Secrets to lighting white oak

I burn all oak red and white. Sometimes it's difficult but once the temps get up it stays burning

I would make some of your splits smaller. Re split them and use the small splits for cold starts. Leave the bigger splits for a hot fire they will last longer. I generally put in a few of those fat wood sticks ( can get them at Home Depot, etc ) 2 or 3 splits of oak, and one split of a softer wood poplar or birch, etc if I have it. works good for me.

Do you have any softer wood to mix in? Just one split in the cold start should make a big difference.

Also try a top down start. Put your oak in and put those cedar pieces on top. In my stove the top pieces get good air, and they are just about touching the secondary burn tubes so it burns real hot getting that oak going.

I like to use a few small pieces of pine to get it going and add a stick or two of oak or whatever hardwood on top. Works every time.

Make lots of small splits. More wood surface area = faster cold starts.

Even if the oak is a little wet, I'd burn it with some pine or cedar at first. Once the stove is hot, load the oak onto a bed of coals and it will start pretty quickly.

TJ1 said:

Looks like I need to cut some pine that is close to me and dry it out. I will try the top down approach as well as splitting the pieces smaller.
I am beginning to think the wood might have more moisture than what the meter says even though the ends are checked. I did split some of it smaller because it was pretty big, maybe 6 inch wide chunks and it made the log splitter stutter just a little bit

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6" wide is too big IMO. at 1" a year you'd have to season it for 6 years and I don't have that kind of patience. Oak in my experience likes to suck up moisture, humidity or a wet summer and you'll likely see it sizzle. You might be ok if you can cover your stack or have an open air barn but I'm not quite that fancy.

Red oak has hollow pores so it will pas liquid water the whole length of a split. it will also dry quicker when heat is applied.

Split some a little smaller and try setting on a nice bed of coals as Wood Duck said you could also try mixing in with some other dryer wood if you have any.

Think about burning pallet wood as well.. they can usually be found for free, and the wood is dry. Just up to you to break it into manageable pieces.

With that kind of property it will be nothing for you to get ahead for the coming years. I know that doesn't help for right now, but I'm sure the wood you got today will help to get through the rest of winter. Get ready for the coming winters.

TJ1 said:

The reason I hated paying for it is because we built a house plum smack in the middle of 42 acres of hardwoods.

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What types of trees do you mainly have? If you have some softer trees like birch or poplar, it could be worth your time to drop a few of those too and start drying out some softer woods along with your hardwoods.

I burn oak for heat but using some birch or poplar etc will make it much easier to deal with cold starts. Also in Fall and Spring when the temps are warmer , you may want to just burn a few splits of the softer woods to take the chill out of the house and save your hard wood for the coldest months.

TJ1 said:

It about killed me but today I bought 4 ricks of split "seasoned" hardwood delivered to our house. The reason I hated paying for it is because we built a house plum smack in the middle of 42 acres of hardwoods. But we didn't get a chance to cut and split any prior to 2 months ago. Went through all the wood we just bought and restacked it and flung what we thought were the dry pieces off to the side to use for the next 30-40 days or so. Out of 4 ricks we managed to find about 1 that was dry enough to use now.
But at least now we can cut and split to start burning it Nov 2017.

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It's far easier to just assume that any "seasoned" firewood you buy from a dealer will be ready to burn no sooner than two years from the day you buy it - and three years is better.

Told this to a friend of mine a couple weeks ago, they were astounded, the said the dealer insisted it was seasoned. It was red oak. I told them I wouldn't even try to burn it before Christmas 2018. The upside, like you, is they have 30-40 acres of woods here in SC TN. Getting them started? That might be a problem since he works about 40 miles away (SE Huntsville).

Do you have pine or poplar? Both will be pretty seasoned by next Nov. +/- depending on how you stack them and how soon you get started. Also try to get some good dead standing trees as well. Unless your forest were logged lately or actively managed, you should have a bunch of dead standing to choose from.

If you're unable to cut your own wood, then start buying wood maybe in March or April when it might be a little less expensive, negotiate for it, and start getting it stacked up. Ask tree services for pine trees, it's what I plan to do in March or April; I have plenty of hardwoods on my +35 acre farm but not much pine. Dang if I want to use premium oak or hickory just to have a weenie roast.

Good luck!

It shouldn't be hard to light. I can throw 4-6" splits on a bed of embers and have a roaring fire in less than 5-10 minutes. It's all about being well seasoned and surface dry. I have less dry oak that I mix in sometimes but my primary oak is 15-18% central moisture and less than 7% surface moisture. No wood should take that long and that much effort to light if it is properly seasoned and dry.

Xtrl9 said:

6" wide is too big IMO. at 1" a year you'd have to season it for 6 years and I don't have that kind of patience. Oak in my experience likes to suck up moisture, humidity or a wet summer and you'll likely see it sizzle. You might be ok if you can cover your stack or have an open air barn but I'm not quite that fancy.

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I guess we are just lucky but it has just never been that complicated for us. We single stack it uncovered, off the ground, in the sun and wind in January/February and by the early fall of next year it is seasoned, dry, and ready to burn. I see folks, in the name of keeping their wood covered while seasoning, put their wood under cover, in the shade. Yes it keeps it surface dry but takes forever to actually season the entire split. The idea of taking 6 years to season a 6" split just isn't true for us. If that was the case, I would give up wood burning and just run the propane furnace.

I keep hearing about wood purchased from dealers not being as dry as advertised.

Around where I'm at I don't know of actual dealers , just people who sell by putting an ad on crglist etc. some of the ones that do are big enough to run a wood processed that cuts to length and splits at the same time and kiln dries afterwards. The wood their selling is pretty dry even kiln dried it's been sitting a year and very dry .

Perhaps it's a geographical thing but I cut my own oak trees, and I stack in good sunlight and good area for wind, and cover the tops, and get very dry oak in 2 years or less even. My splits are small though so that helps to quicken dry time.

2.5pages of Cl ads when typing in firewood- every single one of them is seasoned or dry or ready to use and a couple say kiln dried. A few of these I know - as I pass by them on a regular basis the only drying time is from when it was split and how long it has sat in a pile on their lot- mostly less than 6 mo. As to kiln dried - well not really more a heating for killing bugs than actual drying- avg sized split in a kiln will take at least 30 days at 160-180 deg to get to a usable moisture level internally not four or five hours ( thats bug killing time ). Even pallets are not always that dry- go for the old ones -those nice new looking ones are only heat treated to kill bugs. That's an expense that selling fire wood really doesn't support to well. Just for grins I bougt a bundel at a local stop & rob- let warm up to room temp split a larger in half on the bandsaw and stuck my cheapo meter in it 35% & label said kiln dried.
Not much difference between a used car sales man & a firewood dealer for 90+ % of them.

I don't doubt many are less dry than advertised but the few I've seen around me, who advertise with just ads , look pretty dry from a birds eye view driving past. I've never tested it though. Makes me glad I don't have to buy my wood.

Well seasoned red oak is the best kindling, in my view. I split it up pretty small a year ahead -- maybe 4 pieces from a quarter log. It seems to depend on the stove. I've used stoves where you could start with a big log and just a bunch of newspaper, but mine needs a hot start.

White Oak has a reputation of being an extra long seasoning wood.
I've seen many recommend 2-3 years seasoning. I have burned
plenty of it myself. A great wood, easily as good or better than Red
Oak. Anyway, trying to burn that wood 'green' (0 to 12 months cut/
split) is going to be miserable, and you risk creosoting your chimney
liner. Give it a couple of years to season.

Yup, it sounds like your wood is still a little wet. Buying "seasoned" oak from a wood supplier usually requires another year or two in proper stacks.

Think about it, even if it had been split a year ago, it was thrown in large piles. No access to sun or wind. Oh and my reference to split a year ago is quite generous for a wood supplier. In my area it never sits more than six months before being sold. And that is only if it was cut in March for next year.