My wood guy splits wood to order so that he doesn't have a huge pile of wood on his property. What I don't get is, every year I get it, the wood is perfectly seasoned and my moisture meter shows a consistent 20% or less. How does he do this? Magic?
Split to order?
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Ashful
Minister of Fire
Let's make sure you're getting an accurate reading, as this is a common issue:
1. Wood should be reasonably close to 70F room temperature, or else you need to use a temperature correction table. This doesn't mean it has to be 70 ± 1°F, but it can't be frozen, either.
2. You need to test on a freshly split face, so as you're measuring the internal moisture content. The outer faces of a split will always be drier than the core, even after just a day or two.
3. Precisely "proper" procedure is to measure 3 places on each freshly-split face, at roughly 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 along it's length. Average these three numbers together.
4. Proper procedure for getting an average for your load or stack, is to pull three pieces from either end and middle of the stack, and repeat the above.
If you do all that and still get 20%, then please send me this guy's phone number.
But to answer your question, wood can dry some if bucked to rounds and stacked. It takes longer, and stacking rounds such that they won't rot is something that wouldn't be saving him any time or space, but it is theoretically possible. My own experience, which seems to be shared by the majority of the forum, is that wood will NOT dry very well in log form, which is how most small commercial operations seem to store their wood for best convenience and handling.
Did a quick test. Moisture meter is brand new and calibrated. Temp is 64. I tested all over the pieces of wood (inside, outside, towards the center, etc) and the average is 17.6. Its been sitting outside (out of the weather and rain) uncovered for about 3 months. These arent freshly split, but they were split on the day they were delivered about 3 months ago. I dont get it and ive never been more content with the wood either. Thanks for the info.Let's make sure you're getting an accurate reading, as this is a common issue:
1. Wood should be reasonably close to 70F room temperature, or else you need to use a temperature correction table. This doesn't mean it has to be 70 ± 1°F, but it can't be frozen, either.
2. You need to test on a freshly split face, so as you're measuring the internal moisture content. The outer faces of a split will always be drier than the core, even after just a day or two.
3. Precisely "proper" procedure is to measure 3 places on each freshly-split face, at roughly 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 along it's length. Average these three numbers together.
4. Proper procedure for getting an average for your load or stack, is to pull three pieces from either end and middle of the stack, and repeat the above.
If you do all that and still get 20%, then please send me this guy's phone number.
But to answer your question, wood can dry some if bucked to rounds and stacked. It takes longer, and stacking rounds such that they won't rot is something that wouldn't be saving him any time or space, but it is theoretically possible. My own experience, which seems to be shared by the majority of the forum, is that wood will NOT dry very well in log form, which is how most small commercial operations seem to store their wood for best convenience and handling.
mpaul
Burning Hunk
Freshly split is wood split at that moment. The surface that is exposed to the elements albeit only 3 months will definitely show much lower moisture content than the inside of the wood.
Take one of your larger pieces of wood, bring it inside for a day to warm up. Then split that piece and test the moisture. You will see the difference.
Take one of your larger pieces of wood, bring it inside for a day to warm up. Then split that piece and test the moisture. You will see the difference.
Measuring this way is just a waste of time, your results are far from accurate. Your actual MC is 5-15% higher than what you are seeing.
A lot of firewood sellers around here do that. That have piles of logs that they cut/split to order. They run them though the processor and right into the dump truck or trailer.
The logs might sit around for 3-6 months before being processed, but I’m sure they aren’t seasoned.
Most people around here have so much smoke rolling out of their chimney that I’m sure they don’t care about seasoned wood anyways.
The logs might sit around for 3-6 months before being processed, but I’m sure they aren’t seasoned.
Most people around here have so much smoke rolling out of their chimney that I’m sure they don’t care about seasoned wood anyways.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I'd bet many more would care, if they actually knew. I grew up burning wood that had been split just months or a year prior to use, stacked outdoors under marginal cover, not exactly ideal. Information is more available today than it was back then, but not to those who don't even know to go and search for it.
I think if the impact of wet wood were better known, most of the types who burn any amount of wood would be more proactive in ensuring it's dry.
