Got some wood storing questions

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Yarzy

Member
Dec 27, 2010
40
Chalfont, PA
Hi everyone,

I have some questions on storing/seasoning wood that I hope you can help me with. I ordered 8 cords of mostly oak, half of which is sitting in my driveway currently. The wood was supposed to be "green", but some random moisture meter readings are putting the wood between 17%-25%. Not great, but not horrible either, especially at green wood prices. Now comes the challenge of understanding and finding the best place to season and store this wood. I know sun is important, but wind is even more important. How much wind is really necessary? The way my property is laid out, I get lots of wind in some areas, and less in others. Obviously putting in the best wind is ideal, but due to hills, layout, etc. it is not the easiest. So, do you think I would ok putting it in an area that does get some breeze, but just not a whipping blow of wind? Also, I have lots of trees around me, so sun would be tough also. Not deep forest shade, but a good amount of large, old trees around.

My other question for the group is about moving the wood per year. If I put the wood on the one side of the property do to the best amount of wind, I would then need to stack the 4+ cords again in the fall closer to the house. Does this "normal" or could I get away with just stacking near the house and expose it to less wind? I should mention that I hope to burn around 4 cords per year so in theory, the stacks would sit for 2 years before burning.

I hope the gist of my questions are coming across...I am new at this since it is my first year of seasoning/burning.

THANKS!
 
Put it wherever, stacked nicely with good airflow. Then order a few cords of ash for next year and let the oak sit for 2 years. :)

When I hit a really good seasoned piece of oak it burns great, and HOT...but its just too much work for me. I can get free wood from my tree buddy - I am at the point where I wont even take oak anymore!
 
i think as long as it stays dry your not gonna see alot of difference with the wind problem ;-)

loon
 
I would worry a little about the wood for next year, so I'd want to stack it so that it dries well. I think the way you stack it is as important and where you stack it. For next year's wood, I'd stack it with lots of air space, in single ranks, and keep it up off the ground. The wood for two years from now I would be less worried about seasoning properly, since it has two years and should be fine even with less than ideal conditions. That wood I'd stack more for stability of the stack than for air flow, although I'd still want good air flow.

For all of the wood, the location would depend more on appearance and convenience than on any difference in the wind. If you won't mind lots of firewood close to the house all summer, then stack it closer in the less windy place. If you don't want firewood so closer to the house, stack it in the windiest spot. in either spot it should be fine if stacked well. It sounds like it is fairly close already.
 
17-25%? If that is right, I'd stack it in its final spot. Something tells me that green oak is not 17-25% though. Did you measure fresh splits in the middle?
 
SolarAndWood said:
17-25%? If that is right, I'd stack it in its final spot. Something tells me that green oak is not 17-25% though. Did you measure fresh splits in the middle?
Click to expand...
+1! Cheers!
 
Yarzy said:
The wood was supposed to be "green", but some random moisture meter readings are putting the wood between 17%-25%. Not great, but not horrible either
Click to expand...

Are you kidding? Ideal MC is 20, so that wood is ready to burn-- if you measured it right. Did you split it down and measure the inside? I have a really hard time believing somebody would sell you well seasoned wood, particularly oak, for the price of green, so something's wrong here.

That said, if I were you, I'd put as much of the wood you want to burn next year as you possibly can in the place where it will get the most sun and wind. Ideally, split it down even further, and stack it not just in single rows but criss-cross or "log cabin style" so the sides of every piece are exposed. Large splits of oak stacked close together in shade with little wind just aren't going to be ready to burn next winter.
 
gyrfalcon said:
Yarzy said:
The wood was supposed to be "green", but some random moisture meter readings are putting the wood between 17%-25%. Not great, but not horrible either
Click to expand...
Ideal MC is 20, so that wood is ready to burn-- if you measured it right. Did you split it down and measure the inside?
Click to expand...
I just recently got a moisture meter. I'm finding that Red Oak and Ash at 20% still hisses a bit. At 25%, water is coming out the end of the split. I have to burn the living daylights out of this stuff to blow the moisture off. If I don't, I have a hard time lighting off the combustor. I'm not sure if burn tube stoves are more tolerant of moisture...

gyrfalcon said:
That said, if I were you, I'd put as much of the wood you want to burn next year as you possibly can in the place where it will get the most sun and wind. Ideally, split it down even further, and stack it not just in single rows but criss-cross or "log cabin style" so the sides of every piece are exposed. Large splits of oak stacked close together in shade with little wind just aren't going to be ready to burn next winter.
Click to expand...
This strikes me as sound advice. I don't know if I'll criss-cross it, but I'm going to single-row stack some dead, down Red Oak loosely in my breeziest spot, and split it rather small. I'll have plenty of Ash that should be ready to go, in case the Oak isn't.

Yarzy, do you know what kind of Oak it is? Red seems to be the slowest-drying variety. If you're not sure, can you post some pics of the wood?
I have some Shingle Oak that I split (small) and stacked in June. It's burnable, although slightly damp.

46hemi said:
When I hit a really good seasoned piece of oak it burns great, and HOT...but its just too much work for me. I can get free wood from my tree buddy - I am at the point where I wont even take oak anymore!
Click to expand...
Too bad you don't live closer to me; You could tell your buddy to dump all that nasty old Oak in my front yard.
:cheese:
 
SolarAndWood said:
17-25%? If that is right, I'd stack it in its final spot. Something tells me that green oak is not 17-25% though. Did you measure fresh splits in the middle?
Click to expand...

+2 !!!!

Oh and how can anyone turn down free wood let alone free oak ????

Shawn
 
46hemi said:
Put it wherever, stacked nicely with good airflow. Then order a few cords of ash for next year and let the oak sit for 2 years. :)

When I hit a really good seasoned piece of oak it burns great, and HOT...but its just too much work for me. I can get free wood from my tree buddy - I am at the point where I wont even take oak anymore!
Click to expand...

If your buddy needs a place to drop wood in Lisbon just let me know.
 
Guys

Thanks for all the great advice, it is really helpful. I did split some splits in half and drove the moisture meter in as far as it could go to get those readings, so I don't think I am that far off. Now, I can also tell you that I grabbed some of the wood on the top of the pile, who knows what is under there. I will check again today but from the sounds of it, I should be fine just stacking it closer to the house without a problem. Thanks again, and I will try to post a pic of the type of wood today.
 
Sounds like you have a nice problem!

You are correct that wind is more important than sun. You state that some areas of your place have better wind than others and that is pretty much normal for most folks. Just stack it where it will get some wind. Also make sure you have air circulation under the piles. If needed soon, I'd go to the trouble of stacking it higher off the ground than normal just to get more air. I'd also stack it in single rows and not try to stack it tight, but stack it loosely as that will allow better drying conditions. You probably won't want to stack it over 4' or 4 1/2' so you won't have to be concerned with stacks tipping over. I'd also separate the types of wood or at least sort out the oaks. If needed next year then for sure split it small.

Remember too that if you cover the stacks, cover only the top. Also use something other than a tarp if possible. We like old galvanized roofing. Good luck.
 
Yarzy said:
Guys

Thanks for all the great advice, it is really helpful. I did split some splits in half and drove the moisture meter in as far as it could go to get those readings, so I don't think I am that far off. Now, I can also tell you that I grabbed some of the wood on the top of the pile, who knows what is under there. I will check again today but from the sounds of it, I should be fine just stacking it closer to the house without a problem. Thanks again, and I will try to post a pic of the type of wood today.
Click to expand...

I find on my moisture meter, the prongs are so flimsy I can't get them very far in, so I use an awl to make deeper holes to stick them in.

I'm no expert on red oak, only having once had a small amount of it, so I don't know what its normal readings are. I think Battenkiller was the one who posted some interesting info about the different way it's constructed from other woods, and you should be able to find that through a little digging with the search box. But if I recall right, the bottom line was that it will always sizzle and hiss a little no matter how long it's been drying.

I'm still very dubious that somebody would sell you seasoned oak at the price of green, though, unless he's a complete idiot.
 
My red oak sapwood measures different from heartwood. In a stack i got, I measured a split split and got 20-22 heartwood, but the sapwood was 25-30.
 
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