1 year oak

[DTrain]

So my kids and i were re-filling the ricks in the sun room with some 2 seasoned oak. I seasoned it for 1 and the guy I bought it from claimed it was seasoned when he dropped it. I never take "seasoned" to mean much more than it was split about 3 months ago. But this stuff after splitting open is between 15 and 20 depending on the size of the split.

I have 5 cords of oak that was bucked and split in February. For fun I split open 6" piece and checked it with the moister meter. 19.8%. What... how...? I checked 3 more pieces about the same size and the all were in the high 19s. 20% or less is good from what I understand. These stacks were kept uncovered all summer, which was fairly dry and got sun from 9-5 every day. Each of these measured pieces came from near the top of the stack. I threw them in to start a new fire just now and there was some hissing for a couple minutes and that was it! I believe this stuff to be red oak. This isn't making sense based on all I've been told about oak!

 

[claydogg84]

You shouldn't be getting any hissing if it's under 20%.

 

[DTrain]

Wasn't a lot perhaps some moisture on exterior. It has rained a lot this past weekend. I cracked another just now. (broken image removed)

 

[DTrain]

Ok so I just noticed that depending on how deep I got the pins in the reading got higher. I really pushed til I got the pins in up to where the taper stops. 21.1. Still not bad for 1 year, eh.

 

[Rebelduckman]

Ok so I just noticed that depending on how deep I got the pins in the reading got higher. I really pushed til I got the pins in up to where the taper stops. 21.1. Still not bad for 1 year, eh.

Not bad at all. Mine is pretty close to that after a year (21-25). Mine is a mix of white, pin and water oak

 

[claydogg84]

Ok so I just noticed that depending on how deep I got the pins in the reading got higher. I really pushed til I got the pins in up to where the taper stops. 21.1. Still not bad for 1 year, eh.

That's really good. I still haven't bought a MM but attempted to burn 14 month seasoned oak and it was a no go. Couldn't even get the damn things to flame.

 

[Applesister]

I have a facecord of that very stuff sitting in my rec room doing its final seasoning from the heat of the stove. It is my overnight splits. Giving up the last bits of moisture to the dry stove air.
Like the warming oven on a wood cookstove...

 

[DTrain]

That's really good. I still haven't bought a MM but attempted to burn 14 month seasoned oak and it was a no go. Couldn't even get the damn things to flame.

This is what I'm saying. How is this stuff that low?! Must have had near perfect conditions. I will start checking moisture right after I split the rounds so I know where the stuff is starting from.

 

[DTrain]

I have a facecord of that very stuff sitting in my rec room doing its final seasoning from the heat of the stove. It is my overnight splits. Giving up the last bits of moisture to the dry stove air.
Like the warming oven on a wood cookstove...

Good call. I should use it to slow my over night burns. I had only 1 or 2 overnights that have been 7 hours and 250 on stove top by morning.

 

[mol1jb]

How dry wood is over a period of time has to do with many factors. Was it dead or alive when it was felled? Was it felled in the summer or fall? How was it stored? How much wind or sun did the pile have access to? What kind of climate do you live in? Like you said, under ideal conditiond, it's definitely possible.

 

[Andy S.]

With those readings I thought I'd see Phoenix, AZ rather than Stowe, MA for a home town. I have some two summer Oak and the bigger splits still read 24%. Happy heating!

 

[xman23]

I never had or used a MM. They are notoriously funky. But if it's hissing it's wet. I can tell my oak is good to go by its weight and hitting two splits. After 2 or 3 years of drying, it burns perfectly.

 

[DTrain]

With those readings I thought I'd see Phoenix, AZ rather than Stowe, MA for a home town. I have some two summer Oak and the bigger splits still read 24%. Happy heating!

Yeah, I'm surprised. Good surprised. I would be bummed after two years mine was still mid 20s. At this rate next years is going to be awesome!

 

[DTrain]

I never had or used a MM. They are notoriously funky. But if it's hissing it's wet. I can tell my oak is good to go by its weight and hitting two splits. After 2 or 3 years of drying, it burns perfectly.

Definitely can tell you the difference between my 2 year and 1 year oak without a meter! I think you're right about the funky numbers too. Maybe there's a bit of error going on here. There was some brief hissing. I'm only on year three. And I do still remember what my 1/2 seasoned hissing sounds like and this ain't it. All in all its for next year anyway so looks like it's well on its way to be great burning oak.

 

[DTrain]

Ok update. I've brought in the rest of the pile. 1/3rd cord. This is the lower third of the stack. I grabbed this wood and loaded the stove up and it is not liking it. MM says 28%. Guess it makes sense the bottom of pile wouldn't be as dry. Looks like I better restack so I have 20% and 28% piles so I can mix. Bummer.... I new it seemed too good to be true!

 

[Dix]

A lot of my oak seasoned extremely well over this very dry spring, summer, & fall.

And yes, the bottoms of the stacks, unless raised for air circulation will have dryness issues.

I did not top cover piles until the end of September.

 

[Kenster]

I took down a standing dead Water Oak about three years ago. The tree top branches were dry to burn right then but the trunk wood was still oozing water when I bucked it and I know the tree had been dead for at least two years. I split it and stacked it, uncovered, where it caught sun from late morning until late afternoon but it also caught our strong, prevailing SW winds most of the time.

The result? In just nine months I had MM readings of less than 20% on fresh splits. (Yes, I know how to use a MM.) The thing is, that was a summer off over 100 days of 100+ degree temps and strong, hot, dry winds virtually all the time. An unusual circumstance for sure. I typically go close to three years on oak, even standing dead. ( I never cut a good live tree down for firewood.)

So yes, under the right conditions, oak can season at an accelerated rate.

 

[husky345 vermont resolute]

My one year seasoned oak burns awesome. Piled and stacked on skids and top covered with steel roofing. Works great . I split about 14" long splits. Piled three rows deep. 50' long and 4' tall. I'm good to go. Weathers been quite mild

 

[Nelson]

The outside temp can have a big difference in what your MM reads. There is a chart floating around here that shows the difference of moisture content depending on what the outside air temp is when you meaisure. Depending on how cold it is outside, you have to add 6, 8, 10% to your reading.

 

[Nelson]

Also, make sure you push the MM in as far as you can get it - I've noticed a sizeable difference in the reading depending on how far I can push it in.

 

[Paulywalnut]

The picture you have there is great. It shows that the wood is quite old and was well on its way to seasoning before you cut and split it. Probably dead standing? Just a guess, but that's why it's at 21%. I've had red oak seasoned almost three years and it's still at 22or 23.