What would you do? Wood decision

[thinkxingu]

Greetings,
Last year, my wife and I used just under a cord of wood burning periodic weekends/vacation weeks (we're teachers). Last spring, I put aside a little over a cord of maple and a cord of oak.
The issue: we bought a new stove (Homestead) and have been burning it not only weekends and vacations, but also nights (we love it!). This means we are burning through wood quicker than we thought and just under halfway through the cord of maple (used Oct./Nov./Dec.).
The question: the maple is testing out at <20% moisture and burning well. The oak, however, is testing around 30%. Should I mix the oak in with the maple throughout the rest of the season or go through the maple and hope the oak dries out a bit in the next month or so?

Thanks!

S

 

[savageactor7]

Lot's of folks here that burn Oak says it can take 2 years to season. I suppose you could split some oak into smaller splits for it to dry some more...then give it a try. But if you're determined to burn it then with an established fire I suppose you can throw some oak on top of seasoned maple and see how it works out.

 

[northwinds]

Burn the maple. Save the oak until it's ready to burn--probably next year.
Find other wood that's ready to burn--not easy this time of year. You're going
to waste the btu's in that good oak if you try to burn it wet.

 

[LLigetfa]

If you want to stretch out the Maple a bit, split the Oak real small and mix it in. You are really just delaying the inevitable, that when the Maple runs out, you won't be burning Oak.

 

[wahoowad]

I would feed your strong sense of satisfaction with your increased burning and just buy another load of seasoned wood. Let that oak season another year.

 

[pen]

No point in wasting oak this year that will be perfect next year. I saw do some calling and probing looking for truly seasoned wood. Remember to ask was "seasoned" means to the seller. For many, they aren't selling seasoned wood.

pen

 

[thinkxingu]

I had a feeling y'all would say that--I guess I'll just keep on going and see what happens. There's some dry oak on the backside of one of my racks, but I can't get to it. I may have to re-stack it all!

I need a woodshed

S

 

[cycloxer]

You basically have a couple of choices. You can buy more dry wood, but you will pay a lot of $$$. You can ration your maple, but it sounds like you like to burn more than you have left. I would go after the dry oak and split it up a little more and mix it in with the maple. Then estimate how much burnable wood you have for this year and try to ration it so that you can make it through the year. Save the wet oak for next year - you'll love it once it is dry.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Pallets got me through my first year of burning. They may end up getting you through yours also. They are dry and free. Take them apart with a sawzall.

Matt

 

[gzecc]

Get more wood delivered. Do not get oak or poplar hardwoods. Anything else has a chance to be ok later this season if advertised as seasoned. Keep the oak for next year. Don't forget to buy enough for next years supply also. If you can go to the firewood facility, choose the wood you want.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I had a feeling y'all would say that--I guess I'll just keep on going and see what happens. There's some dry oak on the backside of one of my racks, but I can't get to it. I may have to re-stack it all!

I need a woodshed

S

Woodshed is nice but wood usually dries faster outdoors. After it is dry, then a woodshed is great.

I would not burn the oak before it is ready lest you just waste it. Better to get some other wood and wait on the oak. It will be lots cheaper in the long run too.

 

[Corey]

1) Assuming you're taking moisture readings correctly by making a fresh split and probing the center of the newly split face... At 30% MC, it's not like you're trying to burn dripping wet or green wood. Most people will say 20-25% is 'seasoned', so it's not far away. Boiling away that extra 5-10% water is somewhat like 'wasting' 5-10% of the energy or putting a 5-10% premium on the wood - which is probably less than the premium on truly seasoned wood this time of year.

2) You probably aren't going to find seasoned wood this time of year. I certainly would never trust an ad which says 'seasoned'. Unless you physically see the wood is gray, has large checks/cracks in the end and the bark falling off, it's not seasoned. But if you can get other truly seasoned wood, that is the best option.

Probably what I would do:

1) First, economize as much as you can. Burn only enough to keep warm, not running around the house in shorts and T-shirt or having windows open, etc.

2) As others have said, if you have the means, split some of the oak into smaller splits. This will help accelerate the drying and they will also burn hotter/cleaner.

3) Mix in some of the thinner oak splits you already have with the maple you're burning now - the thin splits are probably a little dryer.

4) Use larger chunks of oak for overnight burns. This is where you want a slower/longer burn anyway. The old trick is to throw in some green wood - your oak isn't truly green, but would serve the same purpose.

 

[Vic99]

I had a homestead for 2 seasons. Good stove.

Let the oak season another year.

Start NOW getting pallets and lumber scraps. Just make sure they are pressure treated and are chemical free. Otherwise it will stink up the house. Not good to breath either. Don't load the stove full of pallets/lumber. Often it is kiln dried. Try mixing in 1/4 to 1/2 with maple. Experiment. You don't want a stovetop over 600F in the homestead.

Good luck.

 

[gzecc]

Vic99- typo "not pressure treated"

 

[waynek]

1) Assuming you're taking moisture readings correctly by making a fresh split and probing the center of the newly split face... At 30% MC, it's not like you're trying to burn dripping wet or green wood. Most people will say 20-25% is 'seasoned', so it's not far away. Boiling away that extra 5-10% water is somewhat like 'wasting' 5-10% of the energy or putting a 5-10% premium on the wood - which is probably less than the premium on truly seasoned wood this time of year.

2) You probably aren't going to find seasoned wood this time of year. I certainly would never trust an ad which says 'seasoned'. Unless you physically see the wood is gray, has large checks/cracks in the end and the bark falling off, it's not seasoned. But if you can get other truly seasoned wood, that is the best option.

Probably what I would do:

1) First, economize as much as you can. Burn only enough to keep warm, not running around the house in shorts and T-shirt or having windows open, etc.

2) As others have said, if you have the means, split some of the oak into smaller splits. This will help accelerate the drying and they will also burn hotter/cleaner.

3) Mix in some of the thinner oak splits you already have with the maple you're burning now - the thin splits are probably a little dryer.

4) Use larger chunks of oak for overnight burns. This is where you want a slower/longer burn anyway. The old trick is to throw in some green wood - your oak isn't truly green, but would serve the same purpose.

This all makes good sense to me. If your moisture tool reads 30% there is a good probability several meters would give a different reading. Plus or minus 5% can be the rule of thumb. Examine the wood...is it checked, weathered...bang some pieces together. At any rate if your at a true 30%, I would not hesitate to mix the oak in the fire unless you want to split hairs here...then save it for next year.

At this time of year a cord in hand is worth two in the bush (or something to that effect) because it is difficult to obtain pure seasoned wood.
jackpine

 

[CTburning]

Red Oak isn't going to dry much in a month or so unless you stack it next to the stove for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I would have to say that I am a professional Wet Red Oak burner, semi-retired this year and full retirement starting next. There were cords of Red Oak lying about the house in huge rounds when I bought the house 3 years ago. I don't rely on the moisture meter too much but the interiror splits were around 30% when burned and a lot of water would sizzle out the ends. I made due and got heat from it but it is not something I recc in a little stove like yours. I split 3 cords in the summer of 2008, 2 soft maple and 1 Red Oak. I burned through the maple in 2 months and tried to use the Red Oak and water literally poured out the ends. I saved to the Red Oak for this year (15 months seasoned) and while it is much better, it is still too wet to burn. I split it very small on purpose, 2x3", but even some of those hiss and sizzle quite a bit. Many of the pieces are even smaller and burn beautifully but quickly.

My advice, put it away till at least next year. You will be able to get heat out of it but it will be much more work for you (tweaking the stove) and less heat. I am in a similiar predictament. I have two cords of maple and a much more efficient stovethis year so I'm hoping the half cord or so of Oak that is usable and the cord of maple that is dry will get me through at least January. By then my second cord of Maple will hopefully be close enough to use. Red Oak is tough on the newbie as you really shouldn't use it for 2+ years. I am finally ahead and have next winters wood (white oak) done and the following winters (Red Oak) started and will finish by the end of January.

Pallets, products like Bio bricks, and some scrounged wood can get you through this winter but if you want to burn Oak, next years wood should have been done at least 6 months ago.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I have a stack of red oak I split March 2008 and I won't burn that until fall 2010. I tried some of the chunks of this stuff just a couple weeks ago and it burned pretty good, but I KNOW it'll be awesome with another summer of drying.

All ya can really do is try to burn a couple splits and if you look in that stove and see water bubbling out the ends you know it's not ready yet, you'll also hear the telltale sizzling that comes along with burning wet wood.

 

[thinkxingu]

Thanks everyone--I'm gonna continue with the maple and when I get to the end try to rotate my crop. It seems I need more space to stack (have about 2 cords' worth now), so that I can season some.

S

 

[smokinj]

If you want to stretch out the Maple a bit, split the Oak real small and mix it in. You are really just delaying the inevitable, that when the Maple runs out, you won't be burning Oak.

+1

 

[gyrfalcon]

Thanks everyone--I'm gonna continue with the maple and when I get to the end try to rotate my crop. It seems I need more space to stack (have about 2 cords' worth now), so that I can season some.

S

Genuinely "seasoned" wood is pretty much unobtainable anywhere, unless you pay an arm and a leg for kiln-dried-- if you can even find any by this far into the burning season.

If you can get fall or winter-felled rock maple, split it down real good and stack it really loosely in full sun and wind (a lot of ifs, I know) it will be decently burnable in about three months-- not great, but definitely burnable. Rock maple seasons very quickly, and will ignite and burn easily at a lower temperature than the other hardwoods I've got experience wth (blue beech, black birch, etc.)

One other last-chance possibility is to try to find a home owner, like some of the folks here, with a huge supply of many years seasoned wood and see if they'll trade you, say, a half a cord of their dry wood for a cord of split green wood from a dealer or other supplier. If I were a compulsive wood stocker like that, I'd happily make that trade.

Partially seasoned wood will definitely burn for you, although you won't get the most efficient burn out of it, but you have to have enough actually dry stuff to get the stove temp up pretty good before you start tossing the wetter wood on the fire. Otherwise, it won't burn well, it'll just sit there and sulk and throw vast amounts of creosote up your chimney.

And speaking of which, if you're burning more than a little semi-seasoned stuff, check your chimney after a few weeks, or hire a chimney sweep to come clean it out for you. Depending on your set-up, you may or may not have a big accumulation of creosote, but you definitely need to find out how much you're putting up there before you go too far with it and have a chimney fire.

Love the fact that you started out just enjoying the stove on weekends and got converted to real burning so fast. It's pretty irresistible, by a long shot the nicest kind of heat I've ever lived with, despite all the hassles.

 

[DBoon]

Up in NH, you may be able to lay your hands on some cherry also. That seasons pretty fast and bailed me out pretty well during my first burning year. Split it down to 3" size pieces and mix that in with the maple.

Also, if you can store 3-5 days worth inside the house, that will help also. Every little bit helps.

 

[cycloxer]

Worse case, buy a 1/2 cord of seasoned or buy some bio bricks to mix in and get you through. Personally, I would take some of my oak and start splitting it into small pieces. It is not that hard to do with a maul and it only requires your time. Then you build a small indoor wood rack and put it in an unused room in the house. The dry, warm air in your house will dry out that oak pretty quick and the small splits will burn easier. I've done this and it works.

 

[firefighterjake]

Sounds like the decision has already been made . . . for the record I agree with the masses . . . burn the maple, save the oak for next year . . . and start tearing up some pallets.