seasoned oak

[jj3500]

I've got a three long rows of log rounds, all oak. This was cut down and stacked ~ April 08. I'm getting great heat off of these. I just split a few rounds by hand. The split up with great ease. I tossed them in the stove and they are burning great.

Reason I'm making this statement is because I have heard from more than one member here that I needed more than two years to season this oak. For me, right now, it works. I was running out of my regular 3-4 year old seasoned wood and was starting to get a little concerned. So I went into this "new" oak to see what would happen.


thanks for reading.

 

[pinewoodburner]

Did you split it in April or just cut it.
I have been burning some oak and pine split in Feb and march 08 and it is doing fine. I am already have all of 09-10 wood spit and I am about 1/2 of the following season. If I can get 2 years ahead, I will be happy. I have heard alot of people say you need 2 years but alot cut and split eary spring and burn later that year.

 

[jj3500]

these oak pieces are all round still. Cut down about eleven months ago. I recently, I mean as in a few hours ago, split them.

 

[SmokinPiney]

Heck i cut some a few months ago and split em in the past few weeks. It's burnin just fine! Gotta get a good hot fire goin first then pile em on top.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'm not so certain anyone said it would not burn. What is trying to be said is that it will burn much better after another year and you will get more heat from each piece of wood. It is really quite simple. Any piece of wood that goes into the stove has some moisture in it. Even some of my 6 year old wood has moisture. Some is good; too much degrades the fire and heat. But if a piece of wood has excess moisture, a certain amount of energy is required to evaporate the remaining moisture from the wood. That is why you get the most smoke at the beginning of the burn.

So, go ahead and burn your wood and be very happy doing it. Let it season longer and be that much more happy because you won't have to work as hard or buy as much wood because you will get more heat from less wood burned.

 

[LLigetfa]

It's burnin just fine! Gotta get a good hot fire goin first then pile em on top.

If you have to get a good hot fire going first and then pile them on top, I would not describe that as "It's burnin just fine!".

Burning wet wood is not black or white. There is a whole lot of subjective "grey" in between.

 

[jj3500]

the wood is burning. I put some splits into a already roaring stove. its definitely not throwing off as much heat as I would like. But if I get into a pinch in a few weeks, if I run out of seasoned wood, I'll be burning this stuff.

 

[SmokinPiney]

If you have to get a good hot fire going first and then pile them on top, I would not describe that as "It's burnin just fine!".

Burning wet wood is not black or white. There is a whole lot of subjective "grey" in between.

Well ok, Maybe it's not burnin just fine but between me, my dad, and a few family friends we've used up our "seasoned" wood supply. And noone around here is selling seasoned wood worth payin for. So i'll burn what i have for the next month or so and make sure i don't skip a beat gettin wood for next season.

I know i'm not gettin the BTU's that i should be but the house is still stayin round 75-80 deg. Thats comin from my wood furnace in the basement..

 

[Duetech]

the wood is burning. I put some splits into a already roaring stove. its definitely not throwing off as much heat as I would like. But if I get into a pinch in a few weeks, if I run out of seasoned wood, I'll be burning this stuff.

You may want to stretch the use of your good wood with some of the newer stuff in case another cold snap falls on us. trying to keep a house warm in sub zeros is not easy with just new wood. Use a few dry ones to get the fire going and pile on the newer.

 

[pybyr]

Oak is marvellous when it is really dry. But at least the red oak that I have dealt with is one of the slowest drying woods that I've fooled around with- hissed and fizzled even after 2 years under a roof in the sun. As Cave said, run a mix, so that you have some good drier stuff in case there's another serious cold spell. Marginal wood will burn OK if it is thrown into a fire that has already been started with dry wood; starting a fire with marginal wood is somewhere between discouraging and depressing.

 

[Superlite]

Ahem, Was it free? if it is free it is for me. I see a lot of wood snobbery on here. It reminds me of vegetarians.

 

[pybyr]

Ahem, Was it free? if it is free it is for me. I see a lot of wood snobbery on here. It reminds me of vegetarians.

I am a purist who only burns 100% free-range, 100% localvore, 100% organic, 100% cruelty-free firewood - which, in my case, translates mostly to standing dead or sick stuff I cut myself at no cost within yelling distance from my house.

My favorite is the eastern hophornbeam that I've found in abundance, fallen over already, but not rotten, that seems to season within a couple of months and has a TON of heat still in it even when it's been lying on the ground long enough to be covered in moss. I'd even sing KoomBaYah to it before I split it

White ash with failing crotches that is going to snap and die within a year or two is my next favorite;

following that is to find Black cherry that has sickly looking leaves- I don't know what is up with it, but it's obviously on the way out, and it is closer to seasoned the minute it hits the ground than regular cherry several months after splitting.

P.S. - I eat meat and shoot and eat critters

 

[LLigetfa]

I see a lot of wood snobbery on here. It reminds me of vegetarians.

I am a purist who only burns 100% free-range, 100% localvore, 100% organic, 100% cruelty-free firewood

The only snobbery here is not burning wood before its time.

What do you call those vegetarians that only eat that part of the plant that they can without exacting cruelty and without killing the plant, something beyond veganism? So, is mercy killing considered cruelty-free?

Do you have a set of kosher rules? Does cutting with a dull chain yeild trief?

 

[pybyr]

Time to start the International Friends of the Vegetables to stop the relentless tide of vegetable cruelty.

Each day, countless millions of innocent living things-- vegetables-- are brutally ripped from their roots, and boiled alive, or ripped, leaf from stem,
while still alive, only to be masticated between heartless teeth and cast down gullets into stomach acid.

Their reproductive organs torn out to be devoured (broccoli, etc., are the flowers from those particular plant).

The best of their young, their future, (seeds, grains) are heartlessly ground between stones, then infected with agents of decomposition (yeast), only to be stuffed into ovens (bread).

Found the Tofu Liberation Front (TLF) to once again let the Soybeans roam free!

Can you tell by now [I HOPE] that you didn't catch that my tongue was in my cheek about the free range cruelty free firewood !?

 

[LLigetfa]

Hey, I got the joke the first time. I'm a member of PETA (People Eating Tame Animals).

 

[Gomez]

Hey, I got the joke the first time. I'm a member of PETA (People Eating Tame Animals).

I thought it was "Tasty Animals"

 

[wendell]

I know I sure prefer Tasty but if Tame is what the man likes, I'm not one to judge. Of course, if I lived closer I'd make sure the neighbor kept an eye on her dog!