Starting season no. 5 and my wood still sizzles alittle

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The others have all nailed it, trust me these guys are all professionals....;)

I usually only topcover the wood I plan on burning in a winter the summer before. All of my wood is seasoned at least three years minimum, two years without any covering at all. Do not cover the sides, you really need that air to travel through the stacks......and like Papadave and others have said, get as far ahead as you can. You never know when something comes up and you can't get wood for a season. I have around 25 cord on hand, plan on getting more when I get a woodshed built. My limit here at the house will probably be around 30 to 35, which will easily get me through 5 years.

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how does that wood dry stacked tight like that??
 
I'm betting that wood has been moved 7 or eighteen times.
Same with bws. Its just sumthin to do!
 
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how does that wood dry stacked tight like that??

It dries fine like that. First off, it has a minimum of three years in the stacks, some.of it has been stacked for almost 4 1/2 years. And it gets really warm here in the summer. I've never had a problem with damp wood doing it the way I have been doing it. Not to mention that it does get moved around a bit, at the end of the burning season I resrack what's left and start my newly split stuff in the area I emptied out over the winter.
 
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Nate 379 I agree single rows work best and wood stacked tight is going to take longer to dry, so I stack in single rows even though some of mine sets for 3 years
 
Sandy wasnt that bad here but we did loose power for 3 days.I live in the country so outages are common! glad i finnally bought a generator last year and had a transfer box hooked up.Soon iwill start again with some cutting!we have around 3 acres of woods (much oak) and sandy did bring a few of those down in the woods.
 
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:) Thanks backwoods! and others! Guess it gets alittle frustrating when i start fires and hear some of the wood sizzle.I think ill take off the tarps tomorrow and let the air do a better job.Looks like you burn alot of wood B Savage:)! how many cords do you burn a year? For us we burn around 3 cords! I usually start burning on a daily basis from late Nov till sometime in April.Last year was a extremely warm year so i didn't burn a great deal.

Stanley, we burn somewhere around 3 cord per year. Last year we were wondering because we put on an addition and also remodeled. New windows, doors and insulation so we were not sure what we'd burn last year. Ended up around 2 cord last year so I'm betting it will be between 2-3 cord this winter. We have enough on hand for 5 or 6 years or maybe even 7. No worries about running out.

And the best things about being that far ahead on the wood is that we know without a doubt that the wood is ready to burn and we do not need a moisture meter to tell us that. In addition, after the little accident I had a couple weeks ago I might not be able to cut wood this winter. If not, no problem. We have plenty.
 
8 to 9 cords!! _g ill work on it! I do need a better chainsaw! my craftsmen 18" can only do so much.Hope my wife dosnt mind seeing so much wood around!Took her awhile to calm down when i put up my 6 ft satellite dish;lol

Hum.... My saw has only a 16" bar... As for the wood, stack it neat and she won't mind. A good neat wood stack can look good. Then also point out to her that it pays better dividends than money in the bank....and you don't even get taxed on it.
 
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how does that wood dry stacked tight like that??

Nate, we've stacked wood in larger stacks that Scott shows in his pictures. You do not want to stack like that if you plan on burning the wood in a year or two but when you have 5 years or even more, there is definitely no problem.
 
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Sandy wasnt that bad here but we did loose power for 3 days.I live in the country so outages are common! glad i finnally bought a generator last year and had a transfer box hooked up.Soon iwill start again with some cutting!we have around 3 acres of woods (much oak) and sandy did bring a few of those down in the woods.
Smart move having the generator and transfer switch. Glad to hear it it was only 3 days. Go get that oak -- good stuff.
 
Hum.... My saw has only a 16" bar... As for the wood, stack it neat and she won't mind. A good neat wood stack can look good. Then also point out to her that it pays better dividends than money in the bank....and you don't even get taxed on it.
+1
My wife was initially concerned about wood stacks, but now likes them. We have used some as a pseudo-fence along the road on one side of the property, which gives us a little privacy and has generated compliments from neighbors and friends. I find a neat stack to be fit perfectly with woods. In addition, as Dennis says, our stacks represent oil we do not have to purchase for the burner. My wife really liked the small oil bill as we burned through shoulder season (this is our first year with the insert) -- we think the burner only ran to create hot water. She is now encouraging me and the boys to create more stacks!
 
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Uncovered the wood pile and What a mess! some of the wood physically wet and mushrooms growing out of some.Lets see how the drying works now.I'm on vacation next week!Time to cut up some wood from fallen trees in the woods.
 

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I forgot all about my mosture meter! Did some readings on wood i will be burning this year and got readings from 10 to 15%.Are these good readings?.PS this is the same wood that sizzles alittle when i did my first burn last week.
 
Looks 100% better, Stanley. You'll see a big difference in that wood, given it some time to dry.
 
I forgot all about my mosture meter! Did some readings on wood i will be burning this year and got readings from 10 to 15%.Are these good readings?.PS this is the same wood that sizzles alittle when i did my first burn last week.
Was that on a fresh split, if it was that wood probably has a bunch of surface moisture on it and will dry out in a hurry.
 
Was that on a fresh split, if it was that wood probably has a bunch of surface moisture on it and will dry out in a hurry.
This from wood that was split over a year ago and was stored in my woodshed.
 
Stanley - when using your moisture meter are you checking the inside of a split? Moisture can vary significantly from the outside surface where it is exposed to the air to deep inside the wood.

Take one of your logs and split to expose the middle, put your moisture meter on that.
 
What is a good reading to get with a mosture reader for good dry wood? The stuff im burning this year im getting between 10 to 15% measured on the ends of splited wood.
 
Stanley, it's been said. Split a couple of random pieces, then check the fresh split face (inside of split).
Readings of 20% or less would be ideal. Slightly higher will be ok.
You now see why we suggest leaving the sides open, eh? Trapping moisture is a problem when trying to dry stuff.
 
I would guess the moisture is higher once you split a log then test it.
 
Most definitely the ends will be the driest. That is why you see all those cracks.
 
Thanks again all! Did another burn last night and still got some sizzle at the start but after awhile i got a nice burn of over 400 with my afterburner working nicely.Upper 20s outside! upper 70s first floor!mid 70s 2nd.Just got up (5am)and stove temp still around 200 with house temps mid 70s.PS last load put in around 10:30 pm est.
 
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