Hauling coal to newcastle

[Kevin Dolan]

i have read on this site and have posted on this site about dry wood an I thought I had it down to a science. I have ash cut split and stacked for two years and stored in a drive shed but recently it has not been burning as well as normal so I split and moisture checked and sure enough on the big splits they were 22-25 % so I am wondering if I am actually seasoning it properly. Would appreciate comments on drying wood out , mine sits on a concrete pad with a good westerly wind and lots of sun in the summer.
So hauling coal to Newcastle, sorry if this is repetitive.
Kevin

 

[Hogwildz]

Try getting it off the concrete pad, boards, pallets, whatever it takes. Try to get as much air circulation around it as you can. Not sure what a drive shed is?
Large splits will take a bit longer.

 

[Kevin Dolan]

Try getting it off the concrete pad, boards, pallets, whatever it takes. Try to get as much air circulation around it as you can. Not sure what a drive shed is?
Large splits will take a bit longer.

Hogs a drive shed is where you put tractors to get them out of the elements and covered so should be good for wood storage, it is 60 by 20 feet. It is a dirt floor and not a lot of air circulation so that could be a major part of the prob. The rest of my wood is on a concrete pad and it won't be coming in to the shed until next fall. I am going to check out some big splits through the pile today, I have four full cords there and am sure they will dry out over the course of the next year and the smaller slits burn a lot better than the big ones. Once the big splits get burning they are like coal and burn for 5-6 hours, still learning!!

 

[brad wilton]

I think he's right on the cement it holds dampness .not hard to find wood to find dry is a different story . I use mostly maple with some ash not much birch. i'm going to have to get ahead on the wood my stove takes a lot to fill up

 

[Hogwildz]

Depending on how large the large splits are, they could take up to 3+ years to dry. I have very large splits of Oak that haven't dried in 3 years yet. I had other that were about 4-5 years that burned well.
Through experimentation, I have learned that for my insert, loading splits with the widest are laying on the coal bed, takes much longer to fire and burn. I try to almost load in columns, usually 4 splits on bottom, and filling in on top with whatever fills the box. The columns allow for air to run vertically, burning the sides of the splits and seems to give better start of flames, faster time to get up to temp, and burns better & hotter. This is north to south.
I have had very large splits, maybe 2 or 3 filling the entire box, and that never burned well. Just not enough air to wood surface ratio I suppose. This is okay for shoulder season, but takes far too long to get charred, and stove up to temp. The shed sounds good, as long as the wood is dry before loading into the shed.

 

[Poindexter]

Over the years I went from stacking wood on 2x4s on edge to 2x8 on edge to pallets to pallets up on cinderblocks. I hope to have cinderblocks under all my pallets summer 2015, I am not going back.

As near as I can tell further off the ground is better, doesn't matter if I am on asphalt, gravel, bare dirt or grassy lawn.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Do you single row stack it? Otherwise it could be the large splits that just take longer.....