first year's wood?

[joustinghill]

Hi all,

So I'm one of those new-to-wood folks who freaked out at the cost of heating oil when I got my pre-buy contract and decided to use a wood stove for supplemental heat for this coming winter. I read everything I could find on this site, did all my research, worked with my chimney sweep to see what I could install, etc etc and found a stove that I think will do well for us (a 1991 Avalon 996E).

My question is, what do I do about wood? It appears that there is no way I can have decently seasoned wood by this winter. I keep hearing that even the wood sold as "seasoned" really isn't, and that wood should season for at least a year. Obviously I don't have a year before the winter. So do I just buy the most seasoned stuff I can find and accept the fact that it's going to be a pain to work with this first year? Or am I missing some obvious way I can fix this?

 

[Carl]

Hi all,

So I'm one of those new-to-wood folks who freaked out at the cost of heating oil when I got my pre-buy contract and decided to use a wood stove for supplemental heat for this coming winter. I read everything I could find on this site, did all my research, worked with my chimney sweep to see what I could install, etc etc and found a stove that I think will do well for us (a 1991 Avalon 996E).

My question is, what do I do about wood? It appears that there is no way I can have decently seasoned wood by this winter. I keep hearing that even the wood sold as "seasoned" really isn't, and that wood should season for at least a year. Obviously I don't have a year before the winter. So do I just buy the most seasoned stuff I can find and accept the fact that it's going to be a pain to work with this first year? Or am I missing some obvious way I can fix this?

I would get the best wood you can the fastest, get it stacked in the open, and hope for the best. If the splits aren't too large it may dry enough to burn this winter. The longer you wait the tougher it will be to get it dryed. I just found a wood burner going to pellets so I purchased their whole years supply from them. Look around and see what can be found. Good luck with it.

 

[jpl1nh]

I agree with Carl. The good news is there are plenty of wood dealers here in NH and many of them are reputable. You'll pay more for seasoned wood but it's worth it. Ask around for leads on who friends and neighbors use. Also, check Craigslist, (buyer beware though) Nonetheless, consider whatever you get "un-seasoned" and do as Carl suggested. You can't have wood that's too dry! While you're at buying seasoned wood for this year, buy green wood ahead for next year from the same dealer and see if you can negotiate them down a bit based on the volume. Might as well season next year's wood now at your house instead of on their wood lot.

 

[fossil]

...Or am I missing some obvious way I can fix this?

Time travel. Ah, just kidding! I'm assuming you're talking about buying wood cut, split, and delivered (CSD), is that right? Or buying in rounds, cut & delivered and do the splitting yourself? Or are you one of the real axe men who's going out to fell, limb, buck, transport, split and stack his own wood? In any case, the time it takes to season wood depends on the species, the starting moisture content, the surface area (splits will season more quickly than rounds), temperature, humidity, and exposure to wind, and who knows what all. By all accounts, it takes a year, on average (some woods more, some less), to season most split hardwood starting from green (fresh cut live trees). If you're buying split wood for delivery, the seller should be able to tell you something about when it was cut & split. If in doubt, there are very affordable little hand-held moisture meters which will measure the moisture content of wood. Anything less than about 20% is suitable for firewood. Moisture meters and the proper use thereof are discussed ad naseum on the "Gear" forum on this site. Welcome, and good luck. Rick

 

[myzamboni]

Get you hands on some Ash, stat.

 

[Elderthewelder]

I was in the same delmia 3 years ago when I got my stove, I pretty much burned a combination of pallets, skids (4x4's) and North Idaho Energy Logs. These things are awesome and put out alot of heat.

I have plenty of wood for the up coming winter, and am working on next years wood, and I am still considering buying a pallet of the North Idaho logs to keep in the garage, they are great to throw in the stove when ya go to bed, especially if you have a stove/insert with a small firebox like mine

Here is the link, but looks like there maybe no dealers back east, I am sure there is something comparable over on that other coast, with all that hardwood and all
(broken link removed to http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/productinfo.htm)

 

[Sheepdog]

check your area for some kiln dried cord wood. Grab a couple cords and mix it in with your "mostly seasoned" stuff, or burn it first to buy yourself an extra couple of months for the other stuff to dry a bit more. It will be more expensive, but still far cheaper than $5 oil. Also it will be VERY dry, I have heard as low as 4% moisture, so it will burn fast and hot. Happy hunting!

-Sheepdog

 

[gyrfalcon]

Hi all,

So I'm one of those new-to-wood folks who freaked out at the cost of heating oil when I got my pre-buy contract and decided to use a wood stove for supplemental heat for this coming winter. I read everything I could find on this site, did all my research, worked with my chimney sweep to see what I could install, etc etc and found a stove that I think will do well for us (a 1991 Avalon 996E).

My question is, what do I do about wood? It appears that there is no way I can have decently seasoned wood by this winter. I keep hearing that even the wood sold as "seasoned" really isn't, and that wood should season for at least a year. Obviously I don't have a year before the winter. So do I just buy the most seasoned stuff I can find and accept the fact that it's going to be a pain to work with this first year? Or am I missing some obvious way I can fix this?

What everybody said-- get your wood as fast as possible and get it stacked out in the sunniest, windiest place you have on your property pronto.

I had semi-seasoned wood my first year burning (last winter) and asked many questions and got lots of totally invaluable help from the good folks here at Hearth.com. The bottom line is you can burn it, but you will struggle with it. Make sure you have lots and lots of medium-to-large dry kindling, some fatwood or other firestarters, mebbe some artificial logs (but they're expensive), and get some of your wood split way down so you have small splits to play with. When you build your fires, build them campfire or fireplace-style, criss-cross as much as possible and with space for airflow in between, rather than just stuffing the firebox to the gills in one direction. That kind of fire will require much more frequent tending, but at least it will burn fairly well.

The trick will be getting (and keeping) the fire hot enough to begin with so the semi-seasoned stuff will burn.

And you should probably think about checking your chimney, or having it checked, for creosote build-up mid-season just to be sure.

 

[woodconvert]

Get you hands on some Ash, stat.

Stat?....CODE BLUE WITH I.V. RINGERS....or whatever they used to say on Squad 51.

If you've got a reputable supplier in your area GET IT NOW and restack it. If he's good he split it las winter/early early spring. You should be ok.

 

[gibson]

I am in the same boat as you. From what I hear, up in northern NE you can find dealers with Bio bricks. Those might be helpful in a pinch. Also, go to your local landfill. I took home a pickup full of cut and split seasoned wood two weeks ago that was sitting there. Us first year guys gotta hustle for it. It's part of the initiation. It seems that us first year burners need to go this route. If you make it through the first year and stiil want to burn, your in. Welcome to the pledge class of 2008. If you want to start a separate thread, maybe the moderator can give pledge names like they did in "Animal House"!

 

[gibson]

I am in the same boat as you. From what I hear, up in northern NE you can find dealers with Bio bricks. Those might be helpful in a pinch. Also, go to your local landfill. I took home a pickup full of cut and split seasoned wood two weeks ago that was sitting there. Us first year guys gotta hustle for it. It's part of the initiation. It seems that us first year burners need to go this route. If you make it through the first year and stiil want to burn, your in. Welcome to the pledge class of 2008. If you want to start a separate thread, maybe the moderator can give pledge names like they did in "Animal House"!

As I think about it. Brother Bart may be a natural choice for being in charge of the pledges for this new fraternity. He already has "Brother " as part of his name and he drinks "Natty Light" like all fraternity guys do. We need your leadership BB!

 

[woodconvert]

Get you hands on some Ash, stat.

Stat?....CODE BLUE WITH I.V. RINGERS....or whatever they used to say on Squad 51.

If you've got a reputable supplier in your area GET IT NOW and restack it. If he's good he split it las winter/early early spring. You should be ok.

I wanna amend that.....if he's reputable and depending on the wood type and when it was cut....you "could" be ok.

If oak and fresh cut...you prolly got troubles. If softer wood (maple) or he can supply ash (good n' hard but low moisture on the hoof) you "could" be ok if you've got a dry climate and room to stack it out in the open.

 

[woodconvert]

From what I hear, up in northern NE you can find dealers with Bio bricks. Those might be helpful in a pinch.

I've never bought them or even seen them but i'm curios...with the economy in a down turn there may not be Bio Bricks or wood pellets for that matter as there isn't much construction going on thus there may not be wood by-products. I probably wouldn't count on them though. Just a thought.

 

[gibson]

The economic downturn is a media creation. When gas prices stay off of the front page, they drop. The economy and the dollar are going to rise and drop. That is the way it has been for time and memoriam. Democrat or Republican. What I do like is that times like this make people open their eyes. I am conservative, but not a member of a political party. I decided that I had enough of oil companies screwing me, I moved on. I, in my admitadly small way, reduced demand. Economics is essentially supply and demand.

 

[gyrfalcon]

The economic downturn is a media creation. When gas prices stay off of the front page, they drop. The economy and the dollar are going to rise and drop. That is the way it has been for time and memoriam. Democrat or Republican. What I do like is that times like this make people open their eyes. I am conservative, but not a member of a political party. I decided that I had enough of oil companies screwing me, I moved on. I, in my admitadly small way, reduced demand. Economics is essentially supply and demand.

Whether it's a media creation or not is debateable, but the media isn't going away any time soon, so it's a moot point.

From what I've hear anecdotally about new customers swarming the pellet stove dealers. plus the downturn in housing contruction, I'd say there's a darn good chance there won't be enough pellets to go around this winter. Friend of mine who burns pellets got a letter from his supplier recently urging him to buy up now because they expect demand to go through the roof this fall. Maybe just a marketing ploy, but if I were doing pellets/biobricks, I sure wouldn't take any chances this year and get my supplies in now.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

I'm also a relative newcomer. I did my first burning last winter, however. Rumor has it that there is a lot of seasoned wood, if you look for it. I'm thinking of the Oak I have here which has sat around in the back yard for 2 years now. It shows a lot of splitting if you look at the ends of the rounds. You take that stuff and split it and stack it, and I bet it will be burnable by the coming heating season. BTW there are some folks who are looking to give away old woodpiles. Free for the taking. Look in Craig's list. I've seen some of that around here, as well as a lot of fallen trees that got damaged in storms. Again, free for the taking, if you have the equipment to harvest it.

 

[Vic99]

Most of my first year's wood was 8 months seasoned. I did alright, although not optimally.

Recommendations:

1) Small splits season faster, especially smaller lengths. If you normally cut 18" logs, try 12-14";

2) Ash and Willow seem to season faster, although not as high in BTUs;

3) Many pallets are kiln dried and ready to go and certainly if you get them this summer and cut them up. Pallets can be a lot of work to process, but many places want to get rid of them. I find that a good sawsall works best. Get rid of the nails with the ash.
If you have an iron or steel stove, mix the pallets with cordwood so that you don't overfire. Softwood, kiln dried pallets burn HOT and fast;

4) Kiln dried wood scraps are ready to go as well . . . STEER CLEAR of pressure treated or any wood with paint or chemicals, though.

5) Upgrade what is realistic for your insulation so that you can get more out of your wood.

Lots of us have burned in less than ideal conditions. Good luck.

 

[cmonSTART]

Hello fellow New Hampshire person!

Well hey, even if the "seasoned" stuff isn't really perfectly seasoned, its better than nothing and is most likely still going to work OK for you. Just buy whatever you can find. There are plenty of decent folks around here. My experience with wood on craigslist is OK I guess. What I found is the folks who posted wood for sale ads there never came through. They were unreliable, never called when they said they would, no showed me, or just changed the deal from what they advertised. However, I did have good luck with posting a "wanted" ad there. A couple folks contacted me through it and came through for me. I'm sure there are plenty of people selling wood in the Greenville, Mason, Wilton, Milford area.

 

[BrotherBart]

As I think about it. Brother Bart may be a natural choice for being in charge of the pledges for this new fraternity. He already has "Brother " as part of his name and he drinks "Natty Light" like all fraternity guys do. We need your leadership BB!

TOGA! TOGA!

And don't be shortchanging all of the frat rats that drink Gennie Light.

 

[fossil]

...Gennie Light.

Hey, I knew her. Rick

 

[Jags]

MMMmmmm.......beeeer!

 

[Ken45]

Get it as soon as you can. Stack it in single rows so that it gets plenty of sun and air. Keep it off the ground (wood pallets are good). It will also season better if you split it into smaller splits.

Ash and Willow seem to season faster, although not as high in BTUs

Ash is one of the highest BTU woods other than hickory and hard maple and maybe locust. Different charts vary. Ash is commonly believed to start out drier than most other woods, so it's a great choice for your needs if you can get it.

If you get the wood soon and do the above, you'll be in good shape. Although long term seasoning is ideal, a lot of people get by with less than ideal.

Ken

 

[billb3]

If what you get is from freshle cut long logs, grab all the grey end pieces and keep those seperate to burn first. They should be a <little> bit drier than the center cuts.

 

[joustinghill]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I found a relatively local guy who has kiln-dried hardwood (mostly maple and ash) for $275 a cord. Since that's only slightly more than what a green cord appears to cost around here, it seems like a good deal to me. I was getting quotes for seasoned cords in the $380 range!

Thanks again everybody. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions soon.

 

[N/A N/A]

Be sure your kiln dried wood is not too dry. You would want to use a mix if at all possible. I get kiln dried board ends from a local lumber mill. Some of them need cut to length but all need to be split. I would cut them down about 8 to 10 inches long and split them about 2 inches wide. They are also about 1 to 2 inches thick. I not only use them to get my stove going but when I had green wood I would stack them in cross ways with the splits. Seamed to help it all burn a little better...