Seasoned Wood

[Monkey Wrench]

I brought some wood into the shed. I resplit some off the larger splits, and checked the moisture reading.
The oak had some slightly over 22%, cherry and maple where below 20%.

My question.

When i bang 2 splits of the oak or cherry toghether they have that CRACK Sound. Ready to burn. But the maple doesn't have that same sound. Is it the nature of the wood, or is it Not Ready?

Also something that surprised me. I had a large Sycamore [28" DBH] come down last march, I split and put into 2011/12 pile. It's already @ 20%, and has that Crack sound.

Thanks,

 

[rhyano]

Good Question!

I have asked the same questions to myself over the years.... Is this wood dry.
I do the same test... hit two pieces together and listen for that 'crack' sound vs a 'thud' sound.
I also use a moisture meter to test the wood as well as pick it up and see if it 'feels' dry by its weight. (you kind of get a feel for it I guess).

The Maple splits that I have seasoned do have that distinctive crack to them when hit together.
Another thing you could try would be to throw a split in the stove or firepit and see how well it takes a flame and if any moisture sizzles out the ends.
The maple that I had took about a year to season in a stack that was exposed to wind and direct sun.

Ryan

 

[Monkey Wrench]

Good Question!

I have asked the same questions to myself over the years.... Is this wood dry.
I do the same test... hit two pieces together and listen for that 'crack' sound vs a 'thud' sound.
I also use a moisture meter to test the wood as well as pick it up and see if it 'feels' dry by its weight. (you kind of get a feel for it I guess).

The Maple splits that I have seasoned do have that distinctive crack to them when hit together.
Another thing you could try would be to throw a split in the stove or firepit and see how well it takes a flame and if any moisture sizzles out the ends.
The maple that I had took about a year to season in a stack that was exposed to wind and direct sun.

Ryan

Thanks Ryan.

The maple was split and stacked in an open field Jan/Feb '10.

I should be good to go with the 4 cords oak 2 yrs old, 2 cords cherry 1 yr old. The maple will go into 2011/12 pile.

Thanks
Stay Safe.

 

[eujamfh]

May be talking different types of maple. I had silver maple and it is crap compared to sugar or I think some call it rock maple. Either way, the maple up north from which maple sugar is made from is a harder wood, more akin to oak. That may be the reason that your thuds vice cracks.

The silver maple I had also punked pretty fast compared to other hardwoods.

 

[bsearcey]

Your maple is good to go. Don't waste all the oak and cherry burning it up in the shoulder season. Burn the maple and sycamore. I think the difference in sound that you hear in because of the various wood densities. Denser woods will give you a sharper crack then less dense wood. You'll get a crack, but it will definitely sound different.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The only time I hear the wood crack together is when I throw some onto the pile. I simplify it by keeping a good wood supply on hand and never worry whether it is seasoned or not; it is.

 

[Monkey Wrench]

Your maple is good to go. Don't waste all the oak and cherry burning it up in the shoulder season. Burn the maple and sycamore. I think the difference in sound that you hear in because of the various wood densities. Denser woods will give you a sharper crack then less dense wood. You'll get a crack, but it will definitely sound different.

Great Info.

This early shoulder season I will be burning......close your ears.....crappola wood. Punkie stuff, Short Splits, Odd Ball Chunks, Uglies, and WTF's!

Stay Safe
Thanks.

 

[SolarAndWood]

This early shoulder season I will be burning......close your ears.....crappola wood. Punkie stuff, Short Splits, Odd Ball Chunks, Uglies, and WTF's!

Ha, all of the above keeps this house warm through the holidays.

 

[oldspark]

You people have no pride! :lol:

 

[Danno77]

The only time I hear the wood crack together is when I throw some onto the pile. I simplify it by keeping a good wood supply on hand and never worry whether it is seasoned or not; it is.

Dennis, I hate these posts you keep making. All you are doing is making me feel bad about not having 7 years of wood on hand. I think that instead of reminding me of this fact, that you should instead come help me get ahead. Then we can BOTH make posts about not caring about MC because our wood has been seasoning for 5 years+...

there is no denying that if EVERYONE used wood that was stacked 3+ years ago these "is it seasoned?" threads would all go away.

 

[Slow1]

The only time I hear the wood crack together is when I throw some onto the pile. I simplify it by keeping a good wood supply on hand and never worry whether it is seasoned or not; it is.

Dennis, I hate these posts you keep making. All you are doing is making me feel bad about not having 7 years of wood on hand. I think that instead of reminding me of this fact, that you should instead come help me get ahead. Then we can BOTH make posts about not caring about MC because our wood has been seasoning for 5 years+...

there is no denying that if EVERYONE used wood that was stacked 3+ years ago these "is it seasoned?" threads would all go away.

Heh - I would like someone to demonstrate how to stack 5+ years worth of wood on my lot (with enough air space for it to dry out). Nevermind the time it would take to do it or even finding that much wood around here at a decent rate. I'm lucky to be at 2 1/2 years right at this moment.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Heh - I would like someone to demonstrate how to stack 5+ years worth of wood on my lot

Let me demonstrate the heapenhausen (copyright Jags used here only with unexpressed permission), 20x20xas high as you need to go/180=5+years worth of wood

 

[Battenkiller]

Heh - I would like someone to demonstrate how to stack 5+ years worth of wood on my lot

Let me demonstrate the heapenhausen (copyright Jags used here only with unexpressed permission), 20x20xas high as you need to go/180=5+years worth of wood

Heh, heh! Great calculation method, Solar. Problem is you can only toss it so high before it starts to falls down. I don't know what the critical angle of repose is for firewood, but for sand it's only about 30-35º. But even if you could stack it, let's say, 15' high (that's almost 60º), that's less than 9 cord. May last 5 years in your BK King, but in my BK Dragon I'd only get a year and a half.

Now if you buck it to 16" and stack it 4' high, then leave a foot of space between the stacks, you can get 9 cord of wood in an area 20' x 24' square, and it will dry faster and you won't have to heave it 15' twenty some times to get it to stay. But your mountain is prettier than those anal-retentive stacks folks are always showing and bragging about. ;-P :lol:

 

[SolarAndWood]

BK, I was going to save this for a white paper, but I will share it now.

1. The problem of the toss. I would submit that a gentleman always sails with the wind at his back and does not toss up onto a pile. Notice on the upper left of the pic the location of the splitter relative to the heap. I built a terrace wide enough to dump about 8 cord of rounds onto and still be able to split. At most, I toss horizontal but most of the time it is down.

2. Angle of repose. Regular tossing onto the pile results in a relatively flat pile. Two bad things here are ground contact and I'd like it as high as possible for the wind to move through the heap. Using the compacttractorloaderheapin method, one can achieve better than 60 degrees. An alternative to this method is walking around with a beer after splitting and tossing them on the side of the heap to achieve similar if not better results.

3. Heaping and stacking a foot apart are fairly equal in overall density. My 20x20 heap has 16 cord in it right now measured by stacked loads in my 5x8x3.5' trailer. There is no way you are getting 16 cord stacked in that area, the heap will not fall and there is no stacking step after you split.

4. Drying. I find the initial drying to be very good in the heap but you will notice in the right of the picture that it finishes the process stacked under a roof.

I have the utmost respect for the beautiful stacks constantly on display here in the woodshed and take no offense to the underhanded remarks about us heapers found repeatedly throughout these forums. Although, some of them make me wonder sometimes how I manage to keep my family warm without a furnace.

 

[oldspark]

I have seen wood rot at the bottom of that kind of pile, not sure how you can get away from it, a lot of rain on it and that pile will stay wet for ever.

 

[Danno77]

better stack lest you get a title / name change that includes the phrase "knuckle draggin' " in it. lol.

 

[SolarAndWood]

not sure how you can get away from it

Grading and stone or asphalt. Also helps that I'm in one of those dark red spots on the wind maps and live on top of a hill.

 

[oldspark]

not sure how you can get away from it

Grading and stone or asphalt. Also helps that I'm in one of those dark red spots on the wind maps and live on top of a hill.

I think you told me that before and I keep forgetting. :red:

 

[Battenkiller]

BK, I was going to save this for a white paper, but I will share it now.

1. The problem of the toss. I would submit that a gentleman always sails with the wind at his back and does not toss up onto a pile. Notice on the upper left of the pic the location of the splitter relative to the heap. I built a terrace wide enough to dump about 8 cord of rounds onto and still be able to split. At most, I toss horizontal but most of the time it is down.

2. Angle of repose. Regular tossing onto the pile results in a relatively flat pile. Two bad things here are ground contact and I'd like it as high as possible for the wind to move through the heap. Using the compacttractorloaderheapin method, one can achieve better than 60 degrees. An alternative to this method is walking around with a beer after splitting and tossing them on the side of the heap to achieve similar if not better results.

3. Heaping and stacking a foot apart are fairly equal in overall density. My 20x20 heap has 16 cord in it right now measured by stacked loads in my 5x8x3.5' trailer. There is no way you are getting 16 cord stacked in that area, the heap will not fall and there is no stacking step after you split.

4. Drying. I find the initial drying to be very good in the heap but you will notice in the right of the picture that it finishes the process stacked under a roof.

I have the utmost respect for the beautiful stacks constantly on display here in the woodshed and take no offense to the underhanded remarks about us heapers found repeatedly throughout these forums. Although, some of them make me wonder sometimes how I manage to keep my family warm without a furnace.

Hey, whatever works fer ya, far as I'm concerned. I get most of mine in the fall and dry it inside, so who am I to talk. :roll: Maybe I'll write my own paper about my process. It works unbelievably well if you have the room.

If your cat stove can eat that stuff without suffering indigestion, it must get dry enough. Prolly lot's drier than some of those big green hickory and oak logs I've been known to put on my fire at night to slow the dang thing down. :red: Besides, a 16 cord mountain of wood has its own kind of beauty IMHO.

 

[SolarAndWood]

If your cat stove can eat that stuff without suffering indigestion, it must get dry enough.

If it didn't spend its due time stacked under the roof before being burned, I wouldn't be able to burn as low as I do. If I've learned anything from reading here over the past few years, it is that there is no one right way of doing any of this. I like the idea of your kiln dried method.

 

[Battenkiller]

I like the idea of your kiln dried method.

Yeah, but 16 cord would be hard to pull off. ;-)

 

[PapaDave]

I think it shall be renamed, "Moutainhausen".
Or, "Unstackenhausen".
How about, "Won'tfalloverhausen".
I'll stop now.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The only time I hear the wood crack together is when I throw some onto the pile. I simplify it by keeping a good wood supply on hand and never worry whether it is seasoned or not; it is.

Dennis, I hate these posts you keep making. All you are doing is making me feel bad about not having 7 years of wood on hand. I think that instead of reminding me of this fact, that you should instead come help me get ahead. Then we can BOTH make posts about not caring about MC because our wood has been seasoning for 5 years+...

there is no denying that if EVERYONE used wood that was stacked 3+ years ago these "is it seasoned?" threads would all go away.

Well, if you weren't so far away....