seasoning wood... in your trunk?

[par0thead151]

hear me out. i have some pine kindling that is fairly dry as it stands, however i have been too busy/lazy to remove it from the trunk of my jetta. the kindling is in 1"X1"X15" lengths. the jetta is black and gets hot as hell when parked outside of work every day. will leaving the kindling in there dry it any better/faster than stacking it in my garage?

yes, this may be the strangest question of the night.

 

[Blue Vomit]

Kiln, jetta trunk... Same difference.
I had an old jetta. When it rained, the whole thing smelled musty and moldy. I'm sure the weather stripping was bad. I hope your kiln, or trunk, works better.

 

[TreePointer]

Here's my take on it: Heat is only one factor in seasoning wood. You also need air flow to remove the relatively moist air if you really want to speed things along.

For kindling, I use droppings from the log splitter. If I want to speed up the drying, I leave it spread out on my hot blacktop driveway for a long hot summer day or two. Works great.

 

[certified106]

You definitely also need airflow, which you aren't going to get in the trunk. My guess is your trunk is going to be more like a sauna than anything else. I don't really think I would want a sauna in my car, lol.

 

[firefighterjake]

Better yet . . . drag all the wood up to your attic. I know I was up in my attic yesterday and the place was very hot and very dry.

 

[ScotO]

For kindling, I use droppings from the log splitter. If I want to speed up the drying, I leave it spread out on my hot blacktop driveway for a long hot summer day or two. Works great.

I've been saving my noodles (not my brains, the ones from ripping crotches and big rounds) and doing basically the same thing......spreading them out on a black tarp (or driveway) to dry in the air/sun for a day. Then, take those noodles, stuff them into old toilet paper cardboard tubes, stack 'em in a cardboard box, and you have some of the best organic firestarters you could possibly get! I'll do a thread on them here soon. Can easily start a fire with a flint and steel, no matches required! To the OP of this thread, take your kindling strips out on the driveway for a day or two in the sun and breeze, like treepointer said, they'll be ready to use when done!

 

[lukem]

The trunk of a black Jetta is the 13th best place to season firewwod. Little known fact.

 

[woodchip]

I have dried grapes into sultanas, and also made dried tomatoes on the dashboard of our car.

I have never heard of anyone seasoning firewood in the trunk though.........

 

[bogydave]

When I read this I had to laugh.
Don't know how well it will work but it got to be a first.
How many miles on it now, that could be a factor.

 

[clemsonfor]

Hope its not to moist and you dont put to much in there are once, cause you may end up with a moldy mess in there!

 

[Seasoned Oak]

If your wood is properly seasoned and your draft is good you will need very little kindling if any. I can start my stove with a few pieces of junk mail.

 

[onetracker]

I've been saving my noodles (not my brains, the ones from ripping crotches and big rounds) and doing basically the same thing......spreading them out on a black tarp (or driveway) to dry in the air/sun for a day. Then, take those noodles, stuff them into old toilet paper cardboard tubes, stack 'em in a cardboard box, and you have some of the best organic firestarters you could possibly get! I'll do a thread on them here soon. Can easily start a fire with a flint and steel, no matches required! To the OP of this thread, take your kindling strips out on the driveway for a day or two in the sun and breeze, like treepointer said, they'll be ready to use when done!

fantastic idea! defintely gonna make a few of these scotty and test them out.

i've been just throwing the noodles in a paper bag and sticking them in my shed.

 

[onetracker]

a kiln indeed!

i've seasoned bow staves in my car. it only took about 10 days to get 2 pedigree shagbark hickory blanks from green to 10%. every day for a week there was water dripping down the windows. this is providing its been hot like its been this year. however....the limbs on the stave have been shaved down to close to 1/2". i knew that the staves were approaching 10% when the amount of moisture insde the car decreased dramatically. also...the water weight loss was quite obvious.

your results may vary.

OT

 

[Backwoods Savage]

hear me out. i have some pine kindling that is fairly dry as it stands, however i have been too busy/lazy to remove it from the trunk of my jetta. the kindling is in 1"X1"X15" lengths. the jetta is black and gets hot as hell when parked outside of work every day. will leaving the kindling in there dry it any better/faster than stacking it in my garage?

yes, this may be the strangest question of the night.

Whenever anyone asks how many mpg you get with the Jetta, just open the trunk and say, "About 10 sticks."

 

[PapaDave]

Scotty, that's a good idea.
I made some firestarters with an egg carton (compressed paper), sawdust, and wax. I could do the same by filling toilet paper rolls with sawdust, then pour a bit of wax in.......lay on it's side and slice little pucks.

 

[ScotO]

Scotty, that's a good idea.
I made some firestarters with an egg carton (compressed paper), sawdust, and wax. I could do the same by filling toilet paper rolls with sawdust, then pour a bit of wax in.......lay on it's side and slice little pucks.

I think we had a thread last fall involving you, me and many others about making those wax/sawdust starters. I had mentioned that a very good friend of mine who passed away from cancer used to make them like that (only we used cupcake papers in a muffin pan), there are still some left in the footlocker next to the woodstove in the cabin that he made back before he passed away. But this method, using noodles and TP tubes, seemed like a good idea, so I tried it. I have never started a fire so fast with a flint and steel like I can with these things. We'll do a thread soon. I got a garbage can full of noodles, but I need to use a LOT more toilet paper for the tubes! Paper towel tubes work too, just cut them in half.

 

[PapaDave]

My wife takes care of providing plenty of empty rolls.
And, would kill me if she knew I said that.
The egg carton version burned for a little over 10 minutes. I provide the sawdust and wax is cheap.
To the OP, do the seats fold down? If so, do that, then open the windows a touch to allow moisture to escape.

 

[onetracker]

My wife takes care of providing plenty of empty rolls.
And, would kill me if she knew I said that.
.

+1 !

 

[Llamaman]

THERE ARE SOME REALLY SICK, SICK FOLKS ON THIS SITE...WE ALL NEED HELP

 

[nate379]

So you fill the trunk full of wood and truck it around everywhere? I'm sure fuel mileage suffers. What do you do when you need the trunk for stuff?
I get 45-46mpg in my Jetta. I had a couple bags of salt and some dog food (maybe 300lbs total) that I didn't have time to unload for a week. My mileage dropped 2mpg. I drive about 100 miles a day so it adds up!

 

[Ashful]

Whenever anyone asks how many mpg you get with the Jetta, just open the trunk and say, "About 10 sticks."

I do recall someone posting a youtube video of a gassifier's pickup truck here once. The guy being interviewed claimed he averaged 5200 miles per cord.

Ditto on the airflow comments on the Jetta. Heat will drive the moisture from the wood into the air, but you need air exchange to prevent mold, rust, and promote further drying.

 

[billb3]

Unless you are getting a good fair amount of air exchanges through that trunk, it's a sauna.

 

[par0thead151]

110F in the garage, and 40% humidity.
will check levels when it is parked outside after a day at work...
the kindling may have been processed and dried already, as it was not wet by any means. my moisture meter needs batteries or i would get a reading too

 

[nate379]

I don't see how stacking it in your garage is that great of an idea either. Need good airflow for it to dry out.

I'm certain I'd burn my garage to the ground if I stacked firewood in there. Couple stray sparks from welding on something is all it'd take.

 

[bsj425]

During the burning season I keep about a week or two worth of wood in the garage for convenience the less trips to the stacks @ -40 the better!