Standing dead ash (which unfortunately is most ash lately) splits seasoned. You just don't come by much healthy ash these days.
The importance of seasoned wood - Dry vs Wet
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Standing dead ash (which unfortunately is most ash lately) splits seasoned. You just don't come by much healthy ash these days.
Remember the Neelys that had a BBQ show on TV? They have a restaurant. He opened his cooker and was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Exclaimed, "that's what I'm looking for!"
Absolutely not. I have an offset smoker. Should barely see anything, if at all. Small hot fire in the firebox. Only visible smoke is when adding new splits until they catch.
I'm actually in an interesting situation this year. I'm stuck home with a broken leg. I have a mixed bag of seasoned/semi-seasoned wood outside that friends have been bringing in for me. They aren't being picky about which pieces to bring it, and I'm not about to be a PITA since they're nice enough to do it for me. Once in awhile, I'll toss in a piece and realize it's too green. It just sits there and smolders. I've been trying to offset them with some really dry pieces and hoping I'm not gunking up my pipe. I wonder how long the moisture has to sit in the pipe without being otherwise blown out by a nice hot fire before it becomes a problem. I did a midseason clean out before this happened and found almost nothing in there. Hopefully I'm over thinking it.
Sorry to hear about the leg Rudy. Hope it mends quickly.
Damp wood can make a mess of things pretty quickly, especially if there is a screen on the cap. I found this out the hard way many years ago when we had some wet maple mixed in with the dry due to a leaky tarp cover. The cap screen plugged after a month of burning. If you can get some help bringing in wood, getting the heavier damp pieces into the house in a rubbermaid tote for a month will help dry them out faster. Maybe have an empty tote or two to put them into? One can often tell the damp wood by weight and banging two splits together. If they go thud instead of ringing like a bowling pin, then put them in the totes.
Damp wood can make a mess of things pretty quickly, especially if there is a screen on the cap. I found this out the hard way many years ago when we had some wet maple mixed in with the dry due to a leaky tarp cover. The cap screen plugged after a month of burning. If you can get some help bringing in wood, getting the heavier damp pieces into the house in a rubbermaid tote for a month will help dry them out faster. Maybe have an empty tote or two to put them into? One can often tell the damp wood by weight and banging two splits together. If they go thud instead of ringing like a bowling pin, then put them in the totes.
No cap involved. It's a class A steel chimney. It's got a top, but no mesh. I have been placing the heavier pieces aside. I used to split and check with a moisture meter when in doubt, but can't split right now, so I have been doing the thud tapping thing. I see a lot of what looks like cherry in today's pile, so that should get me a nice hot burn.
It's the first time in the 20 years I've had this stove that I've been able to burn 24/7. It used to be load the stove and then off the work for 10 hours. I'm hoping with he more consistent burning, the chimney won't have enough time to cool down and get any buildup anyway.
Just wanted to share something I learned yesterday (it's my first year of wood stove burning). I took this light log from my shed (appears to be red oak), thinking that it must be dry because it's much smaller than others and it "seasoned" there for whole 4 months! But how surprised I was to see this water coming out of it:
![[Hearth.com] The importance of seasoned wood - Dry vs Wet](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/331/331824-83c41d76977e110d7f4f6c5ae0f81b99.jpg?hash=vwDws80cg5 "[Hearth.com] The importance of seasoned wood - Dry vs Wet")
If this is the case with such a thin one, then I can imagine how much water is in those bigger ones...
If this is the case with such a thin one, then I can imagine how much water is in those bigger ones...
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
@yuryk Oak is a different animal, since its cell structure is closed cell it takes sometimes 2-3 full years from time of splitting to dry out, I've had white oak that sat split for 3 years, 2 of those years in a shed with a roof but open sides, still hisst a bit when I threw it in the fire. Best thing for oak or really any wood is to make sure even the limb wood is split at least once, having an open face dries much better then something with bark all the way around.
jmb6420
Burning Hunk
Yup, that is a telltale sign. It's why wood must be resplit and tested in the middle of the freshly exposed face of the wood. A split can be dry on the outside and damp in the middle. It's a good lesson and one most have seen at some point.
I'm wondering, how you guys do it? Say you have to reload in the middle of a cold night or before going to bed. I doubt you'd get an axe and start splitting and measuring moisture content... or would you? I personally try to grab the driest looking logs and start burning ASAP. So far always catch myself after the fact that I did not even check moisture content
(Probably being spoiled by those few bio bricks I throw in every time alongside the logs)
We test a few of the thickest pieces in a stack (of the same species of the same age) to get an idea.
However that does not always work.
I have not had a real fire yet but did a test fire this week. I had an red oak split (and some maple) that I had split and stacked in a shed (no drop of rain touched it) *in April 2021*. So three and a half years. 4 summers.
Other pieces in that stack read 13-14%.
This one split (not even the biggest) had a few wet spots when I burned it.
There will always be some variability.
However that does not always work.
I have not had a real fire yet but did a test fire this week. I had an red oak split (and some maple) that I had split and stacked in a shed (no drop of rain touched it) *in April 2021*. So three and a half years. 4 summers.
Other pieces in that stack read 13-14%.
This one split (not even the biggest) had a few wet spots when I burned it.
There will always be some variability.
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NickW
Minister of Fire
You do this well before the season starts. How far in advance depends on the wood species.I'm wondering, how you guys do it? Say you have to reload in the middle of a cold night or before going to bed. I doubt you'd get an axe and start splitting and measuring moisture content... or would you? I personally try to grab the driest looking logs and start burning ASAP. So far always catch myself after the fact that I did not even check moisture content
Oh, then it makes perfect sense! I was looking at it from my own perspective (a guy who bought his very first 5 cords of wood this past summer), so I guess I don't have to split and check this season, coz it's obvious. But will do next fall for sure! Thanks!
I've been in that situation. If the wood is mixed species, then the drying rate may be unequal. If that's the case you may be able to cull out the driest wood and restack the wettest. Weight is one clue. Wet wood is substantially heavier. Also, if you bang together a pair of splits and they are dry, they will ring, like hitting a hardball with a bat. If instead they give a dull thunk and are quite heavy, then they are probably damp inside.
Plan on cleaning the chimney at least once a month if the wood is poorly seasoned.
Plan on cleaning the chimney at least once a month if the wood is poorly seasoned.
Best would be, if you know how the wood was processed from the forest to your stack. When were the trees cut down? When was the wood split? When was is stacked?
In Sweden we mainly burn beechwood. Best is, if the trees are cut between let's say November and March depending on the area you live in.
We believe it must be split and stacked before mid summer (21. June) otherwise it will have a bad spell on it. We say "the jinx will go into the wood after midsummer".
In Sweden we mainly burn beechwood. Best is, if the trees are cut between let's say November and March depending on the area you live in.
We believe it must be split and stacked before mid summer (21. June) otherwise it will have a bad spell on it. We say "the jinx will go into the wood after midsummer".
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
Doesn't really matter when the wood was cut down, it doesn't really start drying until it's split and stacked. If it's split and left in a pile only the outside of the pile is drying.
We always cut the trees at their driest time of the season. In winter and earliest spring, while the soil is still frozen and the beech tree is the driest inside. This gives a head start for the drying, once it is split.
Another method is to cut the beech tree, while it has already developed leaves and then let it rest with braches and leaves. The leaves will keep succing moisture from the trunk and dry it out.
Other than above, I totally agree.
Helped an older lady to clean out the barn, some years after her husband passed away. Found some rounds before splitting. After I split them, I measured in the mid 30%. They must have been lying there for at least 10 years. (Husband passed away 5 years prior and I don't think he cut the trees in his last years)
Wood1Dennis
Feeling the Heat
That saying is great. I sure don't want my firewood jinxed!
I'm fortunate to cut all my firewood from my own woods, so I always know its history, I only mark the piles for the year processed.
Like others have said, getting 3 years ahead is key. I mix oak in with all my other hardwoods, mostly ash these days but also maple, yellow birch, elm, cherry, whatever mix I have. I don't have to keep it separated, re-pile it, etc that way and I like a mix in my pile. I pick heavier stuff like oak and yellow birch when its cold and I need more BTU, lighter stuff when it is warmer, or I just need to sustain the house temp. Three years ahead is
key is getting good dry wood with minimal fuss and rework.
My Oak Pile is around 14% as it's Out in Wind for Over 1.5 yrs . . I have a Tester like in Video - it does Help around Here as everyone
will Tell You Their Wood is Seasoned when it is Not !
My Stack Been sitting Over How Concrete Pad - also which gets 138F just about everyday from 6/01 ~ 10/30
Also do to 8% Grade . . Facing Sun
It seems many - just - Don't Care . . which I find Weird . . They Act like You Owe them something for Being Allowed to
" Buy that Wood "
Same with Mobile Saw-Mill Guys - as I was going to get Oak Tree Turned in Lumber . . . Haaa - They Answer on Phone & say so when You Coming over with Logs , Ya Right !
I'll Just Pull out My Handi ~ Dandy 90Hp Turbo Assist Backhoe with Rock Grapple & Load it on My 8K-12K Trailer & Pull that with My 2 Tone Two Truck . .
It's All Firewood !
It's Great !
It's Dry !
Free !
1.5 year oak won't be 14% on the inside
As it dries from the outside inwards, the outside will measure good, but if you split open a big piece you have and then stick the pins in parallel to the grain on the newly exposed surface, you'll likely get above 25%
As it dries from the outside inwards, the outside will measure good, but if you split open a big piece you have and then stick the pins in parallel to the grain on the newly exposed surface, you'll likely get above 25%
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