Hmmm. I think BrotherBart is a wise man and I've learned heaps from him on these forums, but I disagree with his statement that "seasoned" is an antiquated term and we should all just use dry, which = 25% or less moisture content.
Seasoned means the wood has the extra-cellular moisture / water removed through exposure to wind and sun over time. Sure, some woods need 2 or 3 summers / years to accomplish this whilst others need only 1 "season" so I guess you could say that if a wood like red oak has only been "seasoning" for 1 year it is not fully seasoned, only partially seasoned.
Wet and dry refer to the current external state of the wood eg if it has been rained on, hosed down or chucked in the water.
You can bring wet seasoned wood under cover or inside and it'll dry out in a couple of days and be excellent for burning. You can throw dry unseasoned wood on a fire and it'll hiss and smoke and be poor for burning.
Wood needs to be seasoned and dry for optimum burning, but they are different things and I think we should continue to use the terms for clarity.
I know we can get subjective about the cross-over between moving from extra-cellular to intra-cellular moisture loss, 25% vs 20% vs 15% for different species being "seasoned" and length of time it'll take given various environmental conditions like temps, wind, sun, humidity etc, but I think seasoned and dry are different terms.
Seasoned means the wood has the extra-cellular moisture / water removed through exposure to wind and sun over time. Sure, some woods need 2 or 3 summers / years to accomplish this whilst others need only 1 "season" so I guess you could say that if a wood like red oak has only been "seasoning" for 1 year it is not fully seasoned, only partially seasoned.
Wet and dry refer to the current external state of the wood eg if it has been rained on, hosed down or chucked in the water.
You can bring wet seasoned wood under cover or inside and it'll dry out in a couple of days and be excellent for burning. You can throw dry unseasoned wood on a fire and it'll hiss and smoke and be poor for burning.
Wood needs to be seasoned and dry for optimum burning, but they are different things and I think we should continue to use the terms for clarity.
I know we can get subjective about the cross-over between moving from extra-cellular to intra-cellular moisture loss, 25% vs 20% vs 15% for different species being "seasoned" and length of time it'll take given various environmental conditions like temps, wind, sun, humidity etc, but I think seasoned and dry are different terms.
