Does wood "season" over the winter?

formula_pilot said:

In my limited experience, if the wood is frozen, it dries very, very slowly. Last year I was given a load of punky maple that that was rather wet, and I just wanted to burn it to get rid of it. Even when split and tops covered, it did not dry much in the dead of winter, with all the water inside frozen. But as soon as daytime temps started to get above freezing, that stuff dried right out and it burned well (we get alot of wind here). Water will go from a frozen state to vapor, a process called sublimation, but it occurs at a much slower rate than evaporation from liquid state.

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One cannot compare good wood vs punky junk even in the drying process. There is just too much difference in the two.

GolfandWoodNut said:

If you remember George in Seinfeld, he had significant shrinkage in the cold water. I believe it drys year round, it probably won't dry if you get ice on it. But the wind is still doing a number on the wood.

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So George was drying out?

oldspark said:

GolfandWoodNut said:

If you remember George in Seinfeld, he had significant shrinkage in the cold water. I believe it drys year round, it probably won't dry if you get ice on it. But the wind is still doing a number on the wood.

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So George was drying out?

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Well his wood was shrinking.

donmattingly said:

In my opinion, no. Seasoned wood needs "Seasons." The rain of spring, the sun of summer and the wind of late summer and fall. Let it sit there for the year and you will be glad you did.

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Did you really just say that wood needs rain to dry? Rilly?

Interesing thread.

I ordered another cord of wood last week so I could have it stacked for the winter. It's next year's wood, but I figure the extra few months of drying time won't hurt the situation.

Skier76 said:

It's next year's wood, but I figure the extra few months of drying time won't hurt the situation.

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Yep, also means that if you have a sloppy wet spring or just don't have time, your wood is already drying when the warmer weather comes.

SolarAndWood said:

Skier76 said:

It's next year's wood, but I figure the extra few months of drying time won't hurt the situation.

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Yep, also means that if you have a sloppy wet spring or just don't have time, your wood is already drying when the warmer weather comes.

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Thats the reason I like to get it stacked it the fall and winter, you never know what spring will bring and I do NOT think the wood drys that much in the winter, sure a little here and there but for me the real drying season is march to november.

Maybe I'll do a little experiment.

The cord I had delivered last week had a lot of white birch in it. I'll see if I can get a reading on the ol' moisture meter this weekend. Once spring rolls around, I'll do anther test. This should give us an idea of what happens over the winter. Totaly unscientific, but we'll at least have a rough idea. :lol:

mayhem said:

Move it into a dry basement...the parched air will suck the moisture right outta there.

I keep about 3.5 cords in the basement.

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So true. It's amazing how quickly it dries once the outside temps drop and the air loses basically all its water holding capacity. Once that air infiltrates your home, the relative humidity nose dives and the nose bleeds start. But I say, let the drying fun begin. Adds a bunch of much needed humidity to the air as well.

I can only get about a cord in there, though. The rest of the space is filled with about 10 cord of metal, glass, and wood working tools.

Battenkiller said:

mayhem said:

Move it into a dry basement...the parched air will suck the moisture right outta there.

I keep about 3.5 cords in the basement.

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The rest of the space is filled with about 10 cord of metal, glass, and wood working tools.

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Ha. You refer your tools and misc. in terms of cords too. When I was looking for garage plans this past spring I kept asking everying for a 90 corder. They all looked at me funny.

Battenkiller said:

I can only get about a cord in there, though. The rest of the space is filled with about 10 cord of metal, glass, and wood working tools.

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Damn, I put the wall on the wrong side of the shed. Honey, just nail those picture hangars right into the ends of the big splits :lol:

Backwoods Savage said:

formula_pilot said:

In my limited experience, if the wood is frozen, it dries very, very slowly. Last year I was given a load of punky maple that that was rather wet, and I just wanted to burn it to get rid of it. Even when split and tops covered, it did not dry much in the dead of winter, with all the water inside frozen. But as soon as daytime temps started to get above freezing, that stuff dried right out and it burned well (we get alot of wind here). Water will go from a frozen state to vapor, a process called sublimation, but it occurs at a much slower rate than evaporation from liquid state.

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One cannot compare good wood vs punky junk even in the drying process. There is just too much difference in the two.

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I agree, punky wood is somewhat like trying to dry out a smelly sponge, fresh cut wood is quite different.

Yes the wood will dry in the winter.The "dry" frosty air will help pull out the moisture.

I think someone posted a link to this article on equilibrium moisture content of wood last season. It shows the EMC for various temps at various relative humidities, as well as EMC for each month for various places around the country. It may surprise you.

http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/5913

I know the 2 ash and 2 hickory I just dropped are splitting and checking. Me thinks its drying :lol:

When I was in my 20's and living hand-to-mouth, I would measure firewood seasoning in weeks, not months, and certainly not years. I was mostly scrounging Birch culls from a plywood mill. I would buck it up short, burn the end pieces right away and let the rest season for a few weeks. A few more days inside near the stove and it was golden.

I spent a Winter trapping on a remote island and we cut most of our firewood late in the Fall and it all burned that Winter. Mind you, all this was before the advent of EPA stoves.

Until recently, I would buck up wood one Winter and burn some of it the folowing Winter. The wood that was all bucked at the same time burned better in February than it did in November. Proof that it did season between Nov and Feb.

Also until just recently, I would just toss all my splits in a heap and then move it to the shed late Fall. Now the heap would not season evenly. The splits on the top would be ready to burn but the splits in the middle needed more time. The stuff on the bottom needed much more time. I would sort it into now, later, and much later stacks in the shed and burn it in that order. I would select splits from the "much later" stack for overnight burning and as the Winter progressed, I could see the difference in how well it burned.

Another measure is shrinkage. I would stack the wood tight to the rafters and see a space form over the course of the Winter. Also, the last row of wood would shrink more on the exposed face than it would on the backside and as a result the stack would lean out and need to be continually pushed back to prevent it from toppling.

Like some one else stated, its not that it does not dry at all in the winter it just drys way less than the warmer months.