Letting the leaves do the seasoning

[lowroadacres]

A dozen or so years ago I tried an experiment that I am considering again. Some of you may turn up your noses at the fact that it was done with poplar but it was the wood we had access to at the time.

In early winter I headed into the bush at my in-laws farm and in an area that they wanted cleared out for a feed yard for their cattle I began to cut poplar trees down that were at least 4 inches in diameter and up to 18 inches across. We cut the trees, by notching and back-cutting, to all lay down in one direction. We did not limb or cut the trees to length but rather the plan was to leave them lay as they were so that the leaves, when they budded out, would draw the moisture out of the trunk.

We then left the trees through the winter, the spring, and the summer. By early July the leaves which had come out as normal despite the trees being down were brown and almost dry. We began to cut and limb the trees in late August and early September and we piled them up in four foot lengths. As hoped the wood was incredibly dry and hard.

The most fun thing about the process was seeing the end cracking that occurred literally overnight from the day we cut the wood into four footers until the next afternoon. In hindsight it would have been interesting to see what a moisture meter would have said about the wood.

We ended up with about five cords from that process and while I know full well that Poplar is not a BTU giant it was some of the best firewood we every used.

Does anyone else have experience with seasoning in this way? We heard about this method from a very old farmer who to this day heats his house with an old Fisher Mama Bear and a cookstove.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Good stuff- leaving tops intact does indeed speed drying in full length form. I'm not sure if it's faster than if you got to split it right away, however. Of course- I rarely get to split soon after cutting.

only real disadvantage is that wetter wood is a lot easier to buck/split.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It helps some but is over rated. The same thing is said about cutting a tree during summer. Leave it until the leaves wilt down. It takes some moisture for sure but not a whole lot. Cutting to length and splitting is still the best way to go and will speed the drying process a lot. No comparison actually because cutting to lenght and splitting dries just so much faster.

Basically, it amounts to an old wives tale.

 

[Wood Duck]

I wonder if you'd have had firewood of the same quality by splitting and stacking the wood in the winter, and letting it season until next year. Seems like that should be fine for poplar. If you tell me it worked for oak in a year, that would be something else.

 

[lowroadacres]

I fully agree that the ideal is to split, cut and stack the wood and let it season for as long as possible without the wood quality suffering. I have a friend who goes on a wood cutting binge every 3- years. He cuts enough to last him 5-6 years each time and he has a massive wood shed that can hold up to 18 cords.

The one trick that the old timer I mentioned in the original post still swears by is to cut the tree in the winter before any new moisture starts up into the tree from the root. In that way the theory is that the leaves draw their moisture from the tree without the tree having access to new moisture. It stands to reason that if one were to wait until summer the tree would be well watered and the leaves already established. I have no experience at all with seasoning oak although I have located a couple of small stands where I can clean up dead or downed trees. As we also make our own homemade maple syrup from MB Maples/Box Elder I can tell you that the sheer volume of fluid that begins making its way into a tree once spring arrives is staggering.

Where we live now the idea of seasoning wood in this way it is a moot point as we have access to loads of standing dead and fallen dead ash trees that are rock hard. We will likely still burn some poplar as it is available readily as well and it is good for shoulder season wood and for daytime fires when we are around the house. This way we will save our higher btu woods for longer stretches.

 

[flyingcow]

Popular is good firewood, i don't use much of it, but as you pointed out, it's great shoulder season stuff and low ash content. We have a waferboard mill in the area. It was put online abut 30 yrs ago, popular is the mills wood of choice. The mill has cleaned up alot of the good stands of popular, but the stuff grows like bad weeds.

Growing up, my father would do the same type of thing with our hardwood. Fell just as soon as the snow goes off, and clean it all up in the fall.

 

[ikessky]

Maybe it's just me, but I think I'll stick to C/S/S when the snow goes off and then throw the wood into my basement in the late fall. I know lots of people swear by the leaves-on-the-tree trick, but I think that split wood processed early and stacked in wind/sun exposure is still going to season more completely in the long run.

 

[gpcollen1]

I think you have taken this beyond where it makes sense to me. If you cut with leaves on the trees, it helps to leave the tree down for two weeks or so until the leaves die out. That definitely gets rid of moisture in the tree. As for what you did, I would just have cut it and split it.

 

[karri0n]

Definitely doesn't work for red oak. I had a red oak fall in my back yard, and it sat for 2 years elevated off the ground on a big boulder before I got to it. Water sprayed out of some parts when I was bucking it.

 

[Cutter]

I do girdle trees for next seasons cutting.This way I have a dead tree to deal with the next season. But as far as benefits in seasoning there are few. Trees only live on the outside bark and cambium layers. The leaves will pull some moisture from those layers but does no good on drying out the heartwood.

 

[lowroadacres]

I appreciate the honest feedback. In hindsight I should have labeled the post with something like "theory to be tested again" or something to that effect.

As stated I am a true believer in c/s/s and wherever possible I like to cut standing dead wood that is on the way to dry but not punky.

 

[Battenkiller]

This fills in the missing step to my easy-peasy firewood seasoning method:

1.) Fell trees in the coldest part of winter

2.) Come back in the hottest part of August and fight mosquitoes and deer flies to limb and buck them

3.) Split, stack and cover them in the fall

4.) Let them sit outside for several weeks of freeze-drying

5.) Bring all of the wood inside in January to finish drying by my stove.


What could be simpler than that?


Or...


How about if I buy next year's wood now and stack it up to season in a convenient place?


Nah... that'd never work for me.

 

[ikessky]

This fills in the missing step to my easy-peasy firewood seasoning method:

1.) Fell trees in the coldest part of winter

2.) Come back in the hottest part of August and fight mosquitoes and deer flies to limb and buck them

3.) Split, stack and cover them in the fall

4.) Let them sit outside for several weeks of freeze-drying

5.) Bring all of the wood inside in January to finish drying by my stove.


What could be simpler than that?


Or...


How about if I buy next year's wood now and stack it up to season in a convenient place?


Nah... that'd never work for me.

Why not get it split and stack in the spring?

 

[Battenkiller]

How about if I buy next year's wood now and stack it up to season in a convenient place?


Nah... that'd never work for me.

Why not get it split and stack in the spring?[/quote]


What... and miss all that good freeze-drying weather? %-P

 

[ikessky]

Have you ever tested your method with a moisture meter? I'm betting that C/S/S in the spring is going to get your wood drier than your method. Not trying to be critical though. If it's working for you, then that's great.

 

[Battenkiller]

Have you ever tested your method with a moisture meter? I'm betting that C/S/S in the spring is going to get your wood drier than your method. Not trying to be critical though. If it's working for you, then that's great.

I guess there's no point in putting tongue in cheek if folks can't see it's there.

 

[flyingcow]

Have you ever tested your method with a moisture meter? I'm betting that C/S/S in the spring is going to get your wood drier than your method. Not trying to be critical though. If it's working for you, then that's great.

I guess there's no point in putting tongue in cheek if folks can't see it's there.

Some of us do, keep,it up :coolsmile:

 

[ikessky]

I'm sorry guys! I'm a little out of sorts after I found out that my chimney crown "fix" didn't hold up as well as I hoped it would. Now my nervous mode kicked in and I can't seem to get out of it.

 

[iceman]

This fills in the missing step to my easy-peasy firewood seasoning method:

1.) Fell trees in the coldest part of winter

2.) Come back in the hottest part of August and fight mosquitoes and deer flies to limb and buck them

3.) Split, stack and cover them in the fall

4.) Let them sit outside for several weeks of freeze-drying

5.) Bring all of the wood inside in January to finish drying by my stove.


What could be simpler than that?


Or...


How about if I buy next year's wood now and stack it up to season in a convenient place?


Nah... that'd never work for me.

your method is awesome!
just leave out the mosquitoes

 

[LLigetfa]

Have you ever tested your method with a moisture meter? I'm betting that C/S/S in the spring is going to get your wood drier than your method. Not trying to be critical though. If it's working for you, then that's great.

I guess there's no point in putting tongue in cheek if folks can't see it's there.

Ja, IKWYM. We don't have a tongue-in-cheek smiley so I usually use this tongue-out one. %-P

 

[lexybird]

sounds good but any real world benefit would be negated soon because once the tree is felled it takes on moisture on the ground and begins to decay and take on insects,sinks into the mud/soil and possibly a host of other problems