How to season new wood properly

[flamenco]

I have just had my first woodburner installed. About 3 weeks ago, I was able to collect a load of newly felled logs (4 car trips worth) - mostly silver birch and hawthorne. I have bought a log splitter and a wood store and have split and stacked the logs. The guy who installed the burner said I needed to let the logs get rained on for a while to "chase out" the sap. Is that right?
Do I now have to move all the logs out into the open? What would wood burning experts (like you guys) do with a garage full of recently felled logs?
I am currently burning some 2 year seasoned split logs and was hoping I could start burning the newer logs this coming winter (I'm in the UK - so December time onwards). Will I need to wait longer than that?
Thanks for any advice.
PS - Just loving the burner!

 

[gzecc]

I personally wouldn't put newly split wood in doors. I would want the sun and wind to do there part. Spit it small. That is the single most important part of drying.

 

[DBoon]

There a lot of posts here on how to dry wood properly - take some time and look around.

In general, you don't want fresh cut wood in your garage. You are almost 100% certain to get really bold mold and fungus on it in a couple of months or less - there is just too much moisture in the wood trying to escape. Get it outdoors and keep it covered on the top only. Wind exposure is best. Keep a logs length distance between rows of wood if you can to speed drying. If you do all this now, it may be ready in December, or at least reasonable. It certainly won't be ready if it stays in the garage.

As far as the new wood you are buying, don't count on that already being "seasoned" or dry. It will likely need additional drying.

Moving wood multiple times is a pain in the arse, but you don't have much choice with that wood in the garage.

 

[LLigetfa]

The guy who installed the burner said I needed to let the logs get rained on for a while to "chase out" the sap. Is that right?

Sounds like BS to me. The more it gets rained on, the longer it will take to dry. If you want to burn it sooner than later, stack it out in the open and cover the top.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Maybe the crack about chasing out the sap was a bit tongue in cheek?

Time and wind is firewood's best friend.

Wood dries best if left out in the open....after it has been cut to length and split.

We cut all our wood in winter months, split and stack in spring. We do not cover the wood piles until late fall or early winter. Then cover the top of the stack only. Never cover the sides of the pile. With the wood you have you will probably do best to stack in single rows with air space in between the rows. Stack so wind hits the sides of the pile. If you can stack where both sun and wind will hit the wood, so much the better.

One other point, cut some poles or use something like 4 x 4, landscape timbers or even old pallets to stack the wood on. The idea is to get the wood up off the ground and have air circulate under the wood too.

Good luck.

 

[firefighterjake]

I have just had my first woodburner installed. About 3 weeks ago, I was able to collect a load of newly felled logs (4 car trips worth) - mostly silver birch and hawthorne. I have bought a log splitter and a wood store and have split and stacked the logs. The guy who installed the burner said I needed to let the logs get rained on for a while to "chase out" the sap. Is that right?
Do I now have to move all the logs out into the open? What would wood burning experts (like you guys) do with a garage full of recently felled logs?
I am currently burning some 2 year seasoned split logs and was hoping I could start burning the newer logs this coming winter (I'm in the UK - so December time onwards). Will I need to wait longer than that?
Thanks for any advice.
PS - Just loving the burner!

Oh you English and your sense of humor. . . . Chasing out the sap with rain? HehHeh . . . never heard of that . . . what I have heard (and know) is that you do need to season the wood . . . which means allowing time, wind and sun to dry out the wood so it has a low enough moisture content to burn efficiently.

There are several schools of thought in terms of seasoning wood . . . some folks cover the tops to keep rain and snow off the wood . . . some folks don't cover the wood at all for the first year, but cover in subsequent years . . . some folks don't cover the wood for the first year, but cover it before the winter snow and rain comes . . . and some folks like Quads doesn't cover the wood at all . . . and just digs out the wood from the snow when he needs it.

The most important thing is to give your wood time to dry . . . if I were me . . . and I am me . . . I would (and do) cut, split and stack my wood outside for a full year. I leave my wood uncovered and let the sun and wind do its thing . . . and in the Fall load the wood into my woodshed where it is under cover. In my woodshed the wood will continue to season as the sides have gaps in it to allow the wind to move through . . . and truth be told I am ahead and so the wood will actually sit there for an extra year, continuing to season away.

Some folks do put their wood in their garage . . . however I would suggest stacking the wood outside if you intend to burn the wood this coming Winter . . . generally wood needs to be seasoned 9-12 months (longer with more dense wood such as oak) and it really helps to have the winds blowing through the stack so honestly at this point you're actually a bit late to be gathering wood for this coming year . . . there is a chance it may work . . . but I would highly suggest getting the wood outside where the sun and wind can work its magic . . . split smaller rather than larger . . . and if you're in an area prone to rain I would perhaps cover the top.

 

[flamenco]

Thanks folks. I didn't explain myself very well in the first post. I do know about letting wood season for a good while (more than 12 months) and I don't expect to burn the wood I collected last month before next year. My reference to a "garage full" was unfortunate - it isn't stored in there but I have cut and split and put it into an outside wood store. I am a bit bothered that it is not really out in the open (I live in a residential area and only have a 10yd x 10 yd back garden.) I am currently burning a supply I bought which (the guy says) is over 2 years seasoned. I was really trying to get a handle on the seasoning process. I see the sense of storing it all as long as possible and in my case that may mean longer than you guys need to.
BTW - I have brought in a few logs which the moisture meter tells me are about 25% - and I lay them on top of the stove for a night or two and they seem to dry out very well.

Is there a problem doing this?

Thanks for your help.

 

[fbelec]

Thanks folks. I didn't explain myself very well in the first post. I do know about letting wood season for a good while (more than 12 months) and I don't expect to burn the wood I collected last month before next year. My reference to a "garage full" was unfortunate - it isn't stored in there but I have cut and split and put it into an outside wood store. I am a bit bothered that it is not really out in the open (I live in a residential area and only have a 10yd x 10 yd back garden.) I am currently burning a supply I bought which (the guy says) is over 2 years seasoned. I was really trying to get a handle on the seasoning process. I see the sense of storing it all as long as possible and in my case that may mean longer than you guys need to.
BTW - I have brought in a few logs which the moisture meter tells me are about 25% - and I lay them on top of the stove for a night or two and they seem to dry out very well.

Is there a problem doing this?

Thanks for your help.

as long as the stove is not hot it's fine. if it's hot your looking to make a stove out of your house.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks folks. I didn't explain myself very well in the first post. I do know about letting wood season for a good while (more than 12 months) and I don't expect to burn the wood I collected last month before next year. My reference to a "garage full" was unfortunate - it isn't stored in there but I have cut and split and put it into an outside wood store. I am a bit bothered that it is not really out in the open (I live in a residential area and only have a 10yd x 10 yd back garden.) I am currently burning a supply I bought which (the guy says) is over 2 years seasoned. I was really trying to get a handle on the seasoning process. I see the sense of storing it all as long as possible and in my case that may mean longer than you guys need to.
BTW - I have brought in a few logs which the moisture meter tells me are about 25% - and I lay them on top of the stove for a night or two and they seem to dry out very well.

Is there a problem doing this?

Thanks for your help.

Please understand that what the guy says is 2 years seasoned doesn't necessarily mean seasoned the right way! If it was not cut to length AND split, then it may have dried some but probably is not dry enough. You do good to dry it more. It also depends greatly on what type of wood it is. Some wood takes much longer than others.

On the moisture meter, to get the best reading you must split the piece again so you can test it on the inside; not where it has already been exposed to air.

On the drying of wood on the stove....wow! Wood belongs inside the stove but never on it! I can hardly wait to see what Jake might post about this.

 

[Dune]

Thanks folks. I didn't explain myself very well in the first post. I do know about letting wood season for a good while (more than 12 months) and I don't expect to burn the wood I collected last month before next year. My reference to a "garage full" was unfortunate - it isn't stored in there but I have cut and split and put it into an outside wood store. I am a bit bothered that it is not really out in the open (I live in a residential area and only have a 10yd x 10 yd back garden.) I am currently burning a supply I bought which (the guy says) is over 2 years seasoned. I was really trying to get a handle on the seasoning process. I see the sense of storing it all as long as possible and in my case that may mean longer than you guys need to.
BTW - I have brought in a few logs which the moisture meter tells me are about 25% - and I lay them on top of the stove for a night or two and they seem to dry out very well.

Is there a problem doing this?

Thanks for your help.

Yeah, even I don't do that. What I do is stack a bunch in a holder near the stove for a week or two. That dries it well enough, if it is well seasoned but a little wet for some reason. By near the stove, I mean at least 3 feet (one meter) away,

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks folks. I didn't explain myself very well in the first post. I do know about letting wood season for a good while (more than 12 months) and I don't expect to burn the wood I collected last month before next year. My reference to a "garage full" was unfortunate - it isn't stored in there but I have cut and split and put it into an outside wood store. I am a bit bothered that it is not really out in the open (I live in a residential area and only have a 10yd x 10 yd back garden.) I am currently burning a supply I bought which (the guy says) is over 2 years seasoned. I was really trying to get a handle on the seasoning process. I see the sense of storing it all as long as possible and in my case that may mean longer than you guys need to.
BTW - I have brought in a few logs which the moisture meter tells me are about 25% - and I lay them on top of the stove for a night or two and they seem to dry out very well.

Is there a problem doing this?

Thanks for your help.

Problem with stacking wood on top of the stove . . . nah, no problem if a) there is no fire in the stove, b) you want to have a new home and don't mind losing most of your possessions in a fiery inferno.

Uh . . . bad idea. . . . very bad idea.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks folks. I didn't explain myself very well in the first post. I do know about letting wood season for a good while (more than 12 months) and I don't expect to burn the wood I collected last month before next year. My reference to a "garage full" was unfortunate - it isn't stored in there but I have cut and split and put it into an outside wood store. I am a bit bothered that it is not really out in the open (I live in a residential area and only have a 10yd x 10 yd back garden.) I am currently burning a supply I bought which (the guy says) is over 2 years seasoned. I was really trying to get a handle on the seasoning process. I see the sense of storing it all as long as possible and in my case that may mean longer than you guys need to.
BTW - I have brought in a few logs which the moisture meter tells me are about 25% - and I lay them on top of the stove for a night or two and they seem to dry out very well.

Is there a problem doing this?

Thanks for your help.

Please understand that what the guy says is 2 years seasoned doesn't necessarily mean seasoned the right way! If it was not cut to length AND split, then it may have dried some but probably is not dry enough. You do good to dry it more. It also depends greatly on what type of wood it is. Some wood takes much longer than others.

On the moisture meter, to get the best reading you must split the piece again so you can test it on the inside; not where it has already been exposed to air.

On the drying of wood on the stove....wow! Wood belongs inside the stove but never on it! I can hardly wait to see what Jake might post about this.

I may just be a dumb firefighter . . . but even I'm not foolish enough to stack wood on a woodstove while it's running . . . sorry . . . been busy at work and off for a few days . . . otherwise I would have replied earlier to this tread.

 

[flamenco]

Thanks for the advice, people.
Have removed the wood to a nice wicker basket about 3 feet from the stove...
House is still standing.

 

[angelahorn]

The guy who installed the burner said I needed to let the logs get rained on for a while to "chase out" the sap. Is that right?
!

Hiya - I'm in London and joined with some similar questions last December. I had some useful answers here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/48882/

Regarding rain "chasing out" the sap - I am surprised at the responses here as the first place I came across this idea was on this forum and it was suggested by a number of very long-term members, although looking through the archives it seems it's a subject of some debate. Don't have the exact threads to hand but it made sense to me - that a period of wetting and drying through thorough weathering would help to drive sap out (someone mentioned cut fibres of wood expanding and contracting and allowing resins to evaporate more easily) , and that the problem was getting sap out of the wood & that plain water evaporates quickly. However, one thing everyone was agreed on, was that if you stack the wood uncovered, it's best to bring it in to the dry a day or two before you need it. Last winter I kept some stacks of bought-in semi-seasoned wood covered and some not (depending on whether I had anything to hand to throw over the top of it!) and just brought a couple of boxes a day in so it could dry out indoors for a day or two before use. Even the sopping wet stuff was great after that. After provoking a similarly outraged reaction to the one you received, I quickly stopped stacking it on the stove to dry out We had the central heating running a couple of times a day as well as the stove, so I parked the boxes of wood next to a radiator and it seemed to work well. As advised here, we regularly split pieces of wood at first and measured the newly cut surface with a moisture meter, and it was interesting to see how quickly the seasoned stuff dried out.

Incidentally, when moving split logs around I have noticed that the well-seasoned stuff dries out much faster after a rain than the newly-cut stuff, which I suppose supports the idea that it's sap that's hard to get rid of, not rainwater?

Good luck,
Angela

 

[kenny chaos]

The same reason you don't constantly oil your gun stock. It will crack.

I vote that everytime it rains, the evaporation process draws out more moisture.

 

[flamenco]

Angela thank you for that. I will read through that thread with interest.
My stove is installed in our conservatory - and has transformed it! It is now a room we can use in the evenings and on cold days. The best investment I've made in ages.
Quite a few people have been surprised to see it where it is but have gone away with ideas of doing the same in their own conservatories.
I'm very new at all this but enjoy the steep learning curve.
Thanks again.
Dave