How long to dry wood?

[Bigcube]

I just picked up some wood and it doesn't burn very hot, sometimes it even fizzles out. I was told the wood was cut 14 months ago, somehow I'm not so sure. How long typically does it have to dry?

 

[colebrookman]

Little heat and fizzles = wet wood. Most cut and spilt wood is happy with a year of drying, in the wind and sun with top protection from heavy rain. Also depends on different parts of the country and type of wood. Ash needs next to no drying while oak takes longer. Wet wood = creosote=chimney fires so check and clean your chimney as needed.

 

[begreen]

The best wood can still be damp after a year depending on how it was stored. If it was kept covered in a damp location it may not dry at all. Likewise if it sat on the ground. If the wood wasn't split, then it will dry very slowly. A tree was cut down 14 months ago, but only recently split, it will often still be very damp in the middle. Sometimes it is the wood species itself. Trees like white oak and madrona take a couple years, split, to dry out.

The best plan is to split up and stack the wood now for next season.

 

[Bigcube]

OK, well I think it was cut a while ago but recently split. And we have had lot's of rain. Thanks for the info on wet wood making more creasol, I did not know that.

 

[Bigcube]

This batch has alot of cherry in it.

 

[colebrookman]

FYI Cherry is around 20 MBTU/cord while Sugar Maple , Beech is 24 and Oak25.7 so you are also starting with a lower BTU potential.

 

[gpcollen1]

Just an FYI - I have some mixed wood that was cut 2 yrs ago and if you split it, it is still very wet. When you split it is what matters.

 

[savageactor7]

^exactly.

I'm cutting and splitting logs that were cut down last spring and summer...way too wet to burn now. Next fall after being exposed to the sun and wind they'll be seasoned enough to burn. Generally if the wood is blotchy black or grey where its been cut that may be a visual cue that it has some seasoning.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I just picked up some wood and it doesn't burn very hot, sometimes it even fizzles out. I was told the wood was cut 14 months ago, somehow I'm not so sure. How long typically does it have to dry?

I got burned on this (so to speak...) too. Turns out the guy had cut and split the wood and left it in an open field to dry all summer, but what I didn't think about was how he left it-- it was in a big pile, meaning only the stuff on the outside of the pile dried and everything underneath was unseasoned to one degree or another, and the stuff on the very bottom was starting to get punky. Also, "cut" doesn't necessarily mean anything other than that the tree was cut down. If it's just been lying in the dark, damp woods for 14 months, that's definitely not "seasoned." Almost nobody is going to have wood that's been cut and split *and* stacked for a year or more to sell you for any price, so "seasoned" is never going to mean what we think it ought to mean.

There's only one solution to wood issues for folks like us who have to rely on delivered, and that's to buy it green (which costs less) cut and split, then stack it outside and supervise the seasoning yourself. Ideally, you want to buy a year ahead-- ie, in spring for use not this winter but next.