Cherry or Hickory... Which One Will Season Faster??

[thephotohound]

OK Wood Gurus and Pyromaniacs alike... I need some help.

I just got about 3/4 of a cord each of cherry and hickory, cut into 18" rounds. I stack my wood in a wide open space (I'm in Central MA, surrounded by 200 acres of open fields). I stack in single rows that are 20 feet long, 4 ft. high, and 2 ft apart. I have my rows face east to west to take advantage of the westerly winds. This area gets sunlight for 6-8 hrs per day. I also should mention I'm 1000 ft up, so there is a constant, unabated 10-20 mph wind.

Here's one question: with these conditions, with most of my wood stacked by mid-July, should I be OK to burn the Red Oak, Maple, and Birch I've already split?

Question 2... should I choose the cherry or the hickory to finish this winter's needs? Which one will season faster? Yes, I realize that I should be splitting for NEXT season (which is precisely what I will do with the other wood) but I need to choose one to burn this season.

Also, how does everyone feel about covering the stacks before the snow flies?

Many thanks!

 

[Eric Johnson]

The cherry will dry faster, but it won't be nearly as good (btu-wise) as the hickory.

You're cutting it close with the other wood, but you should be OK if the rest of the summer is relatively hot and dry. I would cover the pile(s) with a tarp or some other water-repellent material around the end of September, after a week or more of dry weather. Don't cover the sides, however, as you will still benefit from air passing through the pile.

 

[burntime]

I am in Wisconsin and I can tell you the cherry will be ready but the oak and hickory will need until the fall of 08 before you get a chance to burn it and burn well. Mileage may vary, value accordingly. The fact that plenty of wind and sun will help tremendously but some things take time. Good luck. I agree with the tarp thing as well.

 

[thephotohound]

Thanks for the great info. I am currently using 4 mil black plastic, cut 18" wide, covering the top of each completed pile. Once I complete a pile, I allow the sun to bake it for 5-7 days (no rain), then I cover it.

 

[wg_bent]

I am in Wisconsin and I can tell you the cherry will be ready but the oak and hickory will need until the fall of 08 before you get a chance to burn it and burn well. Mileage may vary, value accordingly. The fact that plenty of wind and sun will help tremendously but some things take time. Good luck. I agree with the tarp thing as well.

I concur with this. Oak takes a long time to season. I cut some oak of 05 and tried to burn it last year only to find that the inside of my stacks (I stack on pallets) was not quite ready by Feb of this year.

 

[burntime]

Don't you just hate when your wood hisses at you and the room starts getting cold

 

[thephotohound]

My first year burning (last year). I had a really bad experience. I bought wood from a guy (that actually came highly recommended) who claimed it was seasoned. Turns out, his idea of seasoning is splitting rounds that are 6 months old. Needless to say, the red oak was at 38% moisture a month later when I started burning it. WHat a terrible time I had last year. So this year I decided to get a jump on it. So much for that... other house projects delayed me all year long, and now I'm just getting the final splits up. I'll never make that mistake again... I'm getting next year's wood up starting next month!

 

[Todd]

I have some oak that is going on 2 years old now and it is still 25-30% moisture content. But they are larger splits and rounds. You might be able to get some of the oak and hickory ready if you split it into smaller pieces.

 

[Harley]

Thanks for the great info. I am currently using 4 mil black plastic, cut 18" wide, covering the top of each completed pile. Once I complete a pile, I allow the sun to bake it for 5-7 days (no rain), then I cover it.

Honestly - I'd let it go longer than a week before you put a tarp on the top - I'd go through the summer, and really only tarp it in the fall when the temps drop and there's snow on the way. If it has the summer to bake in the sun, then the cherry would probably be ok (but not great). The Hickory - I'd say definately not, but good for next year.

 

[begreen]

I'm astounded how quickly my heavy wet maple is drying out by splitting it into smaller splits than last year. I burned a few 2"x3"x20" splits the other night to check them out and they burned really well. That's only about 8 weeks after splitting them. We've also had a lot of dry weather which has helped. UncleRich predicted this and he was right.

 

[thephotohound]

Great info on covering the piles... thanks... I'll remove that plastic until later in the year. I was just concerned with moisture penetration (a la rain). Guess I'll be splitting the cherry (although my first 3 whacks bounced back at me!)

 

[Eric Johnson]

BG is absolutely right about splitting. What you do when you split a chunk of wood is create more surface area for the water to evaporate from. Compare a smooth, bark-covered trunk to a jagged, split side, and you can see what I'm talking about. Twice the splitting means twice the surface area for evaporation. So the more you split your wood, the faster it should dry.

I agree with everyone else's point about letting your wood dry uncovered, too. A stack of wood is like a chimney, and most of the drying action is from the bottom up. When you cover it, I think you trap moisture that should be blown in the wind. Rain is really not going to make much difference because it tends to sit on or near the surface, and is the first to evaporate once the sun comes out. The moisture you need to evaporate is locked up in the cells inside the chunk of wood. Getting it out of there takes time or a lot of heat--no way around that.

Like Harley says, the tarp or other cover should go on the pile when the drying season is pretty much over, so that any moisture that hits the pile from that point forward (snow, sleet, ice, etc.) isn't going anywhere until spring. Personally, I like to wait for a dry week in October, after which I'll tarp any wood that might conceivably be used that winter. My rule of thumb has always been to get my wood situation straightened out by Columbus Day weekend.

 

[thephotohound]

That is one thing that I learned... the later it is in the season (like now!) the smaller I split. It makes sense.

 

[Henz]

you guys have some great points..Last eyar I split and covered the wood that I was gonna burn the followign year and even though it was split for 7 months I still would get a sizzler here and there. thsi yeah I decided to not cover it and really let it bake in the sun..Hopefully it will be better. The stuff I am gonna burn this year has been split and stacked since beginning of may

 

[karl]

Well, I guess I'm going about this the wrong way. It's my first year burning so what do you expect. I have 3 1/2 cords I split in May. I'm not sure what type of wood it is but it seems pretty hard. They are stacked in 4x4x8 stacks and not really getting alot of sun. The past few weeks I have been scrounging wood from the woods outback and splitting it and leaving it up near the house where it will get sun. I'm going to burn it first mainly because it's already up near the house, but also because I have been trying to get dry wood to begin with. There are three huge oak trees that have fallen in the woods out back. They have been down for a few years already. I'm in the process of limbing them now. It looks like I'll get a cord out of just the limbs and I figure this stuff is pretty dry. the limbs are only about 6" thick and they have been dead and off the ground for awhile. I don't have a moisture meter but from what I have observed, with oak anyway, is that if it's wet it splits fairly well and if it's dry, it's a pain to split. Is this correct?

 

[Eric Johnson]

It's hard to generalize. Seems like every chunk is different. You split what you got. And, you burn what you got. It took most of us a few heating seasons to fully understand the importance of burning dry wood, and the process for reliably having it available.

My advice is to cut and stack as much wood as you can (or as much as your wife will let you stack in the yard), because the more wood you have this year, the more dry wood you'll have for the following winter.