What's the seasoning "curve"?

[joefrompa]

Hi all,

Yep, I'm one of those fancy-schmancy MBA types and need to know the rate of seasoning

In all seriousness, I'm going to be scrounging for wood (with no truck) year round and will often be burning wood that hasn't been S/S for 12 solid months as recommended. I've been fortunate so far to have a huge store of Ash to start off with that has been fallen for 1 year, cut into rounds for 1 hot month, and S/S for 3 months.

Which makes me wonder - I'm guessing the vast majority of seasoning occurs right away and that it slows down greatly as less moisture remains. Does anyone know a typical seasoning curve?

For example: If Oak starts at 50% moisture, does it hit 30% by 4-6 months and then take another 6 months to drop to 20%? And then maybe take another 6 months to drop to 17%?

Does ash go from 30% to 20% in 3-4 months?

My natural way of thinking is that MOST woods will drop below the "30% minimum" mark by 6 months of seasoning, but I wasn't sure if moisture evaporation tends to be a heavy upfront curve or fairly linear.

Thoughts?

Joe

P.s. Please bear in mind that I know the ACTUAL results will be heavily influenced by conditions during those months, such as temperature, sunlight, and wind.

 

[Pagey]

Lots of variables: size of the splits, relative humidity, temperature, wind, wood species, etc. This should be an interesting thread, though.

 

[joefrompa]

In everything there are alot of variables - I'm asking to ignore stuff like wind/temperature/sunlight and assume that those things don't effect the actual curve of seasoning, only accelerate/decelerate the time it takes to move along the curve.

Most people on here will say that burning fresh Ash is fine, since it's got so low moisture content (30% I believe). So what that's telling me is that 27-30% is probably the critical point and 20% is the "this stuff flames up instantly" type.

So then, fine, I know oak is supposed to be a 1-year minimum of seasoning....but will it likely hit 30% in the first 1/3rd of that time and then take far longer to drop another 10%?

Etc....

For the nuts among you with lots of wood around, getting a few years stacked is work worth doing and a great time. For those constantly preparing for THIS year, it would be helpful to know what you can achieve in less time than is "ideal"...

Joe

 

[midwestcoast]

You are correct that most woods seem to drop a lot of moisture fairly quickly, then drying slows down. Some say because the wood actually looses water in different ways. Oak may be an exception. Don't think you'll find a useful curve. Too many variables.

 

[oldspark]

Yes it loses a lot right away, I had the %'s at one time but not sure where I found them.

 

[smokinj]

Get 3 years ahead and have no FEAR!

 

[Wood Duck]

I am not sure how fast wood loses water, although I bet it is a lot faster with moister wood. I do think you can survive on scrounged wood, even if you haven't seasoned the wood as long as you would like. Most guys cut and split in the fall and burn the same winter, so you're way ahead of average.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Here it is.

 

[Monkey Wrench]

This is a good question. I'm only the one in the family that drops,bucks,split then stacks the wood. But I'll have wait till my wife gets home to get the correct answer.....becuase she knows every FRIGGIN Thing!

 

[quads]

Get 3 years ahead and have no FEAR!

+1

 

[RoseRedHoofbeats]

Oooh, cool. I'll have to get my nerd on and figure out an algorithim. If you got some random samples of different species and humidity conditions and tested them say, every week over the course of a year... That would be interesting!

~Rose

 

[PJF1313]

This is a good question. I'm only the one in the family that drops,bucks,split then stacks the wood. But I'll have wait till my [del]wife[/del] BOSS gets home to get the correct answer.....becuase she knows every FRIGGIN Thing!

I know I fixed it for my situation. ;-)

 

[Monkey Wrench]

This is a good question. I'm only the one in the family that drops,bucks,split then stacks the wood. But I'll have wait till my [del]wife[/del] BOSS gets home to get the correct answer.....becuase she knows every FRIGGIN Thing!

I know I fixed it for my situation. ;-)

Yeah, She's the BOSS!!

If you read between the lines it really says.
I'm home all day working in the woods. She at WORK making chain saw $$$.

Yeah, She's the Boss!

 

[joefrompa]

My point is that I don't have sufficient wood to lay out for years. I've got enough nearly seasoned wood for maybe half this year so far and I'll be able to find enough for the rest.

 

[dmacfarland]

MBA=Masters of Burning Administration

Think accelerated depreciation and you will have the concept.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I scrounge so I don't need to worry about the carrying cost of having 25 cord hanging around for a few years until its time comes up. Unless you separate based on species and split small, you are going to find much of it burns like crap compared to what it could after 6 months drying in the northeast. On the other end, I don't think I buy a whole lot after 18 months other than peace of mind.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

hey joefrompa- Youre gonna have to take alot of breaks from scrounging to clean that chimney of yours :shut:

 

[gzecc]

My point is that I don't have sufficient wood to lay out for years. I've got enough nearly seasoned wood for maybe half this year so far and I'll be able to find enough for the rest.

I agree with you. Stay away from oak. It takes too long to season. Seek out ash, locust, cherry, sugar maple and hickory.

 

[madrone]

My point is that I don't have sufficient wood to lay out for years. I've got enough nearly seasoned wood for maybe half this year so far and I'll be able to find enough for the rest.

I agree with you. Stay away from oak. It takes too long to season. Seek out ash, locust, cherry, sugar maple and hickory.

Seriously. Everything will be good to go in 9-12 months. Except Oak. It will always almost be dry.

I'd love to be 3 years ahead as much as I'd love to stop hearing about how great it is to be 3 years ahead. I'd have to line the perimeter of my yard with pallet racking to achieve that.

 

[madrone]

Wait, I just had a great idea...

 

[Battenkiller]

Everything will be good to go in 9-12 months. Except Oak. It will always almost be dry.

:lol:

So true!

I had half a cord of hickory and oak sitting right next to my stove last year for at least a month but never got around to needing it. Fresh cut cherry would have been down to about 15% in that time period in the same conditions. Come spring, I moved all the wood outside and let it sit in the sun and wind. Today I grabbed a couple oak splits right off the top, ones that should have been drier than anything else out there. Split them in half and stuck the prongs into them...

27% MC... almost dry enough. I'll check some of it next year and it may be down below 25% by then. :roll:

I found this graph, but it only pertains to red oak. Hope it helps.

 

[Battenkiller]

Seek out ash, locust, cherry, sugar maple and hickory.

Yummy! My stove just asked if she can come over to your place to eat. ;-)

 

[CTYank]

There's seasoning, and there's drying. The first, IME, involves biological processes like fermentation of sugars and such. (Ever been in a shed with a stack of recently cut sugar maple? Like a winery.) My speculation is that this relates to "bound water" within the cells of thegive tree.
There's also "free water" in the wood, outside the cells. This is the first to go and is essentially gone when the MC is down to ~20%. Minimal shrinkage here.
The "bound water" takes a while, and leaves at a lower rate; changes here result in changes of dimension. Cracking & checking starts.
Overall, the rate of change is most affected by the species, size of the pieces and the temperature, then the ambient RH. Summer is definitely prime time here, and the fun is in figuring how many summer months a given species takes to be ready.
Then, no matter the previous history, a week or two waiting in readiness near an operating stove knocks the MC down further and humidifies the house. Careful here.
Charles Self, in his book "Joinery Methods of Fastening Wood" Chapter 1 has good info on "wood and water."

 

[kabbott]

Oooh, cool. I'll have to get my nerd on and figure out an algorithim. If you got some random samples of different species and humidity conditions and tested them say, every week over the course of a year... That would be interesting!

~Rose

OK... I volunteer to do the testing, Everyone please send your sample cord to..........................

 

[joefrompa]

My point is that I don't have sufficient wood to lay out for years. I've got enough nearly seasoned wood for maybe half this year so far and I'll be able to find enough for the rest.

I agree with you. Stay away from oak. It takes too long to season. Seek out ash, locust, cherry, sugar maple and hickory.

So I've heard about ash having a very low water content to start - I'm guessing locust, cherry, sugar maple and hickory also start pretty close ready to burn?

I cut and stacked 2 pallets and when I measured them out as well as another non-palleted stack, i realized that I have about 1 cord so far. I have space/wood for another 1-1.5 more cords before I'll run out of space/immediate wood, etc....

That's about 2/3rd my winter needs most likely - I'm sure I'll find the rest, but it's not like I'm going to scrounge up 3-4 more cords for cutting and stacking this year. I have to be realistic at this point.

Joe