Can wood season if it's frozen?

The air is very dry in the winter

quotejso said:

The air is very dry in the winter

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Yes and yes it does shed moisture in the deep freeze / sub zero weather, moisture acts kinda like those ice cubes that disappeared that sat in those old ice cube trays in your freezer, but no where near as much if it was in Death Valley.

Another member @saskwoodburner is doing a quick test. I believe he split a round and put one half in the house and left the other outside. The split in the house lose 1.75 lbs (28 ounce) the one outside lost an ounce.

jatoxico said:

The split in the house lose 1.75 lbs

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I saw that and that's a huge amount for a month, I find it hard to see 1.75 lbs of water in a bowl evaporating in a month.

That was a good question, I wondered myself. Interesting information. Staying on the frozen subject, probably discussed many times before - but is it a myth or fact that wood is easier to split when frozen?

Local to me researchers found green healthy trees harvested in September and split right away seasoned down to almost the Fiber Saturation Point (+/- 30%MC) over the winter.

page 20 of the .pdf for the multicolor graph.

http://www.cchrc.org/sites/default/files/docs/WoodStorageBestPractices.pdf

If you split oak was already down to +/- 30%, i doubt it will season much more over this winter.

Fact for me, frozen and green (froze or unfroze) are easier

Stelcom66 said:

That was a good question, I wondered myself. Interesting information. Staying on the frozen subject, probably discussed many times before - but is it a myth or fact that wood is easier to split when frozen?

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My father in law and I just worked up a cherry tree yesterday. The smaller rounds split like butter but the large rounds near the base made my maul bounce right off it. It was even difficult for his stihl to cut. Temperature was right at freezing.

Take a ice cube and put it in a bowl in your freezer for a month or 2. its amazing how much it shrinks in a closed freezer.

Poindexter said:

Local to me researchers found green healthy trees harvested in September and split right away seasoned down to almost the Fiber Saturation Point (+/- 30%MC) over the winter.

page 20 of the .pdf for the multicolor graph.

http://www.cchrc.org/sites/default/files/docs/WoodStorageBestPractices.pdf

If you split oak was already down to +/- 30%, i doubt it will season much more over this winter.

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Interesting report!

Stelcom66 said:

Staying on the frozen subject, probably discussed many times before - but is it a myth or fact that wood is easier to split when frozen?

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Fact for me. Down to about 0dF I split like a middle aged man with arthritis. At -20dF I can split like a teenager. At -40dF I split like Thor.

What they don't tell you is you got to be out in the cold to do it. Sweet spot for me - amount of wood split versus temperature tolerance- is about -15dF down to about -25dF. Colder than that I can find something else to do, indoors.

As others have mentioned I have my test going on between indoor/outdoor pieces, and the indoor piece is about a mile ahead of the outdoor piece. But the outdoor piece is in fact losing moisture, however slow, and according to the info Poindexter posted, it's not in vain, green wood will shed it's water, albeit slowly.

As for the splitting while frozen, it's the difference between day and night when the wood is seriously cold and green. I busted up a few wheelbarrows worth of green poplar 5-10" stuff with the Fiskars yesterday around -30 C, and most were one hitters, a few needed a 2nd swipe.

For what it's worth in the room I have my stove I also have a 400 gallon aquarium. Every two to three weeks I have to add about three to five gallons of water from evaporation. Now I still lose water in the summer but no where near the amount I do when running the stove and boiler heat. 28 ounces is only three and a half cups I could see that.

Poindexter said:

Fact for me. Down to about 0dF I split like a middle aged man with arthritis. At -20dF I can split like a teenager. At -40dF I split like Thor.

What they don't tell you is you got to be out in the cold to do it. Sweet spot for me - amount of wood split versus temperature tolerance- is about -15dF down to about -25dF. Colder than that I can find something else to do, indoors.

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When I was a teenager, +15F made me feel like Thor. Anything significantly below freezing for a few days always seemed to be enough to give me a real boost.

Poindexter said:

What they don't tell you is you got to be out in the cold to do it. Sweet spot for me - amount of wood split versus temperature tolerance- is about -15dF down to about -25dF. Colder than that I can find something else to do, indoors.

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I then thought - where do you get those temperatures, then I saw where. I respect you for working outside in that weather! I just brought some pieces into the (non-heated) garage, only so it won't get covered by the snow we'll get today.

Yes, but not as quickly.

Existential: in the past 3 days I've dropped 4 hardwoods , bucked , and stacked in rounds for later splitting. This morning all the butts have already begun heartwood "cracking" . Its been in the teens up here, dry and partly sunny.
So yes Virginia, wood seasons in winter.

An oldtimer near me told me that around here (New England), wood seasons best in winter because it's so dry.

Rickb said:

Take a ice cube and put it in a bowl in your freezer for a month or 2. its amazing how much it shrinks in a closed freezer.

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Two things going on in there: 1) sublimation, where the water goes from solid to gas in a dry climate, and 2) evaporation, as the frost-free heating coils cycle on and off, to keep frost off the walls and packaged food.