The great red oak myth.

[branchburner]

came out from 18% to 21%

As far as I know, 21% has never qualified as "under 20%" but that may be another myth in need of busting.

 

[BrotherBart]

There is no such thing as "seasoned" wood. There is only dry wood and not dry wood.

 

[BradleyW]

There is no such thing as "seasoned" wood. There is only dry wood and not dry wood.

I prefer my wood to be "cured". I don't want to be catching anything from my wood.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

Depending on the weather and how small I split, I can normally dry oak in a year. Maple and the like dry pretty quick, maybe 1-4 months if the weather is dry and breezy.

 

[Babaganoosh]

There is no such thing as "seasoned" wood. There is only dry wood and not dry wood.

Which depends on your own definition of dry wood I guess. One man's dry is another man's wet. Although most of us agree with the 20% mark.

 

[branchburner]

There is no such thing as "seasoned" wood.

A bit of thyme, perhaps, to bring out its full potential.

 

[DTrain]

I tricked myself into thinking I had one year oak. I got down to the second third of the pile and found it still pretty wet. The top third of the stack did indeed become 20% ish. If I were you I'd strip that top third off and squirrel it away for the deep part of the season.

 

[Ashful]

Last year I dropped a massive red oak here. It was so wet the water dripped out of it while splitting. I split it into medium size splits and has been stacked a tad over 12 months. Nothing special, double stacked on skids partial sun and normal wind. Not even covered till late June this spring. Every single split I pulled out of the stack, resplit and tested came out from 18% to 21% using two different meters. I constantly read here that oak takes two to three years to season. Not true!!

I've always wondered about the difference between red and white oak, with respect to dry time. They're both quoted here as taking 3 years, something I eventually accepted as gospel and repeated myself. However, from the day I joined this forum I remember thinking it strange that red oak would take as long as white. We all know white oak has a closed cell structure, which is to what it owes its excellent weather and rot resistance. Red is quite the opposite, with an open tubular grain structure, and will rot as fast as fir in building applications. Seems to make sense that red would dry very fast, when compared to white.

All of the oak I've burned over the last four years has been white oak, so I've not had a chance to compare myself, but I do have some red oak seasoning in the stacks now.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I cut a red oak that was down for 3 years, it was hung up.I pushed it down with a backhoe. Basically only one part was in contact with the ground and the rest was suspended in the air. You would think it would be dry as a bone but when I split it you could see the water coming out by the wedge.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I think the guys here do a really good job giving general guidelines. Newbies like me really appreciate this, because I don't know squat about drying wood and different wood types.

I also don't think anyone here doesn't know that drying wood is a large combination of factors, weather being one of the biggest. Weather is also extremely localized, so abnormalities will happen.

 

[Fred Wright]

Much depends on local climate. How hot/long your summers are, relative humidity etc. How and where ya stack it makes a difference; smaller splits cure faster than larger ones. Loose and cross stacking will speed up the drying process as well.

Not all red oak is created equal. Willow oak grows naturally in lowlands where standing water is the norm. Willow takes a good 2 years here just to get below 20% MC. Pin oak seems to dry a bit faster than willow oak.

We burned some year-old plus pin oak last winter. I didn't wanna use it yet but single digit temps and red maple weren't working well together. It burned; inner MC was slightly above 20%. We'd split it smaller than usual so it would dry faster.

Here's the thing ~ it didn't burn much hotter than the maple. That's why oak should be given time to fully cure. The drier it is, the hotter it will burn.

 

[Applesister]

Maybe the OP has Sugar Maple and not Red Oak.

 

[DBoon]

A moisture meter is essentially just an ohmmeter with a look up table to equate a resistance reading to a moisture value. Some woods, like oak and hickory, have a grain structure that results in a much higher resistance reading compared to other woods (e.g. maple, cherry). An inexpensive (i.e. most) moisture meter will not compensate for this difference. So before you bank on burning that wood this year, buy an ohmmeter and measure the resistance directly, and then convert that to moisture content using the USFS lookup table. There is a sticky for this at the top of the Wood Shed.

I am guessing that you are really about 25%+ still, but let us know what you find out.

 

[Hogwildz]

If it burns good, then congrats.
Many things factor in how long wood will take to dry.
What is considered medium splits to some, may be small to others, or larger to yet others.
The state of the wood prior to being processed also plays a roll. Dead standing for a long period of time, live, anywhere between... etc.
How it is split, how it is stacked, weather, wind, moisture etc.
If it is dry as you say, then have at it and enjoy.

If your going to start a thread like you found the mythical unicorn, then state you've been burning for years after, you can pretty much expect to get some responses you may not like, then you basically set yourself up for a debate and what followed.
Not saying that is exactly what happened, but could be perceived by some.
Ive only been burning since 2006, but one of the most important things to me, is to be 3+ years ahead. That way I don't need to check moisture, nor worry if my seasons worth will burn well.
Just good habit in my opinion, but that is just me.
I don't own a moisture meter, but at 3+ years ahead, it would be a waste of money and the time taken to test splits, no need here.
Conrgats, and enjoy the Red Oak. Great wood, great heat.

 

[Joe13]

I have red oak that should be ready to burn this fall and I cut and split it in April.... How you ask? Well they are all from fallen dead trees that the bark and sapwood has been off of for probably several years. Mind you, when I split it there was still some moisture, but I'm hoping it will be good to go this winter. Conditions are quite critical when it comes to firewood!

 

[Knots]

If it burns good and doesn't sizzle, then your oak dried in your yard is dry. Tough to argue with that...

 

[Soundchasm]

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if it's the top courses testing out so low.

If the bottom splits are testing out that low, maybe the OP has his woodstacks over a hotspot in Centralia, PA...