how long to dry ?

[mario veda]

My neigbor let me have some white oak branches a few as big as 5" round and 5ft foot long that had fallen from his trees onto his property .He had them in a pile and they have been laying there for a long while but they were recently snowed on ,,of cause the ones on top were wetter than the bottom of the pile .I cut them all up into 17" pieces and between all the cut up small- med and large branches I filled 4 large size rubbermaid totes ,aint bad for starter wood I figure ?? ,Just wondering how long the wet pieces may take to dry,, I have the totes in my garage,, I could move them (totes) out to the driveway on next sunny days...mario in hopewell...Thanks

 

[Hogwildz]

Leave the lids off the totes and it will dry just fine. You could also lay it out all over the floor for a few weeks.

 

[Hanko]

It will take up to two years to dry oak, red or white to season to burn efficiently.

 

[Mad Tom]

That's small stuff so it will not take long to dry. Stack it up in the sun and it will be good for next season.

 

[Kenster]

Are you talking about the wood being wet from the snow? Or are you talking about how long it will take to season it? If you're worried about rain or snow that will dry almost immediately. If you're talking about seasoning it, it might not take too long. If the limbs just fell off the trees they are likely pretty dead/dry already. I'd say get them out of those tubs and pile outside in the sun and wind.

 

[mario veda]

Yes you got it right .It is just wet from recent snow fall and it was dead stuff that fell off the trees and it had been piled up for a while.....mario in hopewell

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Mario, just remember that wood is not a sponge so that wet from the snow will not affect it at all. However, for seasoning, the totes are a bad idea. Air circulation is the key ingredient for seasoning wood. Sun is great, but wind and air circulation is the most important. Laying them out on the driveway just might be a great idea; sun and wind; a hard combination to beat. Good luck.

Oh yes, depending upon how long that wood has set around, it might not need very long before it is burnable. Stick maybe 2 or 3 in the stove and see what happens and go from there. Even if you have to wait another year, it will be worth the wait.

 

[firecracker_77]

if it's very dead, the wetness from snow will dry very rapidly. i don't have some of my wood covered, and i just take the pieces, drop them on cement outside to get the loose snow off, and pile in front of the hot stove for a few hours and then stacked next to it for a couple of days. it's never caused a problem. that stuff is seasoned enough for what you want it for most likely.

 

[Pine Knot]

The proof is in the pudding so to speak, burn two or three and you will soon know what condition they are in.

 

[NH_Wood]

If the branches were completely dead, you can just dry the surface moisture and likely burn right now. I just bucked a long (20' long) dead red oak 'branch' (a main limb from the trunk) that was about 10 inches in diameter (max). I split and threw a load right in the fire that night. Burn VERY well - the rest is sitting in a stack in the garage for some of the real cold nights. I guess it depends on just how dead those branches are - as Dennis said, take some rounds and toss em' in - see how they do. Cheers!

 

[billb3]

If the white oaks are like the ones here, huge, old and dropping branches, whatever's not punky and falling off is fairly seasoned. Mine are usually mostly rotten and small but bigger ones ( like those 5 inch ones) should have some decent hard burnable wood.
The punk dries out fairly quick.

Dragging the totes out on a windy day should help.

 

[Stump_Branch]

I have hard before and I am sure I read somewhere on here in my travels, that with smaller rounds like that stripping off the bark goes a long way to helping the drying/seasoning process.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Stump, you are correct but splitting the wood does even more.