Should I bother or just wait till next year? I only ask because I'm going to run out of dry wood this year, probably next month (I have an excuse! I just moved in 2 months ago from 500 odd miles away).
30% oak....
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smokinjay said:
Yeah. And I don't have a lot of faith in moisture meters. Might be a bit drier. Or a helluvalot greener. How long since felling/bucking/splitting?
Gotta question, though: how accessible is your chimney and are you comfortable getting up there with a rod and brush?
That's a drag. I keep seeing a lot of folks on Craigslist or the paper selling what purports to be dry or seasoned wood this winter, for not too bad prices. I think a lot of folks have been loading up the past couple of years in anticipation of high fuel prices. Now the economy sucks in many other ways, so they're trying to unload what they have for some cash. May be worth trying to find some, just don't accept the delivery until you test it.
You could burn it if you had to but you would have to burn it a lot hotter and clean out your chimeny more often.If you could get your hands on some wooden pallets it might help get you through.Good luck.
If you really think your going to have to use it you might consider re-splitting so you have more surface area to dry out.
Take a few (10-12) split chunks and stack them log cabin style next to the wood stove. Let them sit there for a week or 2, then use them to supplement your existing wood supply. I have some Oak in the same range after a week sitting on the hearth they burn pretty damn good for 'green' wood!
if you have to burn it then ....... burn it! when i get pieces that are in question i line them up in front of my stove ... about 1-2 feet away where the heat radiates from the glass, for about a day or 2 if it didnt have cracks in the wood it has them now! but these are pieces of oak that the bark has already fallen off
I have about a face cord of oak sitting in my piles. I brought a couple of the smallers splits home to try out. So far, I struggled through 3 splits and threw the rest of them back outside. My vote is also to hold off on the oak until you are sure it's ready.
i know the pain of wet oak... forget it... but when its dry.... lets just say i couldnt sleep the other night because the front of my insert was hanging around 775 on a full load of oak ... for almost 3 hrs before it started to drop
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