Red Oak seasoning question

[joel95ex]

I came across some posts about red oak taking a LONG time to be seasoned.....BUT most of the posts were from folks further north of me. In TX, summers have been reaching 100 degrees for several weeks. I am wondering if this heat and direct sunlight will speed up the process---those posts were stating that they were waiting 3+ years yet a few people down here said usually one year is ok... My red oak stash is only 6 months old but I am hoping it will be ready by next winter. I would like to get on a plan of storing for a year then burning.

 

[smokinj]

I have some doing awesome at 18 months. Full sun and I have strong winds.

 

[tonelover]

I have bunch of oak in up to 8" wide splits delivered to me two years ago and I'm buring it now. Not a sizzling sound to be heard and it burns hot and hard. Yet, beech kindling 1" in diamater that is a year old sizzles sometimes. I have not had as bad an experience with oak drying times as a lot of people.

 

[oldspark]

I have some doing awesome at 18 months. Full sun and I have strong winds.

+ 1 If stacked correctly (single rows in wind and sun) and that hot Texas climate I do think you will get there in 18 months.

 

[TreePointer]

Northern red oak (Quercus rubra) really does take 2 years to season here if cut while living. I've also run into some dead standing oak that was pretty dry in the branches, but not so in the trunk. With that being stated, I imagine the TX/Southwest sun and wind would speed up things.

 

[billb3]

When I visited friends in Longview included in the heat was a rather stout amount of humidity.
Made just breathing in and out a chore. I don't remember much wind either.
Also recall hearing windows popping out of cars at dusk. From the temperature change.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I came across some posts about red oak taking a LONG time to be seasoned.....BUT most of the posts were from folks further north of me. In TX, summers have been reaching 100 degrees for several weeks. I am wondering if this heat and direct sunlight will speed up the process---those posts were stating that they were waiting 3+ years yet a few people down here said usually one year is ok... My red oak stash is only 6 months old but I am hoping it will be ready by next winter. I would like to get on a plan of storing for a year then burning.

Joel, all that heat does help for sure but wind is even better. Combine the two and you really have a winner. Also remember there are really a lot of different types of oaks. Someone once said there are over 50 varieties but I've never kept count. But here we can even compare red oak to pin oak and the two are very much alike. However, I think the pin oak takes longer than the red oak even thought they are technically both in the red oak family.

Another strange difference between the red oak and pin oak is in the acorns. As you know deer love acorns.....but they will always go right after the white oak acorns as soon as they drop. The reds have to lay around a long time before they get eaten. Yet, deer will go after the pin oak acorns! I've not figured that one out yet but just know it happens. btw, we have red, white and pin oak in our yard so get to watch the deer quite a bit. They even like our apple tree and do not seem to mind us watching them as long as we are in the house.

 

[iskiatomic]

It has taken me 30+ months to get some red oak to under 20% MC.


KC

 

[NH_Wood]

I c/s/s about 4 cord of red oak during May/June 2009. I resplit a couple pieces this fall (just to see how they were seasoning). Some rounds were still in the mid-20's for MC, and larger splits weren't to much lower than that. Small splits were good to go (~ 18-20% MC). So, I'm hoping that by next winter, all of that oak will be good to go. Also, for the first year of seasoning, I had all the oak on pallets, but in a ~ 30' long by 10" wide rectangle (other wood mixed in), with no real air space. This summer, I restacked, still on pallets, but pallet have at least 18" of space on each side before the next pallet. I think this will help. I wonder how well the oak would have seasoned if I had done this first! Cheers!

 

[HardWoodW]

I'd have to think with all that heat and sun you'll be good to go at 18 months. My 18 month red oak is doing well- not great but a whole lot better than when I had to resort to burning some at the end of last winter and here it seems to stay grey outside for months at a time. I went to Texas once in March and I nearly melted so it's got to have some effect on your wood stack!

 

[iskiatomic]

It has taken me 30+ months to get some red oak to under 20% MC.


KC

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Are you in the part of Texas that's like LA? Or the part that's like OK or NM? Low humidity really helps, sun or no.

 

[joel95ex]

Thanks guys.... it is southern red oak... it is unsplit now but I will split it within a month. it is pretty breezy and windy at times because we are always getting warm and "cold' fronts coming in. I am about an hour east of Dallas just west of Tyler. yes there can be some bad humidity (gre up in Houston) but lately the summers have been crazy hot.

 

[bboulier]

I bought some "seasoned" oak last year. Turned out to be "red oak" plus poplar. Was not very successful. This year is fine, although it is "stringy" when split.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

Right now Im burning red oak that was split last Nov. ( 12-13 months). It was stacked in single rows, with the tops covered. Its down to 18-22% MC. I should say that I KNEW that I would need it this year, so I split it a little smaller than I normally would, but they're certainly large enough. Starts fast and burns hot- no hissing and PLENTY of coals in A.M......... No complaints here.