Burning standing dead Ash and Maple

[VTHC]

My cutting partner and I took down some standing dead ash and maple on Saturday. The ash was about 35' tall and the maple was about 20' or so. We cut and split them on site and then hauled it out of the woods and stacked it in my woodshed. All told we got about a cord + a run... not a bad haul for a days work (in a snow storm).

I went to burn some of the wood today and it didn't burn too well. I got a lot of "sizzle", and was kinda surprised. I checked some pieces with my moisture meter and the ash splits were around 18%, and the maple was a little variable (between 18 to 22+). The maple was a wee bit on the punky side.

Questions:
1. Does punky wood suck up water when it is standing? I know that lower on the trunk there will be more moisture...
2. Why are the ash splits sizzling when they are coming up under 20% on the meter? Is my meter f'ed up? or is the snow (or bark) sticking to the pieces causing it?
3. Will wood season when the temps are below freezing?

 

[xman23]

Standing deed can be very punkey, which soaks up rain water like a sponge. This time of the year the water is frozen in the wood. I don't use a meter so I can't comment why it didn't show a high moisture content. But the good news it's all good for burning after drying. Since it is a sponge I dry it covered from rain in the summer sun and wind. I'm sure you can do a bit drying this time of the year, but my guess it's a slow process.

Tom

 

[mybowtie]

I just cut up a dead standing maple the other day. Dont have a moisture meter, but this stuff was dry. not punky at all. Wish there were more.
The dead standing cherry i cut the same day has quite a bit of moisture in it. I just mix it in with the seaoned stuff.

 

[gzecc]

There is no way <20% mc would sizzle. Did you check with fresh split splits.

 

[savageactor7]

VTHC I burn a lot of standing dead and punky wood...it's all different.

Generally you can count on the top third of the tree to burn well right away. The closer to the bottom you get may require a couple to 10 days of outdoor seasoning or 6-8 hours under the stove or sitting on the mantel. All punky wood will burn OK as long as it's light to the heft. Mostly that's how I judge the harvested standing dead too...I feel it and bang it together.

In the summer dead wood dries out real super like fast...I don't know the mechanics behind it. But I'll pull soaking wet 'dead' trees right out of the swamp cut and split 'em and once stacked in prime weather will dry out bug free in 30 days or less.

Dead wood dries in the winter too.

 

[richg]

I am heating my house with a standing dead ash. In september I received two cords of "seasoned" oak. I think he seasoned them with chicken broth. The ash splits great and after a few hours sittingo nteh hearth pad it burns great. I cleaned my chimney pipe yesterday for the first time since a September stove installation and there was barely any creosote.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Questions:
1. Does punky wood suck up water when it is standing? I know that lower on the trunk there will be more moisture...
2. Why are the ash splits sizzling when they are coming up under 20% on the meter? Is my meter f'ed up? or is the snow (or bark) sticking to the pieces causing it?
3. Will wood season when the temps are below freezing?

1. Most wood will not soak up moisture unless it is laying right in water for some time. Punky wood however, will soak up lots of moisture.

2. If they are sizzling, they have to be greater than 20%.

3. Wood will season some in the winter months if left in the wind but will season much better in the summer months.

 

[VTHC]

I was kinda surprised to see/hear the sizzle! I checked some splits that were freshly split and they read under 20% for the Ash. These were measured at the woodshed so they were still frozen which could throw off the reading some. I was noticing that the sizzle was coming from near the bark. Most of the wood had a light coating of snow on them (it was snowing pretty good when we cut/split the wood).
All of the splits have a nice ring to them when i knock them together (except for some of the punkier maple - which I'll leave in the shed to dry out a bit). I'll leave a bunch of the wood by my stove to dry out and take the moisture reading again on freshly split splits.

Using my quickly depleting seasoned wood first, but I'll throw in some of the newly cut/split standing dead Ash to stretch my supply. My smoke dragon can easily handle the less than ideal wood, but I'm getting a Hearthstone Shelburne installed (to replace the dragon) on Friday. Thinking the new stove might be a little more senstive to the wood seasoning...

Wood for next season is being cut now. 85% of it will be standing dead Ash (thanks to the EAB - i guess!?), just need to get through almost 3 feet of snow to get to it!

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

In my experiance, punky Maple will absorb a TON of water. And with it this cold out, you can't tell how wet it is because the water is actually ice. Aspen burns better than punky wet Maple. :roll:

 

[CrawfordCentury]

Questions:
1. Does punky wood suck up water when it is standing? I know that lower on the trunk there will be more moisture...
2. Why are the ash splits sizzling when they are coming up under 20% on the meter? Is my meter f'ed up? or is the snow (or bark) sticking to the pieces causing it?
3. Will wood season when the temps are below freezing?

1. Punk wood's like a sponge. As deadfall or dead standing. Sometimes rainwater will follow a channel downeard from a crotch and pervade big sections of the tree. Any rotten sections will retain water more readily.

Also, while the root system might be dead, it's still "submerged" in the moist soil. This is an imperfect analogy, but put a sponge in a couple fingers of water and you'll grasp the concept of how a dead tree will still draw moisture upward.

2. Another reason I don't own a moisture meter. Sorry.

3. Yes. Through a process known as sublimation where solid h2o goes directly from solid (ice) to vapor. Same basic principle applies to the food that gets too dry in your freezer...or the trace amounts of frost on my windshield that was gone by the time I got to work.

As already stated, this is slower than stacking your pile out in the hot sun and wind.

 

[Hurricane]

I think it was said on here that you need to measure moisture with a moisture meter at room temp. or ~70 degrees. I think you should bring in a few pieces and let them sit overnight and then split and remeasure. No matter what the meter tells you if it is sizzling it is wet, it should dry pretty quickly once split.