Relative drying times of split wood

[Eric Johnson]

That's the theory, ADK, but IMO, the best way to dry wood quickly is to get it cut up, split and stacked in a good location. The rest of it's all pretty much speculation and unproven (to me, at least, theory).

If you're in the Adirondacks, your best bet for fast-drying woods would be ash, beech, soft maple and cherry. Yellow birch and hard maple are both great firewoods, but they take longer to dry, especially the yellow birch. When I lived in Old Forge, I would cut my wood in the early spring, dry it outside all summer, and then move it into the basement in October. By January 1, I usually had nice, dry wood to get us through the rest of the winter.

 

[Henz]

Well, I have 3 cord of Hard Maple and White Oak split right now, been split for two weeks..Once stacked, I should be good for burn come September/October?

 

[Rhone]

Around here, we have red maple and red oak. The red maple dries real fast. Red Oak doesn't. Where I live getting it in early May it's barely ready to burn by winter and the big logs always cause a problem. Considering my wood is around 95% red seasoned oak, I have to cover the top, stack it extremely loose, move it to a covered porch in winter where sunlight hits it but snow can not, and leave it inside for 3 days and then I can burn it but it's still wet. Course, some years are better than others.

Your white oak should dry slower than red, it's more dense so you may have trouble with it by September/October but depends on exposure, sunlight, and moisture levels in your area. Bark is nearly waterproof so when you do stack your wood make plenty of air tunnels exposing a lot of the surface area of the fibers of the wood and not the bark. An air tunnel of all bark does extremely little in drying out the wood.

 

[babalu87]

The BEEG live Red that I took down has been cut and split since late March and its been pretty dry so far, should be ready by the time I need to burn it.
I stack everything single file and it is all getting 75% plus exposure to the sun. Early AM and late afternoons are the only time the piles are shaded.
The dead standers are almost ready to burn now and the Pine is close as well.
Time top start on the 07-08 heating season.

 

[saichele]

I stack all my wood single file and then put cardboard on top and that is covered by a tarp on the top only.

Too bad you cant get tarps that are 3 feet wide and 20+ feet long, that would be MINT for my 20-23" splits/rounds.

Look in the garden section. Sounds like the plastic they sell for weed suppression.

Steve

 

[menchhofer]

Menards usually carries the 3x 18 ft tarps locally. About $4.00 each.

 

[Todd]

Well, I have 3 cord of Hard Maple and White Oak split right now, been split for two weeks..Once stacked, I should be good for burn come September/October?

Hard to say for sure, but if its in a open area that gets lots of sun, wind, and covered from the weather it might be ready by Oct. Maybe try building a Holz Haufen? One thread stated 3 month drying time for a HH. Another trick for fast drying is smaller splits.

 

[wg_bent]

Well, I have 3 cord of Hard Maple and White Oak split right now, been split for two weeks..Once stacked, I should be good for burn come September/October?

Hard to say for sure, but if its in a open area that gets lots of sun, wind, and covered from the weather it might be ready by Oct. Maybe try building a Holz Haufen? One thread stated 3 month drying time for a HH. Another trick for fast drying is smaller splits.

Faster drying, but also faster burning, so I'm sure there is a happy medium. I did the small splits with the Oak last year, and It really wasn't ready to burn this year. I cut it in about late August and split quite small so it would dry. By the time March/april rolled around, it was my only pile left and I started burning some, and it was marginal. Really needed another 4-6 months in my opinion. The tree had been dead for about a year and a half, but was pretty wet inside still.

In general I now cut splits a lot larger so that I get better burn times out of them. Less splitting also, but I'm sure it will take longer to dry.

 

[Henz]

I really try to have all of my wood stacked by the end of may..that gives it at least 5 months of drying time..however, this year I am really trying to get ahead and am currently splitting for next years supply.