Thats it I'm done with burning wood........

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Auzzie Gumtree

Auzzie Gumtree

Minister of Fire
Oct 17, 2012
535
.......... for this year. ==c Spring has finally arrived here and i am into shoulder season - this means a fire at night and maybe 24/7 over the weekend.

This is my first season burning 24/7 with mixed results. all of which can be attributed to the dryness of the wood. I have just tested the next stack and the readings are all over the place - they start ~ 24% and go up to 35%. This is a over a year seasoned in not ideal conditions. it looks like i am going to have to re-stack all the wood i have left, with a decent gap between, as it isn't get the full affect of wind / sun. I have too many stacks together (~22 rows.) Not sure how much there is left but i have burnt less than 20% of the total this season so there is at least 4 years worth of wood to re-stack.!!!

At least i have a bit of room where i have removed this years from to help me get started.

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ansehnlich1 said:
Give that wood some breathin' room.
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will do - hindsight is a wonderful thing. I was getting so much wood i just tried to stack as much as i could in the space i had. Maybe if i had 3 years to season it might have made it - but when you have 1 year......

Also i have noticed i dont get any checking on my firewood is this normal? do you have to get checking / splitting on the sides? could it be the fact it is seasoning so slowly it doesn't crack.... its all a learning curve and i thought the collecting was the hardest part.:confused:
 
ansehnlich1 said:
Holy Smokes, I thought you were freakin' out and totally cashing it in.....I came on in here to talk you out of it, provide some therapy or something, thought maybe you were making a rash decision of some sort, but I see now you got spring fever!

Give that wood some breathin' room.
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Thats what i thought to . that you had enough of cutting and burning wood ;lol
 
Auzzie Gumtree said:
Also i have noticed i dont get any checking on my firewood is this normal? do you have to get checking / splitting on the sides? could it be the fact it is seasoning so slowly it doesn't crack.... its all a learning curve and i thought the collecting was the hardest part.:confused:
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Heavy checking is the result of uneven drying. Wood dries and shrinks most quickly on the ends, and cracks open up, because the middle of the wood is still wet and fat. As the middle of the wood dries, further down the road, the big checks in the end actually start to close back up. This is all in wood that's drying rather quickly.

If your wood dries slowly enough, I suppose it is possible that the moisture content maintains homogeneity sufficient to avoid the behavior described above.
 
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Hills Hoard said:
im with you.....going to be some colder temps in our area mid week, but its just not that cold is it...
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I dont think we can compare to the USA - its shoulder season with a high of 73 today. Its still nice to light the fire when i get home from work though.

I was talking to a neighbour and he says he has a fire every day for pretty much 9 months of the year here.

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I think in the Southern Hemisphere wood checks in the opposite direction.
 
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JOHN BOY said:
Thats what i thought to . that you had enough of cutting and burning wood
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Just teasing...... although it has been a hard lesson / learning curve this year. lets hope next season i will have it sorted.
 
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I saw a Discovery Channel show about Australia. I don't remember the place, but it was over 100 during the day, and freezing at night. They showcased a native Australian, that endured the heat all day, and then slept shirtless on the ground at night. The human condition is highly adaptable, but that guy had thousands of years of genetics in his favor. That is some strange temperature fluctuations, like Mars.
 
Mr A said:
but it was over 100 during the day, and freezing at night.
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its not as extreme where we live but in winter you can get to over 70 during the day and below freezing at night, there's no cloud cover so hot in the day and then all the heat escapes at night.
 
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Nice spot you live in. Great to see some more Aussies on here.
 
Auzzie Gumtree said:
its not as extreme where we live but in winter you can get to over 70 during the day and below freezing at night, there's no cloud cover so hot in the day and then all the heat escapes at night.
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Not unlike the Arizona deserts...doesn't the dry air help your wood dry faster?
 
Why don't you save some work and just move next years wood? You could cover the rest and it should season fine?
 
You know with the global, multi-national members represented on Hearth.com, winter never really "sets" on this forum...seems like someone is always burning. How about that for a Firewood Hoarders Club tagline--"Where winter runs year round..."
 
Well, at least you got time to get re-stacking, but I would still do it ASAP...... Or as uncle Si would say assasplease....
 
glennm said:
Why don't you save some work and just move next years wood? You could cover the rest and it should season fine?
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Thats a good idea - my 'plan' will be to move as much as i can in the space i have. It is currently stacked 4 pallets wide with 3 rows to a pallet. I can now fit 5 pallets wide but i am going 2 rows to a pallet with a breathing gap between the pallets but i can stack much higher. i only went ~ 5 feet high on the old stack i am aiming at 6.5 to 7 feet on the new.

Daylight saving starts soon so i aim to do a bit every night it wont take toooooooo long.<> at least i don't have far to move it.

Also i have found the wood at the front of the stacks (the first 2 pallets) is much drier than at the back. The front is actually burnable (~20%) so i might have to be selective in how i re-stack. i also found quite a bit of pine from last year which i burnt some last night - OMG what a difference does hardwood burn like that if its dry enough? i had the air turned down to minimum and i still had a stove top ~ 550.
 
[quote="Mr A, post: 1512451, member: 19810" I don't remember the place, but it was over 100 during the day, and freezing at night. [/quote]

i have done a fair bit of travel through central australia, particularly through the simpson desert (beautiful place) and its exactly as you heard...roasting hot during the day then you're huddled around a fire at night and sleeping with a beanie on...haha....and as you mentioned the aboriginals knew how to thrive in the worst conditions....shame they dont get much credit or respect they deserve
 
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