Am I in trouble? (seasoned wood)

[Jay777]

I now have 3 cords stacked (okay, mostly stacked). The first cord was a local tree service type who said it was seasoned, and then when he arrived he said it was seasoned and freshly split. Which I believe, because the ends look weathered. So.. not really seasoned. It's all pretty similar stuff, light brown inside, lumber color.

The second two cords were from a more professional wood guy, whose website talks about the importance of seasoning, and how he sells "last year's wood". Sounds great. Split lengths are much more consistent than the first guy, and there's a mix of wood types. Some birch, some stuff that has no bark (uniformly light brown, very smooth where the bark was with an even curve to it.. it's also less dense than the oak, maybe because it's seasoned, but it doesn't have a white/grey look to it..).. Anyway, suddenly I can tell what real seasoned wood is -- about 10-20% of this load is grey, cracked on the ends, and noticeably lighter than the other stuff. I'm thinking that most of this was split in the spring, and the good stuff was mixed in from the previous spring.

Time for a moisture meter, I guess.

If I'm desperate to burn in my new insert, is there a guideline as to how green I can go without damaging something (too much creosote and smoke, or whatever)? Any chance in hell that wood split in May is going to be burnable? I have oil heat, so it's not like I'm going to freeze, but I wanted to establish a routine for the family...

Thanks for any advice.

 

[burntime]

Take 2 pieces you think are dry and knock them together. The heavier ones may be oak that are seasoned? Stack it so that the sun and wind can get to it and hope for the best. Stack known dry stuff to use first. If you use a moisture meter make sure you split the wood again to get the right reading, and measure the middle not the ends. If it is more green then leave the air control open more ( you will need to to burn off the moisture anyway) and clean the chimney once a month for a few months to get an idea of the buildup, then you have a good feel for it. I have worried in years past and wood was fine. Had one year where the pile was not covered and we got 20 days of rain in october, that was miserable

 

[karl]

I burned wood split in May last year. It burned great, of course it was stacked in the sun from May on. I would stack it all loosely in the sun. This fall when it's time to light the stove. Start it with the best wood you have and then load it up with the worst wood you have and see how much of a difference you get. Depending on the difference, burn the good stuff first and give the bad stuff a few extra months to dry. You also might want to save back some of the good stuff to mix with the bad to get it to burn better. It's been my experience that most wood will burn ok after six months. A year old will burn better but six months is good enough that you won't clog the chimney. White Oak and some other really hard woods are an exception to this.

My opinion is that wood that is bad enough to clog up a chimney is bad enough that you will have major problems getting it to burn. If you can't close the air control down without it smoldering, you're going to have problems. If you can close the air control, then you might not get all the heat possible from the semi dry wood, but it won't hurt anything and it will still heat the house, just not as efficiently.

 

[iceman]

you got wood that was prooly in a pile so the outer is going to season more than the inside of the pile.... don't worry burn cords 2-3 first then burn the freshly split as that is the one that needs more time..... also the guy prolly used a bucket loader to scoop wood out of the pile ....... where you are located i can think of a guy on 91 that a sh load of wood and he has been cutting it since the early spring... i believe its a lumber yard or close to it.... either way its late in the year but you are not as far behind as you think..... like someone else said above lay them out to get as much sun and wind as possible I would reccomend covering them whenever we are forcasted for rain more than one day ...like 2 days of rain cover... its a pain but will help... i am doing it now cover and uncover because it has rained so much around here this summer... also all of the would that appears mostly seasoned and seasoned put those together in one stack and then stack the stuff you think is not separate.. i know its a pain but do it now so you know whats good for winter and will let the other stuff have a longer time to get ready ....good luck!!

 

[Jay777]

Thanks.. I've already been separating out the really dry stuff and putting it in the "on the deck, right outside the back door" rack. Guess I'll just hope for the best I might not need more than two cords anyway, depending, and then that first cord can be burned next year.

 

[EddyKilowatt]

The partly-seasoned stuff will burn OK, and safely, if you save it till deep winter then burn it in a hot fire. AVOID burning it overnight, in "shoulder season", or anytime you have a slow fire and a cool flue.

Although it must be said, once you experience the pleasure of burning crispy dry wood, burning anything else seems like burning wet dishrags...

Eddy

 

[iceman]

Thanks.. I've already been separating out the really dry stuff and putting it in the "on the deck, right outside the back door" rack. Guess I'll just hope for the best I might not need more than two cords anyway, depending, and then that first cord can be burned next year.

if you can buy more wood and burn more this winter... you'll be happy you did

 

[Bill]

When burning less than desirable wood, the first thing every morning, load up the stove and get that chimney real hot, it acts like a self cleaning oven.