I need a strategy for burning this season

[Grisu]

UPDATE...

So I just went out and tested the freshly cut stuff again. I was getting the same numbers, around 25% until I put more pressure on the meter and stuck the probes in a little deeper. The MC went up. On the fresh Oak, I'm now getting 31% and on the fresh Beech, I'm now getting 28-29%. I guess now I need to check all my other wood supply again with this new method of adding more pressure to the unit. I hope those numbers don't go up too.

Sorry, but either your technique or your meter are not correct. Freshly cut oak has way more than that. Any chance you can borrow another one from a friend?

 

[teutonicking]

It looks like I'm going to head into the season without enough properly seasoned wood. I work from home, so I burn 24/7. I think I'll need about 5 cords to make it through the season. Here's what I have...

- 2 cords in my wood shed outside - fully seasoned (12-18%) moisture content.
- 1 cord in my garage that I just bought. I put it in there because I bought "fully seasoned" wood. It looks seasoned, gray in color, but it's not. - 24% MC (I'm not happy about that one).
-1 cord that I bought last spring stacked under a tarp in my yard. 19% MC
- 1 cord that I just scrounged last week from a free wood ad on Craigslist. It's old, a bit punky, and was sitting outside uncoverd for a couple years. MC is about 21%.
- 2+ cords that i just got free from the utility company who is clearing trees above the lines. These trees were alive last month and I'm still in the process of splitting and stacking. This will be for next year...hopefully. MC 25%.

Should I save my good stuff for the coldest months? Should I mix the good with the bad? I'm not sure what strategy to use. That's where you guys come in.


Thanks.

You can always buy a cord of kiln dried firewood to mix in with your other splits as a supplement. You may also consider getting all of your wood now for (non-oak) next year so it will be dry by then.

 

[oldspark]

Sorry, but either your technique or your meter are not correct. Freshly cut oak has way more than that. Any chance you can borrow another one from a friend?

If he is checking it on the outside that is probably a good reading. Not sure how long the wood has been freash cut or split but it dont take long for the outside to dry some. The outside readings are good for nothing.

 

[Ansky]

OK, picture time.

Here's the fresh oak...

Here's the fresh beech...

And for reference, here's a 2x10 that's been in my garage for 10 years...

 

[Ansky]

Here's my wood in the garage...

Here's one of those splits tested on the outside...

Here's that same split, resplit and tested on the inside...

 

[Jags]

Burn it.

 

[oldspark]

So that fresh Oak was live when you cut it, fresh cut Oak will max out my MM (which it should) but most of your readings seem to make sense.

 

[Ansky]

I can't be positive about the freshness of the Oak. I'm assuming it was live. The power company cut the trees down. I just reaped the rewards.
Like Jags said, I'll just burn it and be done with it. It is what it is.
Now I'd just like to make sure my MM is working properly...you guys casted some doubt on that.

 

[Jags]

Place the pins into the palm of your hand. Somewhere in the mid 30's should be your reading.

Also - a current thread on this subject:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/moisture-meter-ok.114278/#post-1527076

 

[Ansky]

Place the pins into the palm of your hand. Somewhere in the mid 30's should be your reading.

Also - a current thread on this subject:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/moisture-meter-ok.114278/#post-1527076

Good tip. I get 31% in the palm of my hand. Close enough I suppose. And thanks for the link.

 

[PapaDave]

Good tip. I get 31% in the palm of my hand. Close enough I suppose. And thanks for the link.

You were just nervous.
Kind of like a trip to the Dr.'s when they take your blood pressure. Always reads a tad high.
You're probably already dry.

 

[paul bunion]

You might want to move the cord out of your garage, there's still some time to get a few more % points of water out of it and being outside in the sun and wind (covered) should dry it faster than closed up in the garage.

 

[charly]

If you have some racks in by your stove room, bring in your wood that's not as dry and let it sit inside for a month or so. Keep rotating your wetter wood into the house to dry for a month.. Then mix those pieces with your good wood after a month and bring in another load to dry...keep that going over the winter you should have the best chance of burning good wood and getting the most heat from your wood as well..

 

[Lumber-Jack]

How do yo

It looks like I'm going to head into the season without enough properly seasoned wood. I work from home, so I burn 24/7. I think I'll need about 5 cords to make it through the season.

Thanks.

How did you come up with the 5 cords to make it through the season?

A few tips:
* Start your fires with the driest wood you have.
* Once the stove is nice and hot then you can feed it with some of your wood that is less than ideal MC.
* Get all your wood for next year NOW!

 

[Wood Duck]

This may be off topic, but I don't think the wood in your first picture is Oak. I don't know of any oak that is so white with a darker center.

 

[Ansky]

How do yo

How did you come up with the 5 cords to make it through the season?

A few tips:
* Start your fires with the driest wood you have.
* Once the stove is nice and hot then you can feed it with some of your wood that is less than ideal MC.
* Get all your wood for next year NOW!

5 cords is just a guesstimate. This will be my first full season of burning. I got the stove in early Feb last year, and went though 2+ cords. Not sure the exact amount. Maybe even 3. But I burned all day, every day. I also didn't know what I was doing and treated the stove like an open fireplace and just threw wood on when it got low. I never packed it the way it should be packed. So hopefully now that I'm a bit more informed, I'll be able to not use as much wood.

As far as getting the wood now for next year, I'm working on it. It's pretty much all I do now, cut, move, split, stack, repete.

 

[Jon1270]

Something to keep in mind is that electronic meters are extremely inaccurate once the MC goes over about 28%. That's the point at which there's actually liquid water present, and the electrical resistance is so low that it pushes the limits of what an inexpensive device can measure. Down in the mid-20's it should be usefully accurate.

 

[NortheastAl]

UPDATE...

So I just went out and tested the freshly cut stuff again. I was getting the same numbers, around 25% until I put more pressure on the meter and stuck the probes in a little deeper. The MC went up. On the fresh Oak, I'm now getting 31% and on the fresh Beech, I'm now getting 28-29%. I guess now I need to check all my other wood supply again with this new method of adding more pressure to the unit. I hope those numbers don't go up too.

Use the BioBricks mixed in with the burn when in doubt. So many people are against them, but there are those who just can't, for whatever reason, get three years ahead, or their climate is damper.

 

[NortheastAl]

An old trick when you meter is broke. Make a fresh split and hold the fresh side to your cheek. If it's colder that the outside of a split, then it has a fair amount of moisture to it. Not accurate by any means, but will suffice as a guide.

 

[BrotherBart]

This may be off topic, but I don't think the wood in your first picture is Oak. I don't know of any oak that is so white with a darker center.

That is what I thought when I just saw the picture.

 

[Ansky]

That is what I thought when I just saw the picture.

Interesting. I don't know what it is then.

 

[oldspark]

Why did you think it was oak?

 

[Ansky]

Why did you think it was oak?

Because there are 2 primary tree species on my lot, and when I posted a pic of their leaves last year from the trees, members here told me they were beech and oak.

 

[Ansky]

Here's more of what I thought was oak, with some smaller rounds of what I though were beech in front of it...

More power co wood ready to be split...

More wood from the power co that I haven't moved to my yard yet...

And this is where it all came from. This road is about 1/4 mile long and they cut a ton of trees under the lines. It's all mine.

 

[USMC80]

Im not experienced with wood ID but the first pic I don't think is oak, Im sure someone on here knows better than I