Will Wood be Seasoned?

[Country Lady]

We've ran out of seasoned wood this year and are scrounging the woods to help with the heat for the rest of this season. A friend trimmed up a huge oak tree two weeks ago, and gave us the wood and there's lots of it. We're splitting it now. We live down South where we have extreme heat in the Summer. Will this wood we're splitting be ready to burn by November of this year?

 

[polaris]

If red oak it will burn but not as well as it could if it had 2years in the sun. White oak and pin oak will season a bit quicker but not by much. If the limbs were already dead and had been hanging on the tree for a while it might be ready to burn right now.
Joe

 

[mellow]

If you split it in SMALL pieces and stack it outside in a sunny spot it should be ok. And I mean small pieces, taking those quarter splits and respliting them into quarters.

 

[ikessky]

My first thought is probably not. Usually looking at 2 years for oak. Then again, If the splits are small enough, you might be OK.

 

[smokinj]

If you split it in SMALL pieces and stack it outside in a sunny spot it should be ok. And I mean small pieces, taking those quarter splits and respliting them into quarters.

+1

 

[Country Lady]

It's all green right now. It's from a huge tree that was hanging over their house. He rented equipment to cut all the limbs off, which were huge, hoping it'll come back out again. I'm not sure of the type oak though.

 

[quads]

It's all green right now. It's from a huge tree that was hanging over their house. He rented equipment to cut all the limbs off, which were huge, hoping it'll come back out again. I'm not sure of the type oak though.

No, it will not be ready to burn by November of this year. You will be able to get it to burn, but you'll likely have some creosote problems etc.

 

[ChillyGator]

If you split it in SMALL pieces and stack it outside in a sunny spot it should be ok. And I mean small pieces, taking those quarter splits and respliting them into quarters.

From Way Down South:

What I split 'small' last April was ready by early December, what I split in June is being burned now (with no problems) BUT ......they were stacked in the sun with good air flow, the stack that was not in the sun with poor air flow is still not ready....YMMV.

 

[ihookem]

Split it like a 4x4 and no bigger, keep it in the wind, keep it in the sun, keep the grass down, stack it on a hill where the wind blows, cover the top in Sept, and it will be dry by December.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It's all green right now. It's from a huge tree that was hanging over their house. He rented equipment to cut all the limbs off, which were huge, hoping it'll come back out again. I'm not sure of the type oak though.

No, it will not be ready to burn by November of this year. You will be able to get it to burn, but you'll likely have some creosote problems etc.

Listen well to quads; he knows what he is talking about, especially when it comes to oak. It just seasons very slow, even in the south.

 

[Henz]

I am in the same boat. I have a few cord of red oak that I have started to split this past month and am aplanning on burining it in November

 

[Country Lady]

OK, if this oak won't be seasoned by next Winter, I have another question. We've just cut up (not split yet) 2 oak trees that were cut and laid on the ground last October. A pipeline on our place had to cut them for right of way. We'll be splitting them within the next few weeks. Since these trees were fell a few months ago, but not cut up and split, will they be seasoned any better than the ones that's just been cut and split? My question, do they do much drying before they're split?

 

[ansehnlich1]

I have 10 cord of red oak and chestnut oak.

Neither is ready to burn after 6 months.

I am burning some that was split 2 years ago and it ain't bad....should burn real good next season, which would make it 32 months since being split.....or 3 summers of sitting there looking pretty on the stack.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[LLigetfa]

My question, do they do much drying before they're split?

Very little, probably not enough to notice.

 

[quads]

OK, if this oak won't be seasoned by next Winter, I have another question. We've just cut up (not split yet) 2 oak trees that were cut and laid on the ground last October. A pipeline on our place had to cut them for right of way. We'll be splitting them within the next few weeks. Since these trees were fell a few months ago, but not cut up and split, will they be seasoned any better than the ones that's just been cut and split? My question, do they do much drying before they're split?

No, that still probably won't be ready by this November. 2 years after cut, split, and stacked, minimum.

You might try to find some pine and get that split and stacked right away, but I have no experience with pine, just what I've heard. Possibly the limbs from a standing dead oak would be.

 

[ChillyGator]

OK, if this oak won't be seasoned by next Winter, I have another question. We've just cut up (not split yet) 2 oak trees that were cut and laid on the ground last October. A pipeline on our place had to cut them for right of way. We'll be splitting them within the next few weeks. Since these trees were fell a few months ago, but not cut up and split, will they be seasoned any better than the ones that's just been cut and split? My question, do they do much drying before they're split?

No, that still probably won't be ready by this November. 2 years after cut, split, and stacked, minimum.

You might try to find some pine and get that split and stacked right away, but I have no experience with pine, just what I've heard. Possibly the limbs from a standing dead oak would be.

Oak does dry faster down here....if seasoned in sun/wind......what I'm burning tonight was green water oak cut/split the first weekend last June. The bark has fallen off in the wood stack and it bursts into flame when placed upon coals. I'm using the same wood with only 1/2 SuperCedar to start from cold stove.

I'm still learning and have not split a fraction of the wood of most of these guys....but they don't live down here either. ;-)

 

[quads]

OK, if this oak won't be seasoned by next Winter, I have another question. We've just cut up (not split yet) 2 oak trees that were cut and laid on the ground last October. A pipeline on our place had to cut them for right of way. We'll be splitting them within the next few weeks. Since these trees were fell a few months ago, but not cut up and split, will they be seasoned any better than the ones that's just been cut and split? My question, do they do much drying before they're split?

No, that still probably won't be ready by this November. 2 years after cut, split, and stacked, minimum.

You might try to find some pine and get that split and stacked right away, but I have no experience with pine, just what I've heard. Possibly the limbs from a standing dead oak would be.

Oak does dry faster down here....if seasoned in sun/wind......what I'm burning tonight was green water oak cut/split the first weekend last June. The bark has fallen off in the wood stack and it bursts into flame when placed upon coals. I'm using the same wood with only 1/2 SuperCedar to start from cold stove.

I'm still learning and have not split a fraction of the wood of most of these guys....but they don't live down here either. ;-)

I imagine you are correct about oak drying faster down south, but just to be on the safe side, I would still plan on two years. At least. If Country Lady assumes the green oak they have will be ready to burn in 8 months, and it isn't, then she's in for a miserable experience of fighting with unseasoned oak. Not fun.

 

[ChillyGator]

OK, if this oak won't be seasoned by next Winter, I have another question. We've just cut up (not split yet) 2 oak trees that were cut and laid on the ground last October. A pipeline on our place had to cut them for right of way. We'll be splitting them within the next few weeks. Since these trees were fell a few months ago, but not cut up and split, will they be seasoned any better than the ones that's just been cut and split? My question, do they do much drying before they're split?

No, that still probably won't be ready by this November. 2 years after cut, split, and stacked, minimum.

You might try to find some pine and get that split and stacked right away, but I have no experience with pine, just what I've heard. Possibly the limbs from a standing dead oak would be.

Oak does dry faster down here....if seasoned in sun/wind......what I'm burning tonight was green water oak cut/split the first weekend last June. The bark has fallen off in the wood stack and it bursts into flame when placed upon coals. I'm using the same wood with only 1/2 SuperCedar to start from cold stove.

I'm still learning and have not split a fraction of the wood of most of these guys....but they don't live down here either. ;-)

I imagine you are correct about oak drying faster down south, but just to be on the safe side, I would still plan on two years. At least. If Country Lady assumes the green oak they have will be ready to burn in 8 months, and it isn't, then she's in for a miserable experience of fighting with unseasoned oak. Not fun.

I agree 100% on being best to get ahead, that is exactly waht I'm trying to do also. I also sweated bullets wondering if I woudl have dry wood to burn this fall......maybe a wetter year I might not......I think one thing is fall/winter is usually low humidity - steady wind ...but warm enough to keep drying at a good rate while the remainder of the year is hot. What I was able to do was find about 1/4 cord of good dry wood to start the season with and my wood drying kept up. I've probably burned a lot of 22%-24% wood this year but it is burning hot 550*-625* is typical and I try to reload around 400* to ensue good combustion. Most of what I'm burning now is what I did not resplit and it has surpised me how dry it has gotten (burning some from bottom of stack that was sitting on concret tonight).

 

[Country Lady]

I appreciate all the replies. We're almost finished splitting the oak that was given to us. After reading your replies, we did split it smaller than usual, hoping it would help with the drying. DH has health problems that prohibit him from being out in the hot weather very much, so we only have a few weeks in the Spring to work on our supply for next year. We do know where there's a dead oak still standing. If we can get it on the ground, we might be safer burning that first next Fall.

 

[man of stihl]

I live in Mississippi and I burn mostly red oak, white oak, hickory, & elm. I usually cut my wood for next year in Dec. and split/stack and let dry thru the summer. I have had some problems with some red oak not drying enough but most of it is fine by the end of the burning season. I cut mostly blow downs and standing dead or damaged trees. Make sure it gets plenty of air and sunshine and i agree with some of the others,--- split it small.