Do you season wood until it's dry or until it stops drying?

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

Hi there. First off, I'm a relative newbie here and drinking the koolaid on the whole dry wood thing. Because I'm a nerd I found this article which lists the equilibrium moisture content of wood by U.S. City.

(broken link removed)

For the article the equilibrium point is for wood kept out of the elements (both rain and sun).

I'm not trying to bust the myth on 3 year wood, since everyone's conditions are different. But I have a question for those of you that season the wood for 3 years. Are you trying to season your wood until it's dry (20% mc) or until it stops drying (equilibrium)

I'm still trying to get ahead on my wood supply and trying to figure how much space in the yard I'll give to the wood piles. If I'm trying for 20% I'm pretty sure I'd be fine with 18 to 24 months and 3 years it would probably be 12% to 15%. What are you shooting for and why?

 

[illenema]

Im In las vegas Which is a dry climate, I buy mine from a dealer already split and 1/2 way seasoned.
6 months in the sun and its very dry.
If you take down a standing dead tree it should dry faster then a dripping wet fresh cut oak.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

I am working on 10 yr wood. Not for the drying but the security if I cant get any wood. The bonus is nice dry wood.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I don't use a moisture meter, I just clunk the wood together, so my methods are not very scientific.

That said, I want to be ahead of the game. If I can put up two years in advance, that guarantees me properly dry wood. That's based on how well it burns, not a specific number from a meter.

If I had room, I'd go three years, not for dryer wood, but just to be ahead of the game and not get caught short. But I really don't have enough room for that.

 

[Wood Duck]

I don't have a moisture meter so I go by time. I try to give wood at least two years to season, and the result is wood that burns pretty well. I'd rather be three or more years ahead just for the peace of mind, but the extra seasoning would be nice too.

 

[firefighterjake]

I don't have a moisture meter so I go by time. I try to give wood at least two years to season, and the result is wood that burns pretty well. I'd rather be three or more years ahead just for the peace of mind, but the extra seasoning would be nice too.

Ditto.

 

[Pat32rf]

The first ten years we were here our bush was full of dead/dying oak and ash that I dragged back and stuck in the woodshed. Cut it in the summer, burn it that winter. Now that is all gone and I am cutting live maple, birch, ash, basswood, poplar or whatever looks substandard. I now have three woodsheds, each holding about 3-4 bush cords, but I cant seem to get the wood dry enough before it goes in the sheds. Last winter the wood towards the center of the sheds was moldy when we got to it....especially the birch and maple... I hate the thought of blocking it, stacking it in the sun then moving it into the woodshed the next summer---one extra handling for my 70 yr old body.

 

[begreen]

I always stack outdoors for at least a year before putting the wood in the shed. But we only have one large shed. Problem with that is we often go thru about 2/3ds of the wood on one side. Come spring we have to empty the shed, then fill it with the new wood and then put the old wood in front so that it is burned first. That is too much handling for me too and I am no spring chicken either. Thinking of turning one bay of the woodshed into an equipment bay and building a shed extension which is designed to be accessed and unloaded from either front or back.

 

[firefighterjake]

I always stack outdoors for at least a year before putting the wood in the shed. But we only have one large shed. Problem with that is we often go thru about 2/3ds of the wood on one side. Come spring we have to empty the shed, then fill it with the new wood and then put the old wood in front so that it is burned first. That is too much handling for me too and I am no spring chicken either. Thinking of turning one bay of the woodshed into an equipment bay and building a shed extension which is designed to be accessed and unloaded from either front or back.

This is why I normally eschew the traditional method of stacking wood side to side and instead stack back to front ... mainly because I am lazy and don't want to move the wood more than I have to during the year ... in this way "old" wood can often be left in the row ... I just mark the row with the year I stacked it in the woodshed so I can get the best vintage at the start of the burning season.

 

[fire_man]

I am working on 10 yr wood. Not for the drying but the security if I cant get any wood. The bonus is nice dry wood.

How do you protect 10 yr wood from the elements? 10 yr wood for me would be like 45 cord!

 

[Little Digger]

Like the finer wines and cuts of beef have to be properly aged, so it goes with firewood. Properly aged/seasoned, it makes each the best it can be (for my area of the country).

While one year wood is burnable, it still has too much moisture content. Two year wood is burnable, and though the moisture content is much less than the one year, it's still not the best that it can be. On the third year, it is hitting it's prime where the moisture content is about as low as it can get. The longer the wood is seasoned, the cleaner it burns. It also seems to burn longer which means you would likely use less wood than if you were burning one or two year seasoned wood.

Having three years or more worth of firewood ahead is also like having money in the bank. Think about it like this, if you burn two cord or one year seasoned wood one year, and the following year with similar weather conditions you only burn one and a half cord. So your saving a half cord. The third year rolls around with yet the same weather conditions and you only end up burning one cord. So your essentially getting more usable energy the longer the wood is seasoned which also means the less wood you will have to burn. Add proper insulation and seal up air leaks, and you will have to burn even less.

I for one am a cheap old cuss, so I'm all for saving where I can, however, I won't sacrifice comfort. In order to achieve both, I need things to be as efficient as possible. Since I burn on average, two cord per year, I am at least 6 years ahead and then some at my current usage level. I should add that my only source of heat is my wood burning stove. I removed the oil burning furnace because it was inefficient using in excess of 500 gallons of fuel oil per year not to mention how much electricity it took to run the blowers. The overall savings allowed for me to install a new metal roof and make other home improvements making my home more energy efficient. In another year, I hope to be able to burn just one cord of wood per year. Believe me, without using optimally seasoned firewood, that would not be possible.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

How do you protect 10 yr wood from the elements? 10 yr wood for me would be like 45 cord!

I top cover with rubber roofing and pallets on the bottom. I have 35 cord seasoned at least 3 years which is 7 years ahead, and adding a crap load right now. Money in the bank baby.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Another thing to add to Little Diggers comment is..... You really don't understand the benefits of burning 3 plus year old split wood until you finally do, there is such a big difference, usually your first and second years of burning you will have struggles with your burning, you will be wondering all different kinds of things that are wrong, you may even blame the stove or the install..... But really it usually ends up because your burning 20% plus wood! I'm sure newbies are burning near 30% MC wood! because they don't know better and they don't have 3 year old wood.....

 

[billb3]

I only got a MM two years ago.
It just confirmed with actual numbers what I had already learned from struggling with oak that hadn't sat long enough.
That a live oak tree takes three years here stacked to dry sufficiently well.
One year - forget it.
Two years seems to be a mix of some splits burn better than others and struggle less.
Three years - burning oak is a completely joyful experience.

Until you put it aside that long you don't get it and it easy easy to understand why some people hate oak.

Also why I keep pine, oak and maple/cherry/whatever segregated.

 

[Woody harrelson]

The first ten years we were here our bush was full of dead/dying oak and ash that I dragged back and stuck in the woodshed. Cut it in the summer, burn it that winter. Now that is all gone and I am cutting live maple, birch, ash, basswood, poplar or whatever looks substandard. I now have three woodsheds, each holding about 3-4 bush cords, but I cant seem to get the wood dry enough before it goes in the sheds. Last winter the wood towards the center of the sheds was moldy when we got to it....especially the birch and maple... I hate the thought of blocking it, stacking it in the sun then moving it into the woodshed the next summer---one extra handling for my 70 yr old body.

What the hell is a bush cord

 

[JRHAWK9]

I top cover with rubber roofing and pallets on the bottom. I have 35 cord seasoned at least 3 years which is 7 years ahead, and adding a crap load right now. Money in the bank baby.

exact same here, top cover with rubber roofing while sitting on pallets. I currently have about 45 fulls cords c/s/s, however a lot of that has been seasoning less than two years. I will be adding to it as well this winter. It's nice having a "savings account" as it allows you to cut wood whenever you feel like it and there's no pressure in having to have a certain amount done by a certain time.

 

[fire_man]

I top cover with rubber roofing and pallets on the bottom. I have 35 cord seasoned at least 3 years which is 7 years ahead, and adding a crap load right now. Money in the bank baby.

You got me beat - I'm "only" 5 years ahead and I get some funny looks from people.

So where the heck do you get all that rubber roofing? You gotta be in the business or know somebody is my guess.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

You got me beat - I'm "only" 5 years ahead and I get some funny looks from people.

So where the heck do you get all that rubber roofing? You gotta be in the business or know somebody is my guess.

I got some from a job site. Most of it came from a dumpster when Hannaford had there roof redone.

 

[Woody harrelson]

exact same here, top cover with rubber roofing while sitting on pallets. I currently have about 45 fulls cords c/s/s, however a lot of that has been seasoning less than two years. I will be adding to it as well this winter. It's nice having a "savings account" as it allows you to cut wood whenever you feel like it and there's no pressure in having to have a certain amount done by a certain time.

I need pictures of this please

 

[fire_man]

I like the rubber roofing idea because it's free but I have no idea where to find it. Chase down a roofer with dumpster tearing down a roof?

 

[JRHAWK9]

I need pictures of this please

Trying to call my bluff, eh?
Here's about 35.5 of it, not counting the little pile of small ones at the right of the third pic and about a cord or two of pine/popple way to the left on the second pic below. There is also another stack of small ones not shown in this area. I started stacking here in Spring of '14. I only recently got a bunch of rubber roofing, so some of the earlier stuff is covered with tarps. It's not stacked in the best location, but we don't have any wide open areas, so it's all I could do. :-(



Here's 7.5 cord..stacked there 3-4 years: It was stacked way too tight, it was before I knew better.



Here's the rest, these are not stacked on pallets or covered with rubber roofing, as it was stacked 2-3 years ago and I didn't have rubber roofing back then and before I knew any better to stack off the ground.



In total I probably have a bit over 45 cord....maybe pushing 50, but I wanted to error on the pessimistic side and only count the hardwoods.

 

[Woody harrelson]

Trying to call my bluff, eh?
Here's about 35.5 of it, not counting the little pile of small ones at the right of the third pic and about a cord or two of pine/popple way to the left on the second pic below. There is also another stack of small ones not shown in this area. I started stacking here in Spring of '14. I only recently got a bunch of rubber roofing, so some of the earlier stuff is covered with tarps. It's not stacked in the best location, but we don't have any wide open areas, so it's all I could do. :-(

View attachment 163557 View attachment 163558 View attachment 163559

Here's 7.5 cord..stacked there 3-4 years: It was stacked way too tight, it was before I knew better.

View attachment 163560 View attachment 163561

Here's the rest, these are not stacked on pallets or covered with rubber roofing, as it was stacked 2-3 years ago and I didn't have rubber roofing back then and before I knew any better to stack off the ground.

View attachment 163567 View attachment 163568

In total I probably have a bit over 45 cord....maybe pushing 50, but I wanted to error on the pessimistic side and only count the hardwoods.

I believed you, just like seeing pictures of massive piles of wood. and that sir is a massive pile of wood

 

[fire_man]

I'm humbled, and now my wife has proof I am not the only nut with lots of firewood.

But I only have around 25 cord

 

[tsquini]

I season the wood until I need to burn it. I'm on 5 year plan. The wood from this year is going to be used 2020.

 

[fire_man]

JRHawkr: Have you burned the 10 year vintage wood? How does it compare to 3 year seasoned wood for startup and burn time?