Another NEWBIE mistake

[Heem]

I'm in a similar boat, except I have no real other option than the stove to heat the house. Go get some biobricks. chip that wood out of the snow and split it into smaller pieces if it's huge. Pick out the best stuff (lightest feeling per size)

Put 2 bricks in the bottom of the stove and 3 smallish splits on top. light the bricks.

I've been going pretty good like this for a few weeks. I'm going to eventually have to come up with a plan C, but for now this is working

 

[WoodpileOCD]

I have oak and ash and locust ... is ash the darker of the 2?

Oak, ash and locust . . . darker of the two? Wouldn't that be darker of the three? White ash is pretty light colored . . . can't speak to how it compares to locust or white oak though.

Ash is the whitest of the 3 locust has a yellow tint and the oak will be darker than the ash.[/quote

 

[WoodpileOCD]

I have oak and ash and locust ... is ash the darker of the 2?

Perhaps these 2 pictures will help. In the first picture it is almost all white ash but on the left end there is some elm. On the second picture it is all white ash.

Wow Dennis, you're a LOT better looking in the small avatar picture :lol:

You do have some seriously good looking wood piles however.

 

[Exmasonite]

Any chance you could make some calls and get more wood? Be a little more diligent, maybe even go check out the source before delivering (or inspecting before offloading at least)... grill the guy a little to get some info. I'm sure that the best you can hope for is something that was processed in August/September (as almost all "seasoned" wood for sale is never properly seasoned) but maybe it can get you through the season and you can set aside the current load for next year... call it a head start.

 

[LLigetfa]

Wow Dennis, you're a LOT better looking in the small avatar picture :lol:

Like hell he does!

There, I stuck up for you.

I had a former boss who's comment on my workmanship was "Looks good from far, far from good".

Had another boss who would say that I'm "very photogenic". "That good looking eh?" I said. "No, you make a good *still* shot".

You're very photogenic there, BWS. %-P

 

[Backwoods Savage]

:lol: Well, I'd never win any beauty contests for sure!

btw, there were 9 cord of wood in that pile of ash (second picture)

 

[smokinj]

:lol: Well, I'd never win any beauty contests for sure!

btw, there were 9 cord of wood in that pile of ash (second picture)

Splitter beauty contest! So far Dennis is the Prettiest...........

 

[LLigetfa]

:lol: Well, I'd never win any beauty contests for sure!

Your wood stacks are sure-fire winners. But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I'm quite partial to Ash.

 

[Kenster]

Have some faith in that wood.Burn a load to see if it's good.Just because it has snow on it doesn't mean it's not seasoned.Some surface moisture will not hurt the fire.

Come on, Pollyanna! You really think a dealer who dumps a load of snow covered wood on a guy in late January is actually going to give him Seasoned Wood?? It was probably split the day before.

 

[Hunderliggur]

Put that frozen wood somewhere it can thaw (basement, garage, house) - it will burn a little easier. If you can split it smaller even the better. Good luck.

 

[skyline]

If you have room in a garage or basement just stack up a row and put a fan on it 24/7 and watch/weigh/measure the moisture leave. Oak will obviously be slower but you'll be surprised how much drier it will be in 10 days.

I have posted this before but other than the few that do this routinely in their basements nobody seems to believe you can dry lots of wood in a few weeks at least to the burnable stage. Obviously w/ oak shorter & smaller splits help. I do it routinely and our EMC conditions at this time of year are higher than most in the country.

I looked at your weather and saw 30 °F and 62% RH so using the calculators here:

http://einstein.atmos.colostate.edu/~mcnoldy/Humidity.html

http://www.csgnetwork.com/emctablecalc.html

Your EMC is 11.7 (coincidently that's the FEB/Mar average for RI) but if you move that wood into the garage at say 55 °F, your humidity drops to 24% and your emc would drop to 5.3. Add a fan and your wood will get towards a burnable 20% in a hurry, if its a basement and your temp is 60, the humidity drops to 19% (assuming no additional moisture) and the emc drops to 4.5 (the average emc in Las Vegas in July) setting up a pretty steep gradient between with your wet wood. I typically go from 27% to 19% in a 24 hour period with fir and maple. Just my experience.

Let me know how it goes.

 

[JeffT]

Have some faith in that wood.Burn a load to see if it's good.Just because it has snow on it doesn't mean it's not seasoned.Some surface moisture will not hurt the fire.

Come on, Pollyanna! You really think a dealer who dumps a load of snow covered wood on a guy in late January is actually going to give him Seasoned Wood?? It was probably split the day before.

I agree,just wanted them to try it.I know of no dealer that that sells seasoned wood. I cut my own.His dealer mite have been special and a little snow wont hurt a seasoned split

 

[sbk12rs]

Update ..... Called a second " GUY " and asked repeatedly .......... IS IT DRY ??

" yes it under a tent " he told me !

Well, again I wasn't home when the SECOND CORD of DAMN SNOW was dumped !

THERE'S a F^%$*ing hole in that tent

I now have 10 cases of Bio Bricks to help with the " DRY DAMN WOOD " i got .

I'm going to do a search before I give these a whirl ..............