Wood Rounds vs Split Wood

Thought you were northwest or northeast hills Jay106n. I don't mind snow but have to admit after this winter it's good to see it gone! That's a lot of wood you split - I started to outside but it was so windy, brought some in the garage to split.

Too bad about the wood order. I think I saw somewhere on this site how to use am ohm-meter as a wood moisture meter, I'll need to see if I can find that.

Lumber-Jack said:

I think you would lose him at " require the wood be not more than 20% moisture content". But it would be an interesting conversation none the less.

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You're probably correct. But if one plans to burn the wood he/she is trying to buy, in and EPA stove, in the same season the wood is purchased, then the 20% requirement is necessary I would think.

Ralphie Boy said:

... if one plans to burn the wood he/she is trying to buy, in and EPA stove, in the same season the wood is purchased, then the 20% requirement is necessary I would think.

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The, "a failure to plan on your part does not create an emergency on my part," phrase comes to mind, here. Get your wood, whether scavenged or purchased, CSS'd with adequate time to dry before you need it.

Ralphie Boy said:

You're probably correct. But if one plans to burn the wood he/she is trying to buy, in and EPA stove, in the same season the wood is purchased, then the 20% requirement is necessary I would think.

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Your advice was right on Ralphie, I was just poking fun at how firewood dealers haven't really caught on to the concept of what constitutes "seasoned" firewood yet, and likely never will because it would make marketing and selling their wood that much more difficult. Imagine a firewood dealer showing up to someone's house, who needs some firewood right now, and telling the person that they can't burn that wood right away because it needs to it stacked and dry for another year or two. I don't think that would go over very well.

Another comment on cords of wood delivered as rounds:
Those rounds will be wet. Once split and air-dried down to the point where all the free (inter-cellular) water is gone, the splits will commence shrinking. Just the nature of wood. You can expect to see volume reduction up to ~10%, before it's over..
So, if the rounds were 1.0 cords, then you'd have ~.9 cords in the stack, ferinstance.

And, definitely red oak, specifically northern red oak, really benefits from three years of outdoors air-drying. BTDT "Seasoned" really has NO meaning, except in cooking.