Crazy Idea ?

[pl@yer]

My neighbor switched to a new wood supplier and ended up with green wood. It was delivered in August and when I saw it I suggested that he not cover it (we both use those portable car shelters for our wood). He left it uncovered for only a couple of weeks and it only got wet a couple of times before he covered it.

I think that it is the rain that dilutes the sap, then gets evaporated and cures the wood. The wood is too green to burn (just sizzles, has to have draft wide open to burn at all and throws no heat).
With these car shelters and the temps this time of year I know that if he soaked his wood with the garden hose it would be dry again in no more than 3/5 days.

My idea is trying to manually weather the wood with the garden hose, he could probably get 3 or so cycles of soaking and drying before the temps will be below 0 Celsius for most of the days.

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts on this are.

 

[Rockey]

I think I see what you are trying to say/do here but it really doesn't work like that. Why would you soak the wood and then spend 3-5 drying that moisture from the wood when that 3-5 days could have been spent drying the cellular bound moisture in the wood. That bound moisture is what takes a long time to extract from the wood. I would suggest that you split the wood smaller and spread it out somewhere that it can receive the most sun/wind/heat possible without letting it get wet again.

Soaking the wood with a garden hose wont draw the moisture out of the cells in the wood. Maybe something that was hygroscopic like brake fluid would, but that in itself is not worth doing.

 

[smokinj]

Resplitt it would be the best thing

 

[pl@yer]

I think I see what you are trying to say/do here but it really doesn't work like that. Why would you soak the wood and then spend 3-5 drying that moisture from the wood when that 3-5 days could have been spent drying the cellular bound moisture in the wood. That bound moisture is what takes a long time to extract from the wood. I would suggest that you split the wood smaller and spread it out somewhere that it can receive the most sun/wind/heat possible without letting it get wet again.

Soaking the wood with a garden hose wont draw the moisture out of the cells in the wood. Maybe something that was hygroscopic like brake fluid would, but that in itself is not worth doing.

Thanks for the info Rockey!
Very glad I posted here before suggesting this to my neighbor. I will suggest he split a bunch of the wood, they are pretty huge chunks to start with anyway.

 

[pl@yer]

Resplitt it would be the best thing

Thanks for the reply smokinjay, looks like I'll be bringing over my splitting axes this weekend.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Steve, I've toyed with one of those shelters for wood too. My neighbor finally got one and naturally chose the one with the hard top rather than the tarps. He also did not come down very far at all on the sides. This is his first year with it and I'm sure it will work out. He has an OWB and wanted it to cover him when he was putting wood in and I can see why.

On the drying of the wood I agree with the above. Nothing will substitute for time with wood unless it would be kiln drying but that is out of the question. So you can shorten the time a bit by splitting small and stacking where wind will hit the wood. Also, he should stack the wood loosely to allow for better circulation. Tell him to not stack really neat this time. Even then, probably the center won't do real great. Better to stack in single rows out in the wind and sun.

As for the rain, we never worry about that because wood is not a sponge. Rain rolls off and what doesn't, evaporates fast, as you've found.

 

[pl@yer]

Steve, I've toyed with one of those shelters for wood too. My neighbor finally got one and naturally chose the one with the hard top rather than the tarps. He also did not come down very far at all on the sides. This is his first year with it and I'm sure it will work out. He has an OWB and wanted it to cover him when he was putting wood in and I can see why.

On the drying of the wood I agree with the above. Nothing will substitute for time with wood unless it would be kiln drying but that is out of the question. So you can shorten the time a bit by splitting small and stacking where wind will hit the wood. Also, he should stack the wood loosely to allow for better circulation. Tell him to not stack really neat this time. Even then, probably the center won't do real great. Better to stack in single rows out in the wind and sun.

As for the rain, we never worry about that because wood is not a sponge. Rain rolls off and what doesn't, evaporates fast, as you've found.

Hi Backwoods Savage
I just love the car shelters for wood storage. I have used them for the last 5 years before that I had tried tarps and a shed. His wood is stacked real neat and he has about 8 inches between rows. He is leaving the doors open to let the wind blow through. I'll give him a hand re-splitting a bunch of it. It is real sappy though and I'm thinking he is going to have a good start on next years wood.