A Whole New Game

Fruit woods are two years. I separate by species and time. Oak is always by its self. Ash can be mixed with other 1 yr seasoning species. I separate locust also for maximum btu's. Everything is single rows off the ground. Oak is 2yrs+. Silver maple is 1yr in single rows. I season everything for at least 2 yrs.

Oh to have a bunch of wood choices.
I separate spruce & birch, & season spruce 1 year & birch 3 years.

I've been trying to figure out what to do too. So far what I've come up with is, get 3+ years ahead and then it won't matter so much

Oww My Back Hurts said:

I've been trying to figure out what to do too. So far what I've come up with is, get 3+ years ahead and then it won't matter so much

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Its still nice to have the wood separated by hard vs soft so you can burn more systematically.

Oww My Back Hurts said:

I've been trying to figure out what to do too. So far what I've come up with is, get 3+ years ahead and then it won't matter so much

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This is my plan too. Until then I'll start with what I think is the oldest stuff.

Jacktheknife said:

So, next question-- what counts as a year? If i cut the wood at the beginning of spring do i get credit for a full year since summer is the main drying season? What if i cut it today (mid-august)? I have been cutting mulberry the last week, by the dead of next winter will it be considered a one or two year wood?

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Well, I would try it in the winter and see how it burns. If it sizzles and/or takes a long time to take off and burn than I would wait. It's not an exact science, and what works for you in Iowa may be different than what works for someone in the northeast or out west.

I agree with separating the wood as you mentioned, by drying time and BTUs. Basically I like to have wood for the shoulder season and wood for really cold weather. For me that means separating the wood into "oak" and "not oak." Sounds like you have a bit more variety than I do!

Jacktheknife said:

So, next question-- what counts as a year? If i cut the wood at the beginning of spring do i get credit for a full year since summer is the main drying season? What if i cut it today (mid-august)? I have been cutting mulberry the last week, by the dead of next winter will it be considered a one or two year wood?

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A year is 12 months from the time the wood has been split and stacked. No, the summer does not count for a year. This is one big stumbling block for many wood burners.

What if you cut today? Then a year from this fall, figure that wood has dried for a year.

As for separating the wood, we sometimes will separate out some of the oak but usually everything just goes into the stacks as we grab it. Like "Ow my back hurts" stated, once you get on the 3 year plan, you can do whatever your heart desires and not worry about it.

Backwoods Savage said:

A year is 12 months from the time the wood has been split and stacked. No, the summer does not count for a year. This is one big stumbling block for many wood burners.

What if you cut today? Then a year from this fall, figure that wood has dried for a year.

As for separating the wood, we sometimes will separate out some of the oak but usually everything just goes into the stacks as we grab it. Like "Ow my back hurts" stated, once you get on the 3 year plan, you can do whatever your heart desires and not worry about it.

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Gettin' with the three year program takes all the worry and fret out of seasoning. Has got to be the easiest and smartest way to go.

Backwoods Savage said:

A year is 12 months from the time the wood has been split and stacked. No, the summer does not count for a year. This is one big stumbling block for many wood burners.

What if you cut today? Then a year from this fall, figure that wood has dried for a year.

As for separating the wood, we sometimes will separate out some of the oak but usually everything just goes into the stacks as we grab it. Like "Ow my back hurts" stated, once you get on the 3 year plan, you can do whatever your heart desires and not worry about it.

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Does any real drying happen in the winter. If I dry my sheets outside and they freeze stiff, no drying is happening. Can the same logic be applied to wood. Does water freeze inside the wood and hence no drying.

I don't let my fruitwoods season.... I use 'em for smoking... Lately I've found myself soaking cherrywood in buckets of water so it's not driving my smoker up to 450F... great for heating the house.... not so great for ribs....

red oak said:

I agree with separating the wood as you mentioned, by drying time and BTUs. Basically I like to have wood for the shoulder season and wood for really cold weather. For me that means separating the wood into "oak" and "not oak." Sounds like you have a bit more variety than I do!

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Black Locust > Oak, IMHO..... seasoned.. it burns like hard coal.... and can keep my 150 year old house at 90... EASY...

Richie said:

Does any real drying happen in the winter. If I dry my sheets outside and they freeze stiff, no drying is happening. Can the same logic be applied to wood. Does water freeze inside the wood and hence no drying.

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Yes, sublimation .
I cut live trees in the fall, the ends are cracked & drying out before the Spring thaw.

Pic of stuff CSS in Oct, picture taken in March, 6 months later (still below freezing ).
You can see the cracks from drying thru the winter

Jacktheknife said:

My dad claims that wood freeze dries.

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"Freeze dry" AKA "sublimation"

Bret Chase said:

Black Locust > Oak, IMHO..... seasoned.. it burns like hard coal.... and can keep my 150 year old house at 90... EASY...

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Yes if I had a lot of locust it would definitely be in the dead of winter category! I don't have enough to make it's own stack though so I just threw it in with the oak. To be honest, I didn't notice that much of a difference when I burned it in my stove, than when I burned seasoned red oak.

For shoulder season I have varying amounts of pine, walnut, poplar, with cherry being burned some in shoulder season and some in winter. 90% of my stacks though is oak, and 90% of that is red oak. It's not that I won't take other types, it's just the makeup of the woods around here.

Richie said:

Does any real drying happen in the winter. If I dry my sheets outside and they freeze stiff, no drying is happening. Can the same logic be applied to wood. Does water freeze inside the wood and hence no drying.

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For sure drying laundry outdoors in the winter is a chore! Still, the laundry will dry....to a point. We've always noticed that it takes very little to finish the job that Mother Nature has helped with. So although you don't get all the moisture out, you get most. With wood. we don't want all the moisture out; just below 20% as a general rule.


Wood will definitely dry some in the winter and most do notice that in the cracked ends. However, one must also realize when they see the cracked ends that it means only that some of the end moisture has dried and usually none of the center moisture has came out at all. We stack our logs in the winter and split in the spring. It is very common to see some big cracks but that wood is far from being dry in the inside.

I still can't figure out why it takes wood so long to dry out. It is basically a bunch of straws in a tight package. Water moves up and down a tree easily when it is alive. Why is it so hard to dry a 16" piece that has been split to about 6" diameter? Three years is an awful long time for that piece to give up its water. Especially, since you are only drying to 20% or so.

bogydave said:

Yes, sublimation .
I cut live trees in the fall, the ends are cracked & drying out before the Spring thaw.

Pic of stuff CSS in Oct, picture taken in March, 6 months later (still below freezing ).
You can see the cracks from drying thru the winterView attachment 108646

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The cracks that appear in the winter time may just be the water freezing and expanding the wood just like water widening a crack in concrete. When I moved in, there was locust that was dried in our garage which is quite a bit warmer and I do not believe would be prone to freezing. It was in there for about 6 years. Checked the moisture. It was about 13% moisture. There are virtually no checks in the wood. A few but not many. Looking at it you would think it was not seasoned but it sure as heck is.

bogydave said:

Yes, sublimation .
I cut live trees in the fall, the ends are cracked & drying out before the Spring thaw.

Pic of stuff CSS in Oct, picture taken in March, 6 months later (still below freezing ).
You can see the cracks from drying thru the winterView attachment 108646

Click to expand...

Dave that would be a beautiful mural in my estimation.