hornbeam- dead standing- time to season?

[pybyr]

while I am thinking of wood that I can get quick this fall (back injury + other things have me in a place with less wood on hand than I'd aim for at this point in the season), I'm also realizing that the woodlot where I cut has a fair number of standing dead Eastern Hornbeam (hophornbeam) that seem to have died due to being shaded out from the other trees that overtook them in height.

I know hornbeam, being really dense and hard, and from looking at wood BTU tables, is uber-BTU wood- I just don't know how much drying they need to get down to an OK moisture level.

The hornbeams seem amazingly rot-resistant- staying intact and non-punky even after laying on the ground for a long time

anyone know the relative moisture content of hornbeam before it is cut to length and/or split (a lot of these are in the 4-6 inch diameter, so barely need splitting if I can help it)?

Anyone know how quickly the wood dries once it has been cut and/or split? I'm thinking of some things like sugar maple that seem to season relatively quickly, and have high BTUs, whereas other wood that's similar in density and BTU content (red oak) seems to take a _really_ long time by comparison to let go of a reasonable amount of moisture. I haven't been able to find anything suggesting which end of that "speed to season" hornbeam falls on

thanks

 

[Wet1]

I don't know the answer to your question (hell, I'm not even sure what a hornbeam tree/leafs look like), but I will tell you that very dense wood will take a fairly long time to season. You might want to cut into a couple of those dead trees and take a moisture reading to see how close they are (if you don't have a cheap moisture meter, you should probably buy one). It will take a lot longer for that wood to season while it's still standing. If you want that wood to be usable anytime soon, I'd suggest you cut into stove lengths ASAP as the exposed ends will allow it to dry out quicker. If it's still fairly wet, which wouldn't surprise me, you'll probably want to split those rounds (even though they are only 4-6") as they will dry out much faster split.

Good luck!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

The drying time for oaks is largely (IIRC) driven by the wood structure more than the density, though denser wood do seem to take longer. White ash is an example of a dense wood that seasons quickly. Birch is less dense, but a hardwood that also dries quickly.

I don't know about ironwood in particular, though I have dried it in thinner pieces for making bows.