Red oak at 20% and still bubbled water out!?

[NH_Wood]

It's funny how opinions on wood drying vary a wide range. I have a co-worker telling me the wood I'm cutting and splitting now and plan on burning in the next couple seasons is going to be rotted by then. Others on this board say oak takes 3 years to season. It's exposed outside stacked between trees single row. Most of the wood I'm cutting is red or black oak and black birch. I plan to weed out the oak next year and burn the birch and any white pine we keep.

Exactly! A buddy of mine that buys wood at the last minute (and it is ALWAYS terrible wood) kids me about the amount of stacked wood I have on my property (about 20 cord) - he tells his wife that I'm crazy, since the wood will rot before I get to it! His wife even commented on my 1.5 year seasoned oak stacks - she told me that they were starting to rot because the splits were turning gray!! Oh well, we know what we are doing and I'll be very happy when I'm heading out to those oak stacks in 3 years to burn one hell of a great load of dry oak! Cheers!

 

[cptoneleg]

Oak is a PITA. Unless its loosely,single stacked, split small, and in the sun and wind it takes 2+ yrs to get to 20%.

Whats PITA and if oak is cut small and all that other how long?? Trying to get through 1st season with new EPA stove, I did cut acouple of cords real small 2" 3" in june with hopes they would burn this year. Have a cord of seasoned plan on mixing to try and get by this year.

 

[madrone]

I agree that Oak is a Pain In The A**. I wouldn't turn it down, but I don't have space in my yard to wait 2 years. I've had the same experience of seemingly very dry Oak that still bubbles in the stove. I've got about 1/8 cord in my stacks right now, and that's about enough.

 

[cptoneleg]

Looks like the pine burners are trying to convence themselves that oak is BAD.

 

[madrone]

Looks like the pine burners are trying to convence themselves that oak is BAD.

Everybody knows it's Oak that causes creosote. Pine just clears it out. :cheese:

 

[cptoneleg]

Looks like the pine burners are trying to convence themselves that oak is BAD.

Everybody knows it's Oak that causes creosote. Pine just clears it out. :cheese:

Correction most people know that green wood causes creosotes, and that pine has one of the lowest btu and oak has one of the highest. but I am not related to the oak I will not defend her anymore good by.

 

[rdust]

Man, do you guys soak it in a creek bed or what?

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but it's not soaking in a creek bed. Single rows with 3' between them that get pretty good sun/wind most of the time.

 

[Battenkiller]

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but it's not soaking in a creek bed. Single rows with 3' between them that get pretty good sun/wind most of the time.

Looks right as rain to me. Speaking of which, I posted about this on another thread, but it applies to what I think is going on with your hissers.

I checked the MC of the wood that got flooded in my basement the other day. It was all standing up in a corner of the basement that never gets wet... until we got 7+ inches of rain. I found it all sitting in about an inch of water. I moved it right away after I found it, but it was obvious that it had soaked up a lot of water into the end grain. Below are two photos of an oak board that was among the lot. It came from an old dresser drawer that was around 50 years old. Three days after I moved it to a dry spot, the dry end measured 13% MC and the wet end measured 25% MC, 12% higher than the end that didn't get wet. Yesterday it was so high it didn't even register on my meter (over 42% MC).

When you get a lot of rain, some will surely soak back into the wood, especially the end grain. That's where you see the bubbling coming from, right... the ends? Takes several days to dry back up, so burning it while it's wet will cause the water to boil out in your stove. Won't hurt the burn much AFAIC, but that's probably what's happening to you since I couldn't ask for a much better setup than you have with your stacks as far as drying goes.

 

[billb3]

Wet wood (especially oak) is why I like to keep the rain off of my stacks.
At least the ones I want to use this Winter.
A good soaking three day Northeaster and my wood will be soaking wet and unusable.
Can take a whole day or more to dry out No sense putting it in the stove - it's like throwing in a bunch of soaking wet rags. The fire goes out before it steams off all the rain water.
If that Northeaster is in Winter more often than not it is followed by a cold snap and then I have frozen soaking wet oak.
Which I now have to keep on the cellar floor for at least three days to dry out. Add some slushy wet snow to that stack and not only am I trying to keep a supply of splits in the cellar, but I'm busting splits out of the stack with a sledge hammer.
No thanks.

I'll put a roof over the stack somehow in the nice weather .
Cuts down on the fungi on the cherry, too.

 

[rdust]

Small update: we're getting some cooler weather so I loaded the stove with some of this oak and white ash(been burning silver maple up to now) for the overnight fire. I watched the wood closely after I loaded the stove. It burned great, no water coming out, no moisture showing on the ends and is currently burning nicely with the air shut all the way down. Guess the wood is going to be fine, may have just been end moisture as Battenkiller suggested.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I had a piece of oak that has been drying for 2 years bubble and hiss for me tonight. About an inch and a half in, I had jets of wood gas coming out of it. My guess is it was wet an inch or so in. It was kind of cool, I've never noticed that before.

Matt

 

[hareball]

Man, do you guys soak it in a creek bed or what?

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but it's not soaking in a creek bed. Single rows with 3' between them that get pretty good sun/wind most of the time.

I see the problem! Your 8" block are on their sides and if faced right side up the wood would not sizzle. Please start over!!

 

[ecocavalier02]

this is why i love having my wood shed. my wood hasnt seen any rain in 2 months now.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

+1, ecocavalier02. I also agree with Battnkiller that half of the complaints about oak are just re-absorbtion of water in the end grain bubbling. It happens to me from time to time (I burn 80%+ 0ak) and I KNOW that the center of my splits are -20% on the MM. They might bubble for 2 minutes and then burn great and throw serious heat for 8 hours(ish). Im CONVINCED that the moisture content of oak (or any species,for that matter) is in direct correlation to your geographic location. I live on L.I., and our summers are pretty long and brutally hot. If I baby my splits and care for them right, I can get even red oak down to 20% in year. But its due to the local climate and proper drying. I should add that I prolly cut and split my stock a bit smaller than most ( 3-5" wide, 12-18" long ).

 

[Rich L]

+1, ecocavalier02. I also agree with Battnkiller that half of the complaints about oak are just re-absorbtion of water in the end grain bubbling. It happens to me from time to time (I burn 80%+ 0ak) and I KNOW that the center of my splits are -20% on the MM. They might bubble for 2 minutes and then burn great and throw serious heat for 8 hours(ish). Im CONVINCED that the moisture content of oak (or any species,for that matter) is in direct correlation to your geographic location. I live on L.I., and our summers are pretty long and brutally hot. If I baby my splits and care for them right, I can get even red oak down to 20% in year. But its due to the local climate and proper drying. I should add that I prolly cut and split my stock a bit smaller than most ( 3-5" wide, 12-18" long ).

I think there is need of more thought about wood drying and the different geographic locations we live in.The responses indicate that wood drys faster or slower for folks with the same species who live in different places.I got my hands on some maple that was cut this past spring.I split some last week.The splits seemed pretty dry so I popped some in the stove and they burn pretty well with no hiss.Since this past summer saw record heat it's no surprise the wood has dried faster than usual.I was planning to use this wood for next winter and still will even though it'll burn well now.I've never had green wood dry this fast before and I don't know the reason why, only speculate.

 

[JustWood]

All wood cut off stump when the sap is high (Feb-June) takes a little longer to dry.I have often wondered if sugar content has anything to do with drying time but I'm no biologist so I don't know.

 

[Battenkiller]

I think there is need of more thought about wood drying and the different geographic locations we live in.The responses indicate that wood drys faster or slower for folks with the same species who live in different places.

A while back I posted a link to a site that has the seasonal average equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of wood exposed to outside air for hundreds of cities in the U.S. Based upon the average monthly relative humidity (RH) of the air in your area, wood will achieve a final EMC that can never get below that for your area, no matter how long you season it. This final EMC varies a lot geographically, but this info doesn't account at all for drying rates. Since wood drying is both temperature and relative humidity dependent, local conditions may drastically speed up the process of getting to that EMC point. Wind, as well, will greatly accelerate the rate of water loss, even though in the end, the wood will only go down to the EMC of your area.

Most areas of the country have an EMC of between 12% and 18%. There is nothing you can do to drop it below that point short of storing it inside a heated space. However, the time it takes to get to EMC will be substantially decreased by storing the wood well off the ground in a sunny and windy location, in loosely stacked single rows facing the direction that best takes advantage of both the sun's path through the sky and the predominant wind direction. For me, that would be to have the stacks face the southwest, which works out to be the best place on my property for me to put it anyway.

 

[Rich L]

I think there is need of more thought about wood drying and the different geographic locations we live in.The responses indicate that wood drys faster or slower for folks with the same species who live in different places.

A while back I posted a link to a site that has the seasonal average equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of wood exposed to outside air for hundreds of cities in the U.S. Based upon the average monthly relative humidity (RH) of the air in your area, wood will achieve a final EMC that can never get below that for your area, no matter how long you season it. This final EMC varies a lot geographically, but this info doesn't account at all for drying rates. Since wood drying is both temperature and relative humidity dependent, local conditions may drastically speed up the process of getting to that EMC point. Wind, as well, will greatly accelerate the rate of water loss, even though in the end, the wood will only go down to the EMC of your area.

Most areas of the country have an EMC of between 12% and 18%. There is nothing you can do to drop it below that point short of storing it inside a heated space. However, the time it takes to get to EMC will be substantially decreased by storing the wood well off the ground in a sunny and windy location, in loosely stacked single rows facing the direction that best takes advantage of both the sun's path through the sky and the predominant wind direction. For me, that would be to have the stacks face the southwest, which works out to be the best place on my property for me to put it anyway.

That's a good update.I must of missed that post.It would be good to consult the info for those who wonder how long it would take their type of wood to season in their neck of the woods.