osagebow said:
Hi everyone, new to the site and woodburning. Replacing my - pellet stove soon. Just beginning to get my wood trove together, going to borrow a bit from a neighbor to get started, and then try to get her "ahead" as well - her supplier is fair but sells her wet stuff judging by the amount of smoke she puts out.
My Questions are: iAfter cutting and splitting new wood, how soon would you move it inside to speed up drying - I can fit about 1/2 cord in my basement in an unused area cross-stacked for next year. Should i put it in right away or let it sit awhile?
Also, to get the driest wood fastest, should i concentrate on hickory, locust, or red / white oak? I also have some tulip poplar and maple on the property.
Finally, I have access to a powerline that was cut about 18 months ago. Most of the trees (no locust though) have a good bit of fungus on them, (including some excellent oysters). Are they worthwhile to scrounge, or should I concentrate on new stuff?
Thanks, looking forward to hangin' with y'all.
Good information the others gave. But first, welcome to the forum. I see you are an archer so you must be an all right sort of guy! Make your own bows too I'll bet.
First lesson is that you do not move wood indoors to speed drying. Rather, that impedes drying. You will also quickly learn that wood dries at varying rates and that your oak will probably take the longest. Around here we do not burn oak until it has dried for 3 years. We also don't count drying time to start until the after the wood has been cut to length, split and stacked outside in the wind.
Here is how we do it. At present we are cutting wood because the winter months are the best time to cut for many reasons. We just stack the wood into rows as we cut it and then about the time the snow has melted, usually March or April, then we do all the splitting. The stacking immediately follows the splitting. Here is one example of splitting time. You can see how we stacked the wood up during the winter months.
Splitting done.
Stacking done.
That was done in April of 2009. We are burning some of that wood this winter and will burn more of it next winter. The first summer and fall the wood was left out uncovered. Late November we covered the top of the wood piles with old galvanized roofing. (Never cover the sides or ends of the stacks.)
Wood covered.
Notice in that last picture there are some poles under the wood. This is to keep the wood up off the ground which will not only keep the wood dry but will also allow the air circulation under the wood and air circulation (especially wind) is what you need to dry the wood.
We usually give the wood a minimum of 2 years to dry and have given it many more years. We finished burning some 7-8 year old wood not that long ago and it is almost unbelievable how much better the wood burns after left that long to dry.
In October we moved 3 cord of that wood into our barn and that is what we are burning now. We'll do the same thing next October except we'll probably have a lot of wood left over from this year because of the mild winter we are having.
So the big thing is to get the wood split, stack it in the wind and let Mother Nature do the drying for you. If you must cover the wood, cover only the top. Tarps make a poor covering. Use something more solid if at all possible. After the wood is dry it is okay to move indoors.
As for the power line stuff, don't worry too much about the fungus but do pay attention to how hard the wood is. If it has started turning punky, which is possible because of the way you describe it, then leave it. If it is hard, grab it and smile.
Good luck.
