Size Matters

[scroungerjeff]

At least with oak splits that is.
The first picture is of a split that I recently hit with the moisture meter. It is white oak that I scored about a year ago (avatar pic) and split right away and stacked in a pretty good location with good sun and wind but no cover at all. It is a fresh split but from a larger piece. You can see that it read too high to burn this year.


The next picture comes from the same species and same stack, but a piece about half the size. You can see that it is ready to burn this winter if I need to. I have recently been hand splitting about 1.5 cords of red oak and have made every effort to make the splits small since I have limited space and need a pretty quick turn around in when I burn them. I hope to burn the new oak during the colder periods of 2013-14. I have also taken most of the bark off of the red oak as I think it helps it season faster. Is it worth doing that?

I appreciate all the sage advice from you all!

 

[stejus]

So true, less mass to let the moisture out with smaller splits. I let my red and white oak age about 2.5 years before putting in the stove. Once dry, it burns nice and hot!

 

[Fire Breathing Dragon]

Sounds like you did park your oak splits in a good location to be that low in about a year. Looks like you had good sun and wind. One other thing to consider when splitting smaller pieces is that they will burn up quicker too. More mass from the larger pieces would yield slower longer burns. I bet that larger split will be measuring on the MM just where you want it to come April.

 

[etiger2007]

At 21.7 I will still have to burn wood at that moisture content and it will burn fine as 90% of my 20 cords measure this way, I would like it lower but hey it is what it is. Next year the red oak, ash, and black locust will be primo wood as most of it measures in around 25% right now. Could you show a pic of how big the split is that measured 16.2.

 

[scroungerjeff]

At 21.7 I will still have to burn wood at that moisture content and it will burn fine as 90% of my 20 cords measure this way, I would like it lower but hey it is what it is. Next year the red oak, ash, and black locust will be primo wood as most of it measures in around 25% right now. Could you show a pic of how big the split is that measured 16.2.

etiger- I will try to post a picture tomorrow, but basically it was about 2"X5"X18". The big split was about three times as thick. My plan is to re-split most of the bigger ones soon and re-stack them until later in the winter when I need them. I have a cord of seasoned silver maple to start this eason, then another cord of a mixture of 2 year old red oak, locust and Norway maple that will take me until late January or early February (I hope). The oak that is around 21+% still has a few more months to season.

 

[JOHN BOY]

I have often thought about spliting oak smaller in hopes that it would season faster, yes it wont burn as long as a larger split but , we could just load the stove with lots of small splits...

 

[weatherguy]

Thats the reason I cut a little over 2 cords of oak kind of small two years ago, I wanted to burn it this year, the stuff I split for 3 years down the road I split into much larger pieces. Im going to get a moisture meter this week and check it to make sure. Ill post it here when I check it and measure the splits, I left most of them about 4 inches, some a bit smaller.

 

[scroungerjeff]

I have often thought about spliting oak smaller in hopes that it would season faster, yes it wont burn as long as a larger split but , we could just load the stove with lots of small splits...

That is exactly what I was going for. Do you think it is worth it for me to re-split the larger oak to let it season a few months longer?

 

[amateur cutter]

That is exactly what I was going for. Do you think it is worth it for me to re-split the larger oak to let it season a few months longer?

Yes!

 

[scroungerjeff]

Yes!

Guess I know what I'll be doing for the next few days. LOL.
Thanks!

 

[ScotO]

I make all of my oak splits (when cutting green trees) 3x3" to 5x5", give or take. That way they season quicker than they would if they were bigger.......and you can just load more of 'em into the stove for a longer burn if you like. Backwoods Savage is the king grandaddy of seasoning wood, and he'll tell ya you need 2 to 3 years to season oak, for optimum BTU output. And he's 100% correct.

 

[rdust]

21% will burn fine, imo anything below 25% on a meter is good to go. The EPA test fuel is measured using wet basis, your meter reads dry basis.

Here is a good quote from our moisture content guru, too bad he has a pellet stove now.

There are different ways of expressing moisture content, which don't at all have to do with the method of determining them. The EPA test loads are Douglas fir that is between 16 and 20% wet-basis. That is expressed by taking the weight of the water present and dividing it by the weight of the entire split. Your moisture meter is calibrated for Doug fir as well, but the calculations done by the chip inside of it (or the width of the scale divisions if you are using an analog meter) are done using the dry-basis method of expressing moisture content. That is expressed by taking the weight of the water and dividing it by the weight of the dry fiber that would be present in the wood after all the water has been theoretically driven out (as would be done in a 215º oven in a lab).

Naturally, you get very different numbers, and this effect grows increasing more substantial as MC rises. It's a mathematical thing, and has nothing to do with the actual wood, which always has the same amount of water in it.

If you want a real easy way to convert dry-basis meter readings to the wet-basis used by the EPA tests, just divide the number on the meter by that same number plus 100, and you will get the correct wet-basis MC every time.

For example, the meter says the wood is 25% MC. Add 100 to 25, then divide that number (125) by the original reading. 25/125 = 20% MC wet-basis. The high end of the EPA test range... perfect for you stove.
In another case, the meter says the wood is 19% MC. Add 100 to 19, then divide that number (119) by the original reading. 19/119 = 16% MC wet-basis. The low end of the EPA test range... perfect for your stove.

As far as a definite cutoff number, I don't believe it exists. The way you load the stove, the type of wood, the way the wood is split, the amount of coals in there, the internal stove temps, the timing and size of wood additions, the strength of your draft.... all things that can and sometimes do have a more profound effect on the burn then just MC and draft opening. For me, the theoretical cutoff is 25% MC wet-basis (33% MC on the meter). That's 5% more water in the wood than the maximum allowable MC in the EPA test loads. Above that, you will likely have a progressively harder time burning your wood without micro-managing the stove.

 

[TimJ]

I agree with Rdust. The splits will still season for a few more months before you burn them and when you do, they will burn just fine.
What is unacceptable to you ? Anything over 20% ?
Start off burning the smaller ones and end with the other.

 

[scroungerjeff]

Yes 20 percent is the goal. If the winter turns out cold like two years ago, then I will have to pull the smaller 18 month seasoned oak splits by about late January or February. If the winter is mild again I may not need most of that wood. Thanks all for the advice. I am still learning with regard to my fireplace nuances. Come to think I probably have never burned truly seasoned oak.