Moisture Content?

[wendell]

Does anyone have a link or have a list of moisture contents for different species of fresh cut wood? Anyone know roughly what the moisture content of red oak starts at? I have some red oak that I cut/split last year that has around a 33% MC, I'm curious what kind of progress it has made so far.

I don't have a list but I just split a red oak yesterday that had come down in a May storm and measured 37%. As a possibly interesting side note, I had cut the logs to length about 6 weeks ago and the ends were still at 34%. As a comparison, some elm cut at the same time also had a reading of 37% but the ends were already measuring 19%.

Oak does hold its moisture!

 

[Wet1]

We've got 3/4 acre in a suburban setting, and I think I've done a good job spreading it out, but I've got 5 cord split and laid up, with probably 3 or 4 cord in the wings. My family thinks I'm insane, and I can sort of understand their stance. But, how can you turn down an oak score in your own neighborhood, delivered? Way too good to turn down in my book, but it may cost me my marriage! :-/

LOL, I'm in the same boat, but it would appear I'm even worse. I have about half as much property with a large house, wrap around porch/deck, 3.5 car garage, boat, trailers, and a large 1 into 4 driveway taking up much of that limited property... but I now have over 20 cords (mostly oak as well). I catch a lot of heat about it (excuse the bad pun), but I refuse to stopping taking the wood when it's free. What I've done is store a lot of it behind the garage so it's mostly out of sight . I've also created a 'fence' around much of the unseen part of the property (from the road anyway), and this doesn't look too bad. I'm just now starting to be picky about what I'll take... it has to be bucked and super convenient access for me to grab it. I have a sickness, but at least I can acknowledge it. :cheese:

 

[wendell]

How do you know you may have too much wood? When the neighbor across the street (who I have very little contact with) stops over and asks if selling firewood is your profession.

And, I actually only have about 8 cords. I can't wait to hear what they say when I put up 4 more this fall for 2011/12.

 

[Wet1]

My direct neighbors haven't really said anything. Then again, the one is an outdoorsy bachelor and the other is a fat lazy lesbo who hardly takes care of her own property... so I'm pretty safe for now.

 

[wendell]

Tell us how you really feel!

My neighbor behind is a single woman her 50's who for some really bizarre reason, thinks you shouldn't mow your yard more than twice a year and is now infesting my yard with creeping charlie. The most likely place to put the next 4 cords would require me to take down a nice mulberry bush so I'm thinking instead I might use the wood as a fence between our properties. Maybe I can get Highbeam to come out and stack it for me.

 

[Wet1]

Your neighbor sounds like she learned her lawn maintenance techniques from the woman next door to me. I built that firewood fence about 5.5 feet tall across our property line, so I no longer have to look at her jungle. Works great, I highly recommend it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

When my neighbors see our woodpile, all they say is, "Wow!"

 

[Stevebass4]

i hear

"do you sell it"

"are you having fun"

" it will rot before you use it all"

"think you have enough"

"do you heat with wood"

 

[wendell]

The one I get the most is, "What do you do with it?" I think I'm going to start telling them I'm building an ark.

 

[Slow1]

My favorite was "How many fireplaces do you have?"

My reply "None" then let them think for a few before explaining that I have a single woodstove that will burn about 4 cords next winter and yes, that is a lot of wood - but they should see how much space 600 gallons of oil takes up if you were to store it next to your driveway all summer...

 

[northwinds]

I took down a standing dead red oak this morning. I'm getting readings of 24% and 25%. It may have been
dead for two years max. Maybe a half inch of decay around the outer parts of the rounds. Expected to find
carpenter ants but it was solid all the way through the center.

 

[Wet1]

My guess is that red oak has been dead longer than that. For standing dead oak to have a 1/2 of rot and readings that low, much longer...

 

[northwinds]

We had the property surveyed three years ago for a house we were planning to build. The
surveyor marked trees that we wanted to save from destruction. This was one of those
trees with a red ribbon and was located just to the right of the tree in my avatar.

Wisconsin loses a lot of trees to oak wilt. The trees die suddenly and begin to deteriorate.
This is one of those trees.

 

[wendell]

Northwinds, it sounds like you were very attached to that tree and being the good neighbor I am, I am concerned it will be too difficult for you to burn it and not bring up old memories. I will be happy to come take it away to prevent any further distress. ;-)

 

[northwinds]

Northwinds, it sounds like you were very attached to that tree and being the good neighbor I am, I am concerned it will be too difficult for you to burn it and not bring up old memories. I will be happy to come take it away to prevent any further distress. ;-)

We had a love/hate relationship. I loved it when it was alive. I hated it when it died and was worried it might fall
on my my dead pick-up truck/office parked close by. When I'm burning it in 2011-2012, it'll be like rekindling a
relationship with an old girlfriend.

If you ever get some free time, you're welcome to come up and bring home a trailer or two of wood. We might
have to stop in at the Roxbury though after the work is done.

 

[wendell]

Well, we were going to have the 1st Annual Hearth.com Wisconsin Get-Together at the Roxbury this summer. Maybe it is time to get it organized. Although, I don't think I have seen any of the members to our west on the board this summer so it may be just you and me. More beer for us! :lol:

 

[northwinds]

We'll probably pick up a few more people if we have it in September. I'll send you a pm.

 

[BrotherBart]

We had the property surveyed three years ago for a house we were planning to build. The
surveyor marked trees that we wanted to save from destruction. This was one of those
trees with a red ribbon and was located just to the right of the tree in my avatar.

Wisconsin loses a lot of trees to oak wilt. The trees die suddenly and begin to deteriorate.
This is one of those trees.

That outer ring is just the inner bark, cambium and sapwood layers of the tree. The stuff that was doing the work of making the good heartwood. Cut a living oak and put the round on the pile and it will look like that shortly.

 

[northwinds]

I stand corrected. And i learned a new word.

Cambium: a layer of delicate meristematic tissue between the inner bark or phloem and the wood or xylem,
which produces new phloem on the outside and new xylem on the inside in stems, roots, etc., originating all secondary
growth in plants and forming the annual rings of wood (dictionary.com).