Wood ID

[oldspark]

After seeing the way some people stack there wood I can see why it takes so long to dry.

 

[gzecc]

I like the excess moisture content graph much better.
Its much more usable for firewood. Check out the link below.
Excess moisture is that percentage above the desirable 20% seasoned moisture content.
http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

 

[WoodPorn]

No, this chart is for 4/4 lumber -or- four quarter lumber -or- 1" lumber.

I fully realize this. As I said in my original post:

Given the fact that wood dries through the split faces by establishing a diffusion gradient across the thickness of the wood, 2" thick red maple will take twice as long, and 6" thick red maple will take 6 times as long, but that is still only a maximum of 6 spring and summer months for a quartered 12" round to hit the magic number. Actually, it will dry faster since much of the split will be less than 6" in thickness, and... OK, I'll mention it again. Short lengths of wood do a good amount of their drying through the ends.

I am not making any claim that big splits of oak will dry in 6 months, just giving some objective information about the differences in drying rates between various species of wood. I was a bit surprised to see that cherry took so long to dry to 20% when I first saw this. I burned it with short seasoning for years, ash as well. Never had a problem.

Remember, wood in air-drying lumber yards is carefully stacked and properly stickered to give maximum air flow between the boards. We don't always pay that much attention to air spaces and stack orientation as we should. That may have a slowing effect in some cases. But there is also the fact that there is a lot of exposed end grain in short pieces of firewood. 12" splits or rounds will dry much faster than 24" pieces of the same diameter.

Anyway, the original point was to show that cherry (the subject of the OP) actually dries slower than wetter woods like red and hard maple, which is contrary to what most folks (including myself) seem to experience subjectively. I still think 6-9 months produces good cherry firewood in most spots in the nation if given enough wind and kept out of periods of constant rain.

Slow down there Sea Biscuit.....my post was not directed to you, Todd said it was 4 x 4

 

[firefighterjake]

That's not cherry, that's popple-pine, a dangerous wood to burn in any wood stove. I'll PM you about my free wood removal service so you can rid yourself of this hazard. ;-)

Some folks say cherry will season in as little as 6-9 months . . . and maybe it will . . . but in burning cherry, ash, elm, maple and what have you I can say that in my experience even the "fast-seasoning" trees burn a heckuva lot better given a year+ of seasoning . . . night and day difference in how fast the wood ignites, moisture left in the wood and how fast and intense the secondary burns occur.

FFJ, I don't want to appear offensive, but I find myself not on board with this thinking.

As far as further seasoning giving better results, remember that the whole purpose of secondary combustion is to burn off the volatile wood gases and smoke that don't get burned in the primary combustion zone. If your secondaries are faster and more intense with drier wood, that can only mean that more smoke is being produced in the first place. Very dry wood pyrolizes much faster than moderately seasoned wood, in any type of stove, or even in an open fire.

As far as the OP's nice load of cherry (and that big red maple round), cherry is not a particularly fast drying wood. It is often (but not always) fairly low in moisture content when first cut, and I think that's why it has the reputation for being quick drying. Still, 6-9 months is plenty time to get it down close to 20%.

Here are a few tables from the book "Understanding Wood", by Bruce Hoadley.

They show a lot of things that seem to be at odds with what many folks here claim to experience. I won't go into why they seem to be at odds with that experience, but these tables were generated from data gathered by the lumber industry as it applies to air-drying 4/4 lumber, properly using very expensive moisture meters and, most likely, tens of thousands of samplings over the years. The amount of water leaving the ends of firewood is significantly greater than what leaves through the split faces, but we'll ignore that for now because the tables refer to long planks that only have a small amount of surface area at the ends compared to that of the faces. The tables clearly show that initial moisture content in a given species is not directly correlated with drying time.

For example, sugar maple is almost the same MC as white oak, but white oak takes almost twice as long to reach 20% MC as does sugar maple. And that pesky red oak that takes three years to dry in a wood stack? In conditions found in about 95% of the U.S., it dries to 20% in the same time as beech, birch, cherry and walnut. That's not my personal experience, but maybe that experience is a bit colored by memories of trying to burn it way too soon back in the good old days.

Yellow poplar ("tulip") is much higher in MC than even southern red oak, yet it dries in a relatively short time. Basswood is dripping with water when first cut, yet it dries very fast. And look how fast red maple dries. 30 days/inch thickness in optimal outdoor conditions! Pretty impressive for a medium-density hardwood.

Given the fact that wood dries through the split faces by establishing a diffusion gradient across the thickness of the wood, 2" thick red maple will take twice as long, and 6" thick, red maple will take 6 times as long, but that is still only a maximum of 6 spring and summer months for a quartered 12" round to hit the magic number. Actually, it will dry faster since much of the split will be less than 6" in thickness, and... OK, I'll mention it again. Short lengths of wood do a good amount of their drying through the ends.

I'm not trying to tell anybody how to burn, or to negate their wood burning experience, but this is real data from real wood drying experts gathered over decades, and it should not be just dismissed out of hand. I think one of the best things a new burner can do is to get copies of Hoadley's books and read them from cover to cover. Both "Understanding Wood" and "Identifying Wood" are available from Amazon for $26.37, with free shipping. Soon they'll be answering wood questions instead of asking them. ;-)

No offense taken . . . just saying what I have seen and experienced . . . and when I mention how fast and intense the secondaries are, bare in mind that I'm talking about how fast the secondaries occur, not so much as to the speed of how fast the burn occurs . . . and keep in mind that I am comparing wood that isn't 3+ years old -- it was a comparison of wood from one year that was standing dead and cut, split and stacked maybe 6-9 months earlier vs. wood that was cut, split and stacked 1 1/2 years.

As Dennis says . . . it's what works for him . . . and it works for me . . . long burns, plenty o' heat and clean burns . . . and all without a moisture meter. But that said, everyone's opinions (and facts) are welcome and I try to keep an open mind.

 

[3fordasho]

My tree guy dropped off this wood. Is this cherry? How long will it take to season?

Nice cherry score! Keep some of that around for smoking. That stuff will perfume your stacking area for months to come.
Love the smell of cherry.

 

[billb3]

My tree guy dropped off this wood. Is this cherry? How long will it take to season?

Looks like cherry to me, too.
Get it split and hope you don't need it before Christmas.
It might be good enough, bit good is something else.


The only scrounge wood I have that doesn't sit for a year grows in dumpsters at construction sites.
Most people throw stuff into those metal boxes, I take it out (or used to anyway). Too much greenboard, brownboard, pre-primed trim and laminated beams these days ...