Burning Split Then Kiln Dried Wood -yea or nay?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Hearth Mistress

Hearth Mistress

Minister of Fire
Jan 24, 2012
852
Pt Pleasant, PA (SE PA)
www.linkedin.com
Around here there is only one vendor that sells clean, split, kiln dried fire wood, it's $350 a cord, delivered and $35 more if you want it stacked. The guys that I usually hire for big tree work, stump removal, etc, called me today because they have a customer moving, and he asked them to remove his cord+ pile of kiln dried wood off the property, he bought it from the local vendor over the summer, stacked and tarped since. Evidently, the soon to be new owner's wife doesn't want that dirty, smelly wood stove in the house so that was sold already, the wood is mine for the taking, just need to cover their expenses to dump and stack it at my house, $100, it will be here Monday.

Anyone ever use this bark free, split kiln dried wood in their stoves? My concern is my 1.7 cu ft firebox will easily over fire, like with pallet wood if it really is that dry. Thoughts?
 
I'd be all over that like stink on most of the people I work with ;lol! Can you mix it with some air dried wood?
 
  • Like
Reactions: jharkin and ScotO
It will surely burn hot, I would mix it.
 
I would check it, but I doubt if it is super dry enough to cause a problem. It might be kiln dried, but how much did they dry it?

Lucky you, by the way.
 
you'll be fine burning that stuff. Big thing is to pay attention to your stove, it will probably behave slightly different with a drier wood. BUT, even though the wood was originally kiln dried, you stated that it has been sitting (covered) since summer.....I'm sure by now that wood has re-acclimated itself (from sitting outside) to a normal level for your climate and humidity.....I'd say it'll probably burn just like regularly seasoned wood.......I say go for it!

Sounds like a great deal!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Adios Pantalones, oldogy, blwncrewchief and 1 other person
Thanks for the feedback! I have plenty of not so seasoned Ash we cut after Sandy, it's barely c/s/s two months but already meters at about 25. I have some black walnut too that's about a year old but so far shows a lot of burn without a lot of heat, smells nice though :)

I guess I will just have to experiment with it, my tree guys called me a little while ago to tell me it meters between 9-12 depending on the size of the split so that I will have to see how my stove reacts to it. They do tree work all day long but none of them have a wood stove or fire place, seems odd to me but I'll take all the wood they can get!

I'll be sure to post an update when I get it on Monday, once I get it up the steps and stacked - ugh!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ScotO
HM, I would not worry a bit about it being too dry. They tell me my wood is drier than kiln dried wood and we have no problem at all. I'd definitely get it!!!

btw, I don't remember for sure what the final % was for some wood we took to Woodstock but think they found around 8%. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. We put that wood in their stove while we were there and as expected, it burned beautifully, just like it does here at home. btw, that wood was cherry and ash.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jharkin, Dune and ScotO
I am enjoying the kiln dried! However not 100% of the larger pieces are to my standard, however I am mixing them with the really dry stuff and its burning great!
 
Hearth Mistress said:
Around here there is only one vendor that sells clean, split, kiln dried fire wood, it's $350 a cord, delivered and $35 more if you want it stacked. The guys that I usually hire for big tree work, stump removal, etc, called me today because they have a customer moving, and he asked them to remove his cord+ pile of kiln dried wood off the property, he bought it from the local vendor over the summer, stacked and tarped since. Evidently, the soon to be new owner's wife doesn't want that dirty, smelly wood stove in the house so that was sold already, the wood is mine for the taking, just need to cover their expenses to dump and stack it at my house, $100, it will be here Monday.

Anyone ever use this bark free, split kiln dried wood in their stoves? My concern is my 1.7 cu ft firebox will easily over fire, like with pallet wood if it really is that dry. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I burned it last year in a 1.4 cu ft fire box without an issue. Good stuff, lights easily and I ended up keeping a lot of it inside because it's considerably cleaner than typical cord wood.
 
You will probably be fine. I burn lots of kiln dry oak pallet wood with out problems in my 1.4 cf stove.
You do need to keep close watch on flue and stove top temps.
You don't want to load the stove up an walk away.
 
*UPDATE* Ok, my wood is here and it is AWESOME! So awesome, I may just have to buy a cord every year to mix in to extend my supply of ash!
This stuff is dry, we re-split a few, all under 15, one was even 7. It's like pallet wood but in nice splits, not slats. Neither one of my dogs has moved from the stove. My husband however, has moved upstairs as it is 80 in our living room (and yes, I'm still under a blanket)
It ended up a little more than a cord so needless to say, I'm happy as I know these deals can go bad but this one turned out ok!
 
  • Like
Reactions: PA Fire Bug, ScotO and jharkin
I'd like to see kiln dried, or at the very least, partially kiln dried, as the standard for sale under the guise of 'seasoned'. I've heard speculation among some of my parks and rec friends that it could be possible in the next ten years or so to stop spread of invasive insects. It's already required to import into the country. It's a shame that firewood dealers have no standards to adhere to.
 
I will take photos of the stack tomorrow, there is NO DOUBT this stuff is dry just in appearance alone.

We have had a lot of trouble with all sorts of tree diseases here, there are quarantines on moving wood out of our county or into NJ, just across the river.

I called the owner of the company that sells this wood out of curiosty, since I would like to eventually buy more and wanted him to justify why is it double the price. It is actually a driveway sealing company. Being seasonal, they needed something to suppliment their income in the winter months but also to keep their staff working year round so by the time spring comes back around, they aren't available to work because they are working elsewhere.
He explained to me that the actualy drying process isn't started until the wood reaches an internal temp of 160 degrees. Then they continue to gradually raise the temps until the MC is about 15% which can take 3-5 total depending on the wood, ash the least, oak to most. They are the only kiln around and sell most of their wood in bundles at the local hardware and Agway stores.

I tried to find other local vendors to buy "seasoned" wood but even the big guys around have awful reputations for less than cord deliveries of wet wood.

Until there is a regulation on what " season" means, even though we can all agree it's around 20%, we just have to be very careful buyers ;)
 
Give it a year and you'll have more kiln dried vendors in your area. Last year I could only find one. Now, there seems to be at least 3-4 within 15 miles of me and based on their websites, they're all moving product pretty quickly. Hopefully the more people doing it drives the price down for everyone. I've considered picking up a face cord for the new insert, but haven't made up my mind just yet. I've got a ton of scrap lumber from gutting my basement, but I've heard that residual salinity in lumber can cause flue issues.
 
I don't ever see the price going down much for kiln dried cords, they just don't make the money they do on grocery store bundles. That said, I think my kiln dried price went up to $165/cord after the sale month of December. It burns good indeed!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ScotO
Hearth Mistress said:
*UPDATE* Ok, my wood is here and it is AWESOME! So awesome, I may just have to buy a cord every year to mix in to extend my supply of ash!
This stuff is dry, we re-split a few, all under 15, one was even 7. It's like pallet wood but in nice splits, not slats. Neither one of my dogs has moved from the stove. My husband however, has moved upstairs as it is 80 in our living room (and yes, I'm still under a blanket)
It ended up a little more than a cord so needless to say, I'm happy as I know these deals can go bad but this one turned out ok!
Click to expand...

Pallet wood is more likely to over-fire from too much surface area. It is like filling your stove with kindling. Kiln dried firewood is the bomb.
 
After a while wood stored outside will reach a balance with your local average air humidity. Wood that is wetter than the air will dry out, but wood that is drier will get wetter, even if covered. I wouldn't worry about wood being too dry. I think it will be the best wood you ever burned.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oldspark and ScotO
Jeni-

Glad to hear you grabbed that wood. For free kiln dried I woulda drove across state lines and brought it home in the trunk of a Yugo if I had to.

Well not exactly but you get the idea.

Around here wood dealers charge that price for regular "seasoned" (aka split yesterday) wood. I couldnt get kiln for under $500.
 
Ok, so here's my score, don't laugh at the stacking. It's tight but stable, two rows deep(plus the little bit in the front) on two 4x4 pallets. The runner in the front is from a 4ft pallet I was cutting for kindling. Notice the black round burn marks on the wood, that's from the spindles in the kiln holding them in place, neat uh? This stuff is dry, but when I pick up a heavy piece it goes to a different pile, oak! With it being 50 degrees here, I don't want to waste the BTUs.

I've been burning it with my "just split today" ash and it's been a great run of fires, nothing like I've ever had before, now I'm spoiled!
image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: PA Fire Bug, teutonicking, Tuneighty and 2 others
Those are some good size splits. The bulk of the kiln dried I bought last year was all smaller splits so they would dry faster. I don't really understand the rod burn marks though....maybe it's some type of kiln I haven't seen before.
 
They cut logs into log 16" lengths then remove the bark and split them on something that looks like a big pineapple corer. They dump them into big wire crates and load them into the kiln. They are 2 ways to measure the wood while it's being processed. They drill a whole, similar to the "stand straight" xmas tree holes and insert a probe to measure the internal temp of the wood. There are also these spindles that holds random splits, like a toilet paper holder, to measure surface moisture. It takes about 3 days and they guarantee 15% mc. I don't know too much about it, I'm only repeating what the owner explained to me. He invited me over to see it but I haven't yet :)
 
That makes sense. The spindles marks are from holding the wood for measurement. I was thinking there was some odd contraption holding it in the kiln. Seemed like it would be inefficient for getting more wood in there.
 
I'd love to try some of that stuff but about all I can afford is a bundle from the local Speedway station;hm
 
Ralphie Boy said:
I'd love to try some of that stuff but about all I can afford is a bundle from the local Speedway station;hm
Click to expand...
Yeah, add that up to a cord and it would be 500.00 per
 
Hearth Mistress said:
, my tree guys called me a little while ago to tell me it meters between 9-12 depending on the size of the split !
Click to expand...

A tree guy with a moisture meter!?!?! ...and they aren't even wood burners? I had my tree guys at the house yesterday to take down a dead Norway Maple and none of them could believe I had three years worth of wood at the house. The both like to have some green wood for slow overnight burns and couldn't imagine why I'd keep wood around long enough to rot. Most tree guys around me sell fresh split wood.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Crummy
Kiln dried moisture content
Replies
19
Views
2K
The Wood Shed
Crummy
Crummy
Dajolu
How much wood will I need?
Replies
13
Views
1K
The Wood Shed
Wildflush
W
N
Ants and punky wood - now what?
Replies
4
Views
390
The Wood Shed
NiftyB
N
D
What would you do? (Sell or burn two cords of wood)
Replies
28
Views
2K
The Wood Shed
all night moe
A
V
Bad wood - Kiln dried
Replies
12
Views
3K
The Wood Shed
peakbagger
P
Top Bottom
Back