How quick do you suppose this poplar will season inside vs outside?

[Whiskey Fun]

Much less scientific than your approach, but I've been "speed seasoning" my wood in the stove room, about a 1/4 cord at a time, and really noticed a difference after installing a ceiling fan. Since the outdoor piece gets wind, shouldn't the inside piece also get wind?

 

[saskwoodburner]

You're not missing much if anything. That free water is easily lost in a very short time in warmer weather. What took a couple months will happen in a week of spring.

There's no doubt about that.

 

[saskwoodburner]

You're not missing much if anything. That free water is easily lost in a very short time in warmer weather. What took a couple months will happen in a week of spring.

There's no doubt about that. I wouldn't even have any dodgy wood this year if it wasn't for all the late season rain we received

 

[saskwoodburner]

Just a small update, the inside piece went from 7lb 4 oz down to 5lb 7 oz Dec 15 to Jan 14, about 1.75 lb drop. I'm surprised by this weight drop, considering the wood is in the living room, out of the way of anything, hiding 15 feet away from the stove. It also has decent checking/cracks on the end grain as well. I'll check the wood shed piece later.

Weighed the indoor piece again, it's dropped another 4 oz since Jan. 14th, so 5 lb 3 oz., so it's going a bit slower now.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Another 12 days, and inside piece has shed 3 oz and a hair, sitting at 5 lb. So it's dropped 2.25 lb since I started the thread Dec 15th. A weight loss of 31 % of total (I think) so far.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Inside piece has dropped from 7.25 lb to 4.75 lbs now, for a total of 2.5 lbs lost (34 % lighter) . Outside piece has dropped from 7.75 to 7.5 lb, only a quarter lb lost (3 % lighter). Our weather is above average temps at the moment, so I assume the outdoor piece might start shedding weight a little quicker.

This has been like watching a 71 day turtle race.

 

[English BoB]

Very interesting, keep us up to date.

bob

 

[saskwoodburner]

Very interesting, keep us up to date.

bob

I really wish I would have started off with more pieces at the same time. A round set in the corner for a year/twin outside, a group the same as I have, but split and moisture test in a month etc

 

[saskwoodburner]

Here we are again, inside piece down to 4 lb 9 oz, and outside piece at 7 lb 5 oz.

 

[jatoxico]

Here we are again, inside piece down to 4 lb 9 oz, and outside piece at 7 lb 5 oz.

It's starting to warm up (here anyway). Out-ty should start catching up soon!

 

[bwise.157]

I cut down 7 Aspen trees a few years ago in March. I cut, split and stacked by Memorial Day that year, then burned that fall. I didn't have a moisture meter, but it burned great... For poplar. It was dry. I covered my stacks. No hissing or water coming out when placed into the stove.

 

[Hasufel]

So, I've been doing my own drying test for a little over a month now, but I used smallish pieces to speed up the process (because I wanted data FAST!). I used freshly bucked and split red oak heartwood and tried to keep the pieces as uniform as possible. I cut eight pieces altogether, four large (those numbered "1" on the charts, about 2-1/4" X 3" X 4-1/2") and four small (those numbered "2" on the chart, about 1-1/8" X 2" X 4-1/2"). Starting MC was too high for my meter, so somewhere over 50%. I placed one large and one small piece in each of four locations: A = a wood bin in a heated indoor living space; B = an unheated but closed garage; C = the top of a covered outdoor firewood rack; and D = the top of an uncovered outdoor firewood rack.

Some of the results were as I expected but others were a bit of a surprise. The smaller pieces dried faster than their larger counterparts, and the indoor wood dried much faster than any of the outdoor samples (because the air gets pretty dry in here during heating season). The wood in my garage dried much faster than I expected, outperforming the outdoor samples during all but the warmest weather. The uncovered outdoor wood dried the least, but it's been pretty wet and only recently warmed up. You can pretty clearly tell when we got precipitation by the blips in the chart. When the weather was favorable, the uncovered outdoor wood dried more quickly but still not fast enough to make up for the exposure to precipitation. I'll keep tracking this for a while to see if the uncovered wood catches up and then eventually oven-dry the wood so that I can convert the charts to a moisture content scale. But for now, here are my results (chart 1 = larger pieces, chart 2 = smaller; normalized to account for slight differences in sample size):

 

[paul bunion]

So, I've been doing my own drying test for a little over a month now, but I used smallish pieces to speed up the process (because I wanted data FAST!). I used freshly bucked and split red oak heartwood and tried to keep the pieces as uniform as possible. I cut eight pieces altogether, four large (those numbered "1" on the charts, about 2-1/4" X 3" X 4-1/2") and four small (those numbered "2" on the chart, about 1-1/8" X 2" X 4-1/2"). Starting MC was too high for my meter, so somewhere over 50%. I placed one large and one small piece in each of four locations: A = a wood bin in a heated indoor living space; B = an unheated but closed garage; C = the top of a covered outdoor firewood rack; and D = the top of an uncovered outdoor firewood rack.

Some of the results were as I expected but others were a bit of a surprise. The smaller pieces dried faster than their larger counterparts, and the indoor wood dried much faster than any of the outdoor samples (because the air gets pretty dry in here during heating season). The wood in my garage dried much faster than I expected, outperforming the outdoor samples during all but the warmest weather. The uncovered outdoor wood dried the least, but it's been pretty wet and only recently warmed up. You can pretty clearly tell when we got precipitation by the blips in the chart. When the weather was favorable, the uncovered outdoor wood dried more quickly but still not fast enough to make up for the exposure to precipitation. I'll keep tracking this for a while to see if the uncovered wood catches up and then eventually oven-dry the wood so that I can convert the charts to a moisture content scale. But for now, here are my results (chart 1 = larger pieces, chart 2 = smaller; normalized to account for slight differences in sample size):

View attachment 176601 View attachment 176602

I've found oak to run about 85% fresh off the stump. Your results so far are running the same. You should go terminal at about 60% drying next to the stove and get to about 54% in the oven (100/185=54%).. Easy rule of thumb, a 1/3 loss in weight equals a piece of wood going from 80% to 20%, if it started drier than that the absolute least it could have been was 50%

 

[saskwoodburner]

Here we are again. Inside piece is down to 4 lb 7 oz, from the original 7 lb 4 oz. Weight loss of 2.75 lb

Outside piece is down to 7 lb 3 oz, from the original 7 lb 12 oz. Weight loss of .5 lb.

Judging by the weight alone of the inside piece, I would probably drop it in the fire if it was pulled from the pile. Most likely a touch on the high side of moisture though.

Elapsed time has been 104 days.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Well, the suspense was killing me, so I split the inside piece a few days ago and checked the moisture. I'm so weak.

Pretty much any reading was 20-22%, except for one time I got a 23% reading, never to be repeated. Total weight for both is 4 lb 4 oz, so 3 lb total weight/water loss in 112 days. In the end, it was neat to see for myself how quickly wood can season.

Still get to race the clock with the outdoor piece, which has since been moved from the shed to outside on a table.

 

[Poindexter]

There is a lot of really good data in here. I appreciate seeing so many approaches. Thanks folks.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Well, in the last 40 days, the outside piece has went from 7 lb 5 oz to 6 lb 12 oz, so a hair over 1/2 lb lost in the last 40 days, and 1 lb lost in total. Considering our wonky weather, it's still a surprise. I let it sit on an outside table exposed to the elements, rain/snow/sun/wind.

I'll pay attention to it a little more, now that the weather is steadily improving. It should give a half baked reference for how the wood in the stacks could be drying.

Inside piece split in half has dropped one ounce per side over the last 13 days. Seeing as I've already determined I would have burned them 2 weeks ago, I'm just going to let them sit until October, and weigh the inside piece then. Can't see them dropping much anymore.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Outside piece went from 6 lb 12 oz to 6 lb 9.5 oz (2.5 oz loss) in the last 7 days.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Inside piece (although split) has lost another 4 oz total in the last 30 + days, ringing the bell at 4 lb even.

Outside piece went from 6 lb 9.5 oz to 6 lb 3 oz in 12 days.

 

[saskwoodburner]

I just thought to check the inside piece today, and it has lost only 1 ounce in the last 30 days, sitting at 3 lb 15 oz. I'm guessing it's pretty much stabilized at its moisture content?

Outside piece exposed to the weather is at 5 lb 12 oz, a weight loss of 7 oz in 30 days. Going slower than I thought it would...

 

[Jay106n]

Its been interesting but I'm really not surprised as the inside piece has been exposed to drier warmer (presumably drier) air for a longer period of time in the stove room. I'm sure the outside piece will catch up as it is exposed to the warmer summer temperatures. The inside piece wins the race in the winter months. I wonder what the results would be if you started the race now with another set of splits?

 

[saskwoodburner]

I wonder what the results would be if you started the race now with another set of splits?

Everything here has been bucked and mostly split for awhile, so I'd have to go get a green tree to test that idea.

 

[begreen]

Besides temperature, relative humidity and wind over the wood will have significant drying effect. In particular the latter. An interesting experiment would be to take two splits of identical weight in size and have one inside in a still location and the other with a fan blowing over it. My bet is that a difference would be notable within a week or two. This is why I always try to stack with the prevailing winds blowing through the stack.

 

[saskwoodburner]

Well, the outside piece is down to 5lb 5 oz, having lost about 32 % of its original weight sitting outside exposed to the elements. The inside piece lost about 45 % of its original weight before stabilizing, so it'll be neat to see if outside piece can make the grade by the time the snow falls.

 

[Ash]

Great thread! I've always heard that wood doesn't dry much in the fall so it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next month or two.