I have two not so ideal choices for burning: 3 month split red maple, or 10 month mixed white oak (chestnut oak, white oak, small amount of yellow birch and red oak). Which stack should I start with? I’ll be burning in late nov/dec through march. North NJ Zone 6B. Drolet 1800 EPA wood stove insert.
3 month red maple or 10 month white oak?
- Thread starter john is burning
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Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
I see your in NJ. Its been warm here and now the air is getting really dry, which will help you out. The only way to answer this and you can answer it yourself is by a moisture meter. Test the 2 and burn the dryer. Id grab some Redstone logs to help the situation. The seasoning will vary on size of the split as well as it being top covered the whole time.. Do you have a moisture meter and if so post what the current MC is.. is your wood top covered, just sitting on racks, or in a shed.
What part of NJ are u in.. im lot looking up where 6b is
What part of NJ are u in.. im lot looking up where 6b is
Be sure that when testing the wood for internal moisture that it is at room temperature and split in half. Then press the contacts very firmly into the freshly exposed face of the wood. I suspect than neither will be ready to burn, but that will also depend on how thin the splits are. If split very thin, (2-3") oak will dry out quicker than when5-6" splits.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
Until you get your MM keep the stacks top covered. Test a couple splits. If your wood is split thick nows the time to make them smaller
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
John, if you get jammed up with wet wood I have extra uglies / cookies that have been drying for 2 years and are ready to go, I'm also in NW NJ, you can PM me if your interested.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
When you ask about split size and say 2-3” vs 4-5”, where are you measuring? Most of the pieces are triangular…do you measure the widest part or the center/average? Here’s a pic of some of the mixed oak stack splits. Let me know what you think size wise. I am under the impression these are on the medium small side.
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Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
most of that looks kinda medium, so it should dry quick. Im not saying that its going to be 20%, but you may be close if its top covered all the time
Diabel
Minister of Fire
I would take up Kenny’s offer, buy pressed logs and gather some pallets. Maybe come spring shoulder season some of the soft maple be ready. I would leave the maple for 2022/23 and the oak for 2023/24 season. Just use the central heat and supplement it with what’s mentioned above.
For our stove this lot would be thin splits in the 2-4" range. They will dry quicker, but testing will show how dry they are. Visually they don't look ready, there is no checking on the ends. However, if they are in the 23-25% range, they will burn, just not as well as wood in the 15-18% range. In that case mixing in known dry wood (pallet wood, carpentry cutoffs, etc.) will help.
In lieu of a moisture meter a basic test is to take a pair of splits and bang them together. If they go thunk the wood is still damp inside. If they sound more of a musical note, like two baseball bats banged togther, then they are dry inside. Also, take one of the thickest splits in the stack and resplit it, then press the freshly exposed wood up against your cheek. If it feel dry, that's a good sign. If it feels cool and damp, it needs more time.
Ok, got a moisture meter, did I do it right? The white and chestnut oak registers between 18-23%, except the rare piece of red oak which is high 20s to 30 still. Meanwhile that red maple hits 35-40% on many pieces. Also fyi the piece in the picture is not from the top row I took the top two rows and put them under my porch. This is from the end of a shade side piece. Interested to hear feedback on how this will burn. Split Jan-March 2021.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
No, the pins should be parallel to the grain on a freshly split surface. So resplit a piece and measure on that newly exposed surface, in the middle (wettest part).
Correct, one does not measure end grain, but if that is reading 20%, then the odds are the interior of the wood is not seasoned yet.
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