Guess I've Been Drying My Wood All Wrong!

Just had an hour or more conversation with the guy in the "woodstove" department of Applied Ceramics, the folks the make the cat for my Buck 80 and many other brands as well. Keep in mind he works for the company that makes a huge percentage of the cats for all brands of woodstoves!

Long story short, he ask me about my wood and I says: "I'm burning white ash that's been cut, split and stacked for 18 months in the sun and wind." I tells him: "I top covered my wood about 2 months before I burn." He says: "There's you problem! You're burning wood that has only been seasoned 2 months! He says: "You gotta build you a 3 sided wood shed with the open side facing east, asuming most of your weather comes out of the west." He says: "You gotta keep your wood out of the rain cause a stick of wood is like a paper towel, it'll just soak up the water and never season." Further he says: "You're not really seasoning your wood, You're doing a controled rot of your wood." I says: Hmmmm..... I'm gonna need a big shed cause I gots about 11 cord now cut split and stacked outside!

And all this time I thought you people knew what you were talking about!

Thanks. I had my laugh for the day.

Wow. I hope too many people don't "learn" from that joker. My bet is that he doesn't even burn wood.

Prepare for disappointment.

With that "logic", you'd have to keep your wood in an enclosed space w/no exposure to humidity.

Some peoples is dumm azzes.....

Wow, hope that guy hasn't 'infected' too many people that have bought stoves from him........he's setting them up for failure.
Did he give an opinions on seasoning oak? I have a feeling we're gonna have to sic Dennis on him!!

well if the "pros"(tongue in cheek) are teaching this it only clarifies my past statement about firewood sellers. Most, meaning 90+% of the wood burning world, think cut this fall and ready by winter. Summer cut is so dry it is like burning paper and worthless.

It is only here on Hearth that I have been taught the real value of measuring the moisture content of your firewood with a calendar(s) - the more the better. Rarely on other sites do you hear more than one year and many preach it will rot if you have too much and it is stacked more than a year or two.

Anything about moisture content?

Have Backwoods call him on the Batphone (or is it Backphone) and straighten him out.

Well Dennis' handle initials are B.S. maybe he just has us all fooled

I'm going out back right now and just set my pile on fire. I have never covered anything other than the cord I bring up on the patio at the beginning of winter and then just keep replenishing.

I'd love to hear his opinion on burning pine ,and leaving wood stacked for more than 3-4 years .
It would probably go something like this ... "Your house will burn down ..... Yadda, yadda, yadda ......."

Good luck. If its been uncovered it'll be so wet it'd never light!

Hey Ralphie Boy don't get those east coast boys going now

Best way to win that argument............ Moisture meter.......

Beleive it or not he said from 20 to 25 %

It is hard to believe that there are people (salespeople) especially
that can be so misinformed. I do know some that cut , split and burn the same piece
of wood in one day!!

Well, the EPA tests with 20% wood...wet basis, which equals 25% on a meter. I don't know about you but I get a lot of hissing, maybe some bubbling, at 25%. I haven't burned a lot of wood that wet (since I've been reading here,) I'm just taking everyone's word that it will put out less heat. I may be forced to experiment with some less-than-dry stuff next season...

Dennis, I will be there shortly with a flatbed trailer to remove all of your semi-rotten wood. And because I'm all about helpin' a brother out, I will bring Red Oak to replenish your stacks...just make sure you burn it up before it's three years old!
Get It(From Dennis)Before It Rots!

Wow, not really all that surprising though.
It's like any line of work or profession, you find a lot of people that have been doing it for a very long time but haven't really become a professional at what they do.

It's rather sad, imagine if that is what you do for a living, what you get up for every morning, what you spend the majority of your life doing and you don't even have the desire or drive to be properly informed. For a lot of us this is just a hobby, of course we desire the knowledge to heat our homes efficiently and safely but in reality this will never translate into an actual marketable skill we can put on a resume and we still take the time to be better informed than this yahoo.

I know LOTS of people in my profession who have been doing it for a VERY long time who can push all the buttons in just the right order, but they don't know what's actually happening.

Lets take a moment of silence for this poor, ignorant soul...

That's the problem, reading about it versus actually doing it.

We used to have a saying. Two guys could work for 10 years at any particular job. At the end of that 10 years, often one person has 10 years experience. The other poor fellow has 1 year experience 10 times. Big difference!

Once again, that just confirms why I have little use for so-called "experts". Every time I turn the TV on, some idiot "expert" is telling me what to do, what to think, what to buy, how to dry wood........

It's like some people that sell wood and don't know what a cord is