Cutting down trees in winter

[Starstuff]

This question has probably popped up a lot, but I'm not yet a hearth.com search Jedi and had trouble finding discussion about it, so please bear with me.

Anyway, I've been told that sap and moisture in a tree tends to descend into its root system during the winter, thus greatly reducing the seasoning time required if the tree is felled during this stage. However, how much it reduces the seasoning time seems to be subjective. I've been told that oak can be ready to burn the next season if cut in the dead of winter. I just thought this was an old woodsman's tale, but now I'm not so sure...

So I cut down a healthy, medium size white oak in March this year. Keep in mind that last winter was brutal here in the Midatlantic. Lots of snow, perpetually freezing temps from December to Feb, with even a couple weeks seeing single digit and negative temperatures. Fast forward to today. and the couple splits I just freshly re-split were in fact down to 17% moisture! Of course, we all know how (in)accurate these meters are, but the wood definitely smells and feels dry. I was also only testing wood on the outer edge of the stack.

I find it hard to believe that cutting in winter can reduce the seasoning time so much, but not sure what else can explain it.

What are your observations?

 

[Lake Girl]

That may only be part of the consideration ... stack configuration, sun vs rain, average temps, air flow.

I know the appeal of colder weather (no bugs) and being able to access more remote areas that are low lying (wet) once the freeze hits are factors here.

 

[Starstuff]

That may only be part of the consideration ... stack configuration, sun vs rain, average temps, air flow.

I know the appeal of colder weather (no bugs) and being able to access more remote areas that are low lying (wet) once the freeze hits are factors here.

In my case, I cut In early March after the last snow. Sat piled in rounds for about a month getting a bit of rain, sun, winds etc, then I c/s/s on pallets in an inefficient tight square pattern (my property does not allow for long narrow rows of wood stacks) and top covered. So really, not anything in my processing that would favor a fast drying time. We did have a relatively dry summer.

 

[Montanalocal]

If you want to get into old wives tails, I have heard that cutting in the dark of the moon facilitates drying. Never tried it myself.

 

[peakbagger]

I cut in the winter so I don't have to deal with leaves. A lot easier to pile the trimmings without leaves. The local old timers believe in dropping them in late winter and waiting until the surrounding leaves are out claiming that the buds will pull the sap out of the tree.

 

[saskwoodburner]

That may only be part of the consideration ... stack configuration, sun vs rain, average temps, air flow.

I know the appeal of colder weather (no bugs) and being able to access more remote areas that are low lying (wet) once the freeze hits are factors here.

I know one thing, the green poplar I cut in late Oct. early Nov. was heavy as can be, so even if some moisture vacates, there's still a fair amount.

As Lake girl points out, the hard to reach stuff is now easy pickings....slough logging rocks!

 

[kennyp2339]

I've heard of this before myself, I don't know how much weight this hold though, seems logical. I remember 15 years ago during a severe cold snap, highs in the single digits lows well below zero while working for my old boss him telling another co-worker that a friend of his dropped a huge "live maple" and was able to burn it that night because all the sap ran back to the base of the tree.
To me its kind of a folklore now since I'm heavily addicted to firewood and wood stoves, but I do have a couple tree's lined up in the yard that I want to drop this winter, hopefully it will be real cold and I can see if this holds and weight.

 

[Applesister]

My thoughts about the mythology of tree harvesting is that it is more closely linked to processes of the human mind and emotions than scientific explanation. Our collective unconscious. Which makes it all more limitless but less comprehensible.
There was some previous research into the term "seasoned" which was believed to historically refer to wood that was collected in the proper season (winter). That this practice occured most likely because all other chores of existence were at a seasonal close, when humans stopped being nomadic and became aggrigarian and started growing food sources. Wood gathering perhaps became a winter activity because time allowed it. It is still widely practiced. I still believe psychologically that I am harvesting trees in the proper time.
Im beginning to grasp the concept that any particular time of year is not any more prudent for harvesting wood over any other time.
I know pruning trees in winter prevents the death of trees thru sap loss and deters the spread of bacteria and fungus. To keep trees healthy and allow them to heal.
I think what trees do in the winter to keep from freezing and exploding like a water pipe is to remove an H- molecule from the H2O molecule and hold the hydrogen molecules and OH molecules in cells as "bound water"
I read an article in Northern Woodlands magazine that the moisture content of trees remain constant (makes biological sense) like humans. A constant percentage of body weight.
Trees release oxygen that contributes to our atmoshere. To me its just beyond my grasp exactly how dormancy occurs how trees stop taking up water to produce sugars and produce more cells and grow.
Trees use the hydrogen and release the oxygen, I dont know exactly the chemical path that all the elements take or how it works exactly.
The water content of the tree remains the same, its the speed at which the tree takes up water, minerals, sunlight and produces sugars and produces more cells that fluctuates with the seasons, AKA growth rings. Early wood vs late wood.
What I was told was that water does not go down into the roots. In most respects it flows upward and aspirates thru pores in the leaves and bark and out into the atmoshere as oxygen.
I think the water table in the ground has more bearing on dry wood vs saturated wood(growth rate). In the spring when you cut a tree and sap literally pours out of tree wounds is when the tree is at its highest levels of biological activity.
If what I understand is correct then maybe cutting trees in the spring would expidite the seasoning process by virtue of the tree being at its most chemically active.
This "perspective "is my theory. Its open for despute.

 

[johneh]

Cut all my wood in December and January bucked split and stacked February, March
piled north, south and top covered at all times , Just pulled 2 splits from the
Red Oak and hand re-split moisture content at 18% . This is one year from felling
tree in dead of winter well below 0 this time last year
So maybe it is true about the old wives tail !

 

[Starstuff]

I've heard of this before myself, I don't know how much weight this hold though, seems logical. I remember 15 years ago during a severe cold snap, highs in the single digits lows well below zero while working for my old boss him telling another co-worker that a friend of his dropped a huge "live maple" and was able to burn it that night because all the sap ran back to the base of the tree.
To me its kind of a folklore now since I'm heavily addicted to firewood and wood stoves, but I do have a couple tree's lined up in the yard that I want to drop this winter, hopefully it will be real cold and I can see if this holds and weight.

Like you, I have some trees lined up for cutting: two maples, a cherry, and a beech--all very mature trees. Will be interesting to see what happens and if last year was just a fluke or if there is some truth to all this. I might even get scientific and fell the two maples at different stages of the winter to see if there is a difference.

 

[Applesister]

I had a logger guy tell me something similar to what peakbagger said, who cut trees all year round saying that cutting the tree in full leaf and letting the tree dry out thru the leaves expidites the seasoning. For spring cutting techniques.
I personally like working in the cold over humidity and bugs. But lately like selecting and marking in August, cutting in September. Better for IDing and culling sick weakened trees. Also have Oct 12th as my deadline date for having wood cut and stacked for following year.

 

[woodsHAM]

I cut throughout the year as the oppurtunity shows. But the bulk of my cutting is done in the winter. I heat with an indoor clayton furnace and do not have a moisture meter so my practice may not work for everyone. Even without a meter, you will still be cutting wood that has a whole year to dry and thats plenty of time for most any wood to get ideal.

 

[BenTN]

I am no expert on this but I think the water will be traveling more during the colder months. The sugar content is higher and the reason they tap for syrup during the frost/thaw cycles of late winter. I think the freeze/thaw is what makes the sap move. I would think a prolonged deep freeze would cause the tree to keep the sap in the ground. Just might work. I do know cutting in the winter helps logs keep their bark, trees cut in summer months tend to shed their bark after little drying.

 

[English BoB]

If you want to get into old wives tails, I have heard that cutting in the dark of the moon facilitates drying. Never tried it myself.

I have cut with a half moon showing, damn chicken pants............we now have suspenders

 

[Applesister]

Well I guess there is some science involved in dormancy, some biology, some chemistry. What happens to frozen water, in and outside of wood cells, in root cells, in the ground. The theories I've read was the ionized molecule thing. The biological life thing between carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
I was told by foresters that logs sell better with bark intact, and Spring makes the bark vulnerable to damage due to the pronounced growth rate of the living cells in the cambium layer just under the inner bark. Where all the tree growth occurs. The cells can seperate very easily then.
Also, if you like doing craft work with furniture and logs and want bark to remain on the log it had to be cut in dead of winter for hardwoods that go dormant, mostly birch.
But as you guys all know, all bark comes off wood eventually.

 

[Applesister]

I have cut with a half moon showing, damn chicken pants............we now have suspenders

Is that like plumbers butt?
Or is it Roofers?

 

[Oldman47]

One thing I noticed when I cut down some mulberry in the spring around budding time was the leaf out that continued on completely severed branches. That has got to be pulling some moisture from the main branch.
At least I thought so and I let it finish.

 

[barmstrong2]

I think the water table in the ground has more bearing on dry wood vs saturated wood

I cut a sugar maple blowdown in October which was on the waters edge. The roots of the tree hung in the water. That was the heaviest damned wood I've ever moved. CSS in early October. I split a piece of it this past Sunday and checked mc, playing with a new meter. It's at 37% now. Wish I'd had the meter when I cut it.

 

[firefighterjake]

I've noticed that whenever I've cut down a tree, bucked it up, split it, stacked it and then waited for a year or two (or three) that it burns quite nicely.

 

[MJSully]

I cut in the winter so I don't have to deal with leaves. A lot easier to pile the trimmings without leaves. The local old timers believe in dropping them in late winter and waiting until the surrounding leaves are out claiming that the buds will pull the sap out of the tree.

It is my understand, as well, that felling a tree in the winter and leaving it is good for deer as they will feed on the buds during the winter.

 

[Wood Duck]

For me the question would be "is it better to cut this tree now (summer, winter, whatever) or should I wait until the preferred season so that the tree will dry out sooner?". Regardless of any advantage that one season has over another, I think the firewood will be ready sooner if you cut, split, and stack as soon as possible rather than wait for a preferred season. The advantage of winter versus summer cutting, or vise versa, doesn't outweigh the benefit of the extra seasoning time gained by cutting rather than waiting. Of course I am just guessing - I haven't actually done a controlled experiment.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Maybe this is only applicable to ash trees, but typically ash seems to be about 10% less wet/heavy in the winter vs. the summer (mid 20's vs. mid to upper 30's). About 70% of what I cut is white ash. This has been true for trees with and without EAB.

 

[Applesister]

I've noticed that whenever I've cut down a tree, bucked it up, split it, stacked it and then waited for a year or two (or three) that it burns quite nicely.

The 3 yr plan has its merits, the biggest one being that it overrides scientific speculation. And a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush....
Just do it?
Just do it and stop speculating about it?

 

[gerry100]

Another advantage of cutting in the winter is that its easier to see the trees that should be taken out without the leaf canopy.

I don't often cut my woodlot in the winter but I will "X" the trunk at eye level with my saw so I can just start cutting in the warmer months

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

I start cutting firewood from the time all the leaves are down, until roughly the end of March. All the wood I cut is ready to burn the following season. Yes, it would burn better if left to season for an additional year but cutting in the winter has always yielded a warm home and a clean stove pipe the following year. This is especially true for things like pine and poplar. I purposely cut pine and poplar in huge chunks because of how quickly it dries. All my oak has higher moisture content but still burns fine.

That being said, I clear trees year round and notice absolutely no difference in the moisture content/weight/appearance of wood based on what time of year it is felled.

When it comes to preference, I prefer to cut in the winter because I am personally very heat intolerant. Anything over 50F and I seriously overheat. I'm right at home when it is 10-20F while working in the woods.