Seasoning Times in Different Parts of Country

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Bugboy

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Mar 5, 2007
102
north-central Kansas
I see a lot of people on the board saying that 9-12 months is not enough time to season wood. A lot of those postings are from the east coast. Does anyone have experience drying wood in the east coast and other areas of the country? It seems to me that maybe your more frequent rains, higher humidity and lower winds increase drying times back east (and in the Pacific NW).

I'm in Kansas and it seems like one of our hot, dry and windy summers is plenty of time to season wood.

I used to burn ash, locust and osage-orange, but since I moved I've been cleaning up my 9 acres and have been burning mostly ash with some mulberry, osage-orange and hackberry.

This winter I've been working on elm, osage-orange, hedge, mulberry and ash. It's stacked on pallets outside (no cover) and am pretty sure it will be ready by fall. I've got 6 pallets cut, split and stacked and should have 4-6 more by the end of winter. This will be enough for 2009-2010 and well into 2010-2011.
 
You've pretty much got it...the right coasters don't know what they're missing. But generally, I've found that if I can wrap up cutting/splitting in early spring, the wood will be fine by the fall. That is even setting in mostly shaded area (gasp!) and uncovered (double gasp!). I've also found that even just cutting the wood to log length can get the seasoning started. So I'f I'm cutting in a spot where I know someone else won't come along and pilfer my wood, I'll try and cut a bunch of logs at the end of the day and leave them lay for next time.
 
I have bucked wood at this time of year which I burned the following Winter and while it will burn, it is less than ideal. I notice that by February/March it is much improved and that by the following Winter it is better still. I am on the Ontario/Minnesota border with no large bodies of water to affect the humidity.

I'm a firm believer of seasoning wood for two years if possible.
 
It depends on the wood too. I've got poplar, birch, and pine that I split in late spring/early summer.
Seasoned in the wind and sun. It burns easily now, catching fire before I can even load up and get
the doors of the stove closed.

The oak that I split this summer is still heavy and not ready. In the sun and wind of this spring, summer,
and fall, some of it will be ready to burn next season. Some of it is going to have to wait until 2010-2011.
 
Most definitely in most areas of Kansas your wood should season well over the summer. Even here in Michigan, many times I have cut firewood during the winter months and then got it split and stacked by early April and then it burned fine the next winter.

Especially ash. That should season extremely well over one Kansas summer.
 
I split last year in feb and march covered the top only, slotted wood pallets on the side and bottom. Cherry, apple, oak, maple (old locust= didn't count) burned great. I just got the new splitter last year so was able to manage wood storage much better. years before I would cover wood about two weeks before burning. I am going to try some left over wood I have from last years split next year and I will be able to answer your question better, but I can't imagine it burning any better then it did this year. I guess there is a point of being too seasoned, could this be true? It burned soo good that I thought my door gaskets were bad and replced them 2 times until I believed it was just the well seasoned and dry wood.
 
If I get wood now and leave it uncovered it will be ready to burn in the fall. Hot summers and wind do it here. Plus we have very low humidity. I cover the tops only in the fall before snow hits. Some stacks in the sun. Some in the shade.
 
Bugboy said:
I see a lot of people on the board saying that 9-12 months is not enough time to season wood. A lot of those postings are from the east coast. Does anyone have experience drying wood in the east coast and other areas of the country? It seems to me that maybe your more frequent rains, higher humidity and lower winds increase drying times back east (and in the Pacific NW).

I'm in Kansas and it seems like one of our hot, dry and windy summers is plenty of time to season wood.

I used to burn ash, locust and osage-orange, but since I moved I've been cleaning up my 9 acres and have been burning mostly ash with some mulberry, osage-orange and hackberry.

This winter I've been working on elm, osage-orange, hedge, mulberry and ash. It's stacked on pallets outside (no cover) and am pretty sure it will be ready by fall. I've got 6 pallets cut, split and stacked and should have 4-6 more by the end of winter. This will be enough for 2009-2010 and well into 2010-2011.
Click to expand...

Most western conifers (Doug Fir, Spruce, Pine, Hemlock) cut in the spring are ready to burn in the fall.
 
forest pirate said:
I split last year in feb and march covered the top only, slotted wood pallets on the side and bottom. Cherry, apple, oak, maple (old locust= didn't count) burned great. I just got the new splitter last year so was able to manage wood storage much better. years before I would cover wood about two weeks before burning. I am going to try some left over wood I have from last years split next year and I will be able to answer your question better, but I can't imagine it burning any better then it did this year. I guess there is a point of being too seasoned, could this be true? It burned soo good that I thought my door gaskets were bad and replced them 2 times until I believed it was just the well seasoned and dry wood.
Click to expand...

The only thing I'd do different would be to leave the pile uncovered until late fall or early winter. This will allow for better evaporation of moisture that first summer.

Also, there is not point where wood becomes too seasoned! Or if so, I certainly would not be aware of it. Even super dry or kiln dried will burn very nicely....but you would have to be careful of too hot of a fire is all. We've burned wood over 10 years in the stack. It burned very nicely. Also, we have enough wood on hand now to last at least 7 years or more. We are not worried about being too seasoned.
 
Back to the OP's question. I don't see how wood wouldn't season faster where there is less humidity. The dryer the air, the faster the moisture in the wood can be removed. So yes, your wood will dry faster but on the downside, you have to live in Kansas. :)
 
Great point on the original post. Being in coastal NH we have relatively short humid and even wet summers. Two years is pretty much my rule of thumb here. But in Kansas, I'll bet you can easily get away with one good summer season. I live on the north side of a pretty steep hill covered with trees and we don't get all that much sun in our yard. It's a beautiful spot but not the best for seasoning firewood or growing vegetables.
 
Our Summers here are very hot and extremely humid, so I'm thinking even with the sun beating down on the stacks all day that the wood probably doesn't season as well as it does here in the other 3 seasons. Trying to get ahead in the seasoning game!
 
I bet it seasons pretty quickly in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico...
 
Of course it will depend on what part of the country - and then again - it will depend if you had a warm and dry year or a wet and rainy year. we can have both of those or many shades in between here in the northeast for sure as do other regions. Then it depends on the wood you are talking about.
 
I can cut ash on July 4, stack it east to west in the sun, put a piece of plywood over it and it will be ready by November. The wind blows like crazy by me and with the sun it dries fast. Maple isn't so fast.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
forest pirate said:
I split last year in feb and march covered the top only, slotted wood pallets on the side and bottom. Cherry, apple, oak, maple (old locust= didn't count) burned great. I just got the new splitter last year so was able to manage wood storage much better. years before I would cover wood about two weeks before burning. I am going to try some left over wood I have from last years split next year and I will be able to answer your question better, but I can't imagine it burning any better then it did this year. I guess there is a point of being too seasoned, could this be true? It burned soo good that I thought my door gaskets were bad and replced them 2 times until I believed it was just the well seasoned and dry wood.
Click to expand...

The only thing I'd do different would be to leave the pile uncovered until late fall or early winter. This will allow for better evaporation of moisture that first summer.

Also, there is not point where wood becomes too seasoned! Or if so, I certainly would not be aware of it. Even super dry or kiln dried will burn very nicely....but you would have to be careful of too hot of a fire is all. We've burned wood over 10 years in the stack. It burned very nicely. Also, we have enough wood on hand now to last at least 7 years or more. We are not worried about being too seasoned.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info...
 
wendell said:
Back to the OP's question. I don't see how wood wouldn't season faster where there is less humidity. The dryer the air, the faster the moisture in the wood can be removed. So yes, your wood will dry faster but on the downside, you have to live in Kansas. :)
Click to expand...

Damn, that's pretty harsh. Actually, while I've lived in AZ, MT, HI, OK, FL and NC I found myself coming back to Kansas. It's not real exciting but then again I'm getting old. The economy stays pretty level, even while the "coasters" are suffering the "Great Depression - Part 2".

I bought 10 acres with a 4 bedroom earth home (built in 1982) and outbuildings for $90K. Got an office job at a wind farm making pretty fair money. Depending on the ground and weather, I can usually find plenty of quail, prairie chickens and some pheasants. I shoot my deer in the back yard and cut my wood next door. I have access to a 34,000 acre piece of govt. ground for hunting. I've never been mugged, robbed or ***** in Kansas. I guess all I'm really missing out on is - inflated prices, over crowding, lots of traffic, and the "cultural" activities.
 
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Wendell,
Oh, sorry! I just saw that your from WI. You've probably got about the same conditions there, just probably more snow and trees.
 
Bugboy, Kansas starting to sound ok. I'm from Wisconsin and it rained 2" yesterday and this morning, then the ice came this afternoon and now we have 3" of snow in the last two hours. The weather sucks, taxes suck, hunting sucks and the economy is heading south fast. (but the windmills are going up all over!
 
ihookem said:
Bugboy, Kansas starting to sound ok. I'm from Wisconsin and it rained 2" yesterday and this morning, then the ice came this afternoon and now we have 3" of snow in the last two hours. The weather sucks, taxes suck, hunting sucks and the economy is heading south fast. (but the windmills are going up all over!
Click to expand...


I lived in Rhinelander WI for several years. At least you have plenty of lakes around to go fishin'. I hope the fishing doesn't suck too!

Most woods season over the Spring/Summer around here if cut before March, Oak does seem to take two.
 
Ahem! Fellow cheesehead here to tell you that Wisconsin doesn't suck. :) It is a nice state, clean, attractive, and full of firewood. :) Great parks, good roads, lots of beer and cheese of course. Don't know which taxes you mean, but property taxes were a lot worse in IL, as is sales tax. Income tax doesn't bother me as we pay almost none. Hunting must be okay since my hunting friend gives me lots of venison every year because they have more than they can eat in her household. Heck, I hit a deer with my CAR a few years ago and that was stressful, but easier than hunting. ;-) Gardening season is pretty good. Shovelling snow is good exercise. And the firewood seems to dry pretty fast, and we can always find enough that is free.
 
I could prolly season softwood, ash, etc. in two or three months here in sunny so. calif., esp. if it is split on the small side. But those months have to be August, Sept., and Oct. with the lovely Santa Ana winds (dry the flesh off a dragon) to help out. Especailly if I had room to cross stack open piles in the sun. As it is, my stacks are against block walls, which seems to help with a thermal mass effect, but cuts air circulation some.

Eukie takes longer - one to two years, but since I have mostly pine now thanks to the pine bark beetles, it should season right quick.

Peace,
- Sequoia
 
Some like it hot, Ok, Wisconsin doesn't suck that bad, but it still sucks! Taxes!, income and property especially. Arkansas pays half the taxes we do, but they tax chickens down theya. It's considered food. I guess the fishing is still good. The deer hunting has gone real bad. Started Burning wood in August last year. Still got snow on the ground. SUCKS!
 
I was wondering the same thing as the OP today when I was finishing up splitting in a heat index of 101. Theres no way that this wood isnt seasoning quicker than somewhere that theres still snow on the ground! (atleast Id like to hope my 30 gallons of sweat was worth it!)
 
jpl1nh said:
Great point on the original post. Being in coastal NH we have relatively short humid and even wet summers. Two years is pretty much my rule of thumb here. But in Kansas, I'll bet you can easily get away with one good summer season. I live on the north side of a pretty steep hill covered with trees and we don't get all that much sun in our yard. It's a beautiful spot but not the best for seasoning firewood or growing vegetables.
Click to expand...

But one must also keep in mind that not all of Kansas is dry! Just look at that area of SE Kansas for example. That is a whole lot different than western or even central Kansas.
 
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