Seasoned wood

[RORY12553]

Been on this site for a few months now and I have learned alot. One thing that is very repeatative is the fact that truly seasoned wood will give you best results. I need to buy a moisture meter but not sure where to get one?

Point of my post is that I just bought the house where I am currently living. There was a stove here when we bought the house along with probably about 8 cords of wood which was part of the purchase. Being that I never had a stove before it has been a long learning process. The wood is stored in two seperate sheds. One shed on the front side of the back yard which gets a lot of sun and wind. the other shed is towards the back of the property with woods on both sides.

I started using the wood in the back shed thinking it was the dryest. Boy was I wrong. Got through a lot of it and wasn't getting the results i really wanted. Last night I thought let me try some of the wood from the other shed and what a difference in stove temp and heat. Same type of wood but just dryer. \

Another question is should I move the wood from the back shed to the one on the side when that is all finished?

What type of wood will dry the quickest?

 

[MarkinNC]

Soft woods poplar. pine, maple will season faster in general than hard woods like oak. There are some exceptions like locust and beech which have naturally low moisture contents.

It is possible that the wood that lights right up and gives you good heat is a softer wood. Harder woods take a little more to catch on fire but put put heat for a long time when they get rolling. I think it is fortuitous that your wood was stored in a shed. Look for checking on the end grain. If it is checked good it is probably seasoned.

Lowes, Harbor Feight, or Online venders sell the moisture meters. Or you could wait until next year then you will know you have seasoned wood and save yourself the money. Just stay a head of the game in the wood department.

I would not handle wood more than you have to (moving wood from one shed to the other). If it were me I would use the seasoned wood until it is gone. Next year or two, use the other while while you season new wood.

 

[Pallet Pete]

Been on this site for a few months now and I have learned alot. One thing that is very repeatative is the fact that truly seasoned wood will give you best results. I need to buy a moisture meter but not sure where to get one?

Point of my post is that I just bought the house where I am currently living. There was a stove here when we bought the house along with probably about 8 cords of wood which was part of the purchase. Being that I never had a stove before it has been a long learning process. The wood is stored in two seperate sheds. One shed on the front side of the back yard which gets a lot of sun and wind. the other shed is towards the back of the property with woods on both sides.

I started using the wood in the back shed thinking it was the dryest. Boy was I wrong. Got through a lot of it and wasn't getting the results i really wanted. Last night I thought let me try some of the wood from the other shed and what a difference in stove temp and heat. Same type of wood but just dryer.

Another question is should I move the wood from the back shed to the one on the side when that is all finished?

What type of wood will dry the quickest?

Although moisture meters are good I find 2 years to cure most if not all wood a good measurement. I do not use a moisture meter as sound is a very good indicator as well as color non of these matter much as long as you give it two years cut split and stacked to dry.
I use sheds and bins to dry and simply mark them when I load them moving wood when dry to a new bin is pointless because it will dry either way and it's a lot of work. When I use up a bin I simply fill it with new wood and mark it with the date and don't touch it for two years.

 

[bogydave]

8 cords
Sounds like the previous owner new to season wood at least a year before burning.
I also bet you'll burn about 4 cords per year.
I bet he knew which stacks were which
When it comes time to re-fill them then you'll know how long each has seasoned.
When you do the C/S/S 'ing, you 'll know .

I wouldn't move it unless you just want to.
If you get like me, you can write the dates each section was filled with a marker somewhere on the sheds.

Your burn test is the best test there is. If it's burning better than the other stuff, I'd bet it's drier.

Was having 2 full woodsheds part of the reason you bought ??
""If yes"", you are already on your way to being a "wood-O-holic", like most of us here :lol: LOL

 

[SolarAndWood]

Are those 4 cord sheds or 4 NY cord sheds? If there is a years worth of wood in each, you bought a great setup. I'd setup a system where you always have wood that has been outside split for a year ready to go in the shed at the end of the heating season. With that a year outside and a year and a half in the shed, you should never need a moisture meter.

 

[Ironwood]

When drying firewood in a shed you need air circulation. If the shed is weather tight it takes a longer time for the wood to season. I purchase green lumber for furniture use and use racks that allow air movement that really shortens drying time. Might be better to dry the wood outside covered then move it into the shed.

 

[RORY12553]

8 cords
Sounds like the previous owner new to season wood at least a year before burning.
I also bet you'll burn about 4 cords per year.
I bet he knew which stacks were which
When it comes time to re-fill them then you'll know how long each has seasoned.
When you do the C/S/S 'ing, you 'll know .

I wouldn't move it unless you just want to.
If you get like me, you can write the dates each section was filled with a marker somewhere on the sheds.

Your burn test is the best test there is. If it's burning better than the other stuff, I'd bet it's drier.

Was having 2 full woodsheds part of the reason you bought ??
""If yes"", you are already on your way to being a "wood-O-holic", like most of us here :lol: LOL

Bought the house becasue the original owner kept it up great and yes the previous owner did know to season wood just not sure which is oldest. I am very much into the whole wood thing now and have been scrounging around and doing pretty good. Unfortunately I will be very busy over the next few months so not a lot of time for anything.

 

[Wood Duck]

We always talk about how long wood should be stacked and seasoned, but we don't seem to talk much about the great variation in stacking conditions, sheds, etc., which seem to have a big effect on the condition of the wood in my yard. If you look around your neighborhood (or look at pics on this site from people like Backwoods Savage)you'll see some stacks of firewood in which each split has some air around it, there isn't much dirt/leaves/crap between the splits, there is space for air movement, etc. You will see other stacks in which the splits are tightly packed and/or the stack has sort of settled eliminating much of the air space, there is a lot of dirt/leaves/bark/ who-knows-what built up between the splits, there isn't much opportunity for air circulation etc. Obviously you want to have the first type of stack, not the second. Are your two stacks in equally good places to season firewood? Maybe the location or the way wood is stacked is part of the difference between the wood from the two stacks.

When you read posts on here that say things like "I just stack my wood for two years and it is always in great shape when I burn it" you can figure the person posting the message stacks their wood in a favorable way and location. I think we all just assume that you'll stack it in a dry, airy place and not let it become buried in leaves this fall.

 

[RORY12553]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[WoodPorn]

I'd put money on the PO using both sheds succesively, furthest shed is the latest cut, then moved to the closer shed for burning the following year.