood, things should go faster.
I read somewhere that when the wood is dry, you can see radial cracks - and I see those - so I'd say that this is a necessary but not sufficient condition. I'm sure that next year it will burn much better. With split wood, things should go faster.
Hogwildz said:Works great on sides alsoSPED said:
Cool, that's the plan then, I like sides that are free
Hey guys, thanks for all the replies.
Yeah, I really like that pallet woodshed.
I think I'll build one next weekend. Can anyone else post photos of their wood shed?
Yeah, I really like that pallet woodshed.
I think I'll build one next weekend. Can anyone else post photos of their wood shed?
Started my pallet wood holder today, won't call it a shed yet Stacked a face cord(1/3 for all you sticklers) while I was out there. I can't wait to get my moisture meter, cuz I swear this stuff must have been down a lil while. Maybe it's wishful thinking but this stuff is a lot lighter than the last green load I got and so far it's all red oak.
Stacked a face cord(1/3 for all you sticklers) while I was out there. I can't wait to get my moisture meter, cuz I swear this stuff must have been down a lil while. Maybe it's wishful thinking but this stuff is a lot lighter than the last green load I got and so far it's all red oak.- Status
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