I hate seasoning oak thread!

[HDRock]

I wonder if perhaps being on sandy ground makes more of a difference than what I thought. For sure the wood will dry better on sandy ground than on clay, especially in a wet year.

I never thought about it, but that's something ,I should probably consider because It's clay here

 

[Pallet Pete]

I just started out last year, from reading all the info on here ,I decided I am going to stack my Oak and Hickory with this set up, single rows,
will be much longer than pic though

View attachment 107125

Those pallets look strangely familiar !

Pete

 

[HDRock]

Those pallets look strangely familiar !

Pete

Yes sir re, those are the ones U gave me, I have 27ft of double row dead ash stacked on them babies so far And some keeping rounds off da ground

 

[Pallet Pete]

Yes sir re, those are the ones U gave me, I have 27ft of double row dead ash stacked on them babies so far And some keeping rounds off da ground

Got more if you want em too !

Pete

 

[oldspark]

Two summers and my Bur Oak is below 20%.

 

[HDRock]

Got more if you want em too !

Pete

Thanks Pete
I'll let ya know if I do

 

[Woody Stover]

Damn, I was counting on that double-row Oak over at my SIL's this winter. I'd better pull some splits and meter 'em. I may have to drag it up out of the woods and single row it where's there's more air,

To follow up, I went over there, prepared to move a row up, but first I started digging around in the stack a little bit. That stuff is dry and ready to go. I didn't meter it but it was nice and light (for Red Oak.) So I'm hoping I live in the land of two-year Oak, if it's not split bigger than about 5". This was stacked Jan 2012, but there's an unknown. SIL scrounged it and it was already split, but I don't know how long for. Maybe a few months max, because I remember that when we picked it up it was heavy and looked pretty fresh.

 

[USMC80]

I get away with two years for Oak

 

[tomc585]

I've been successful at seasoning oak (that's been suitable for burning) in about 16 months. Most of what I have been burning is no less than 2 1/2 years. If I store it longer I run into a problem with lichen growth due to the limited space I have in open areas.

But nothing beats burning well seasoned oak so its worth the wait.....except natural gas but it's 200' away from my house.

 

[Todd]

I fill my shed with 2 years worth of mostly Red and White Oak and it is all usually under 20% moisture by the time it sees the stove. I do run into an occasional sizzler if its a larger round or split.

 

[iceman]

I hate seasoning oak and just got burned!
2 cord of debarked oak that sat on the deck for a year log length....
Guess what ... Its not even starting to cheek on the sides at all!
Hopefully this will be ready by Dec/jan
But for those of you who really need your oak to season, here is what I do...
I stack it in 3 rows each box fan width apart... Put whatever you choose on top to cover and turn on 2 box fans couple hrs a day when you can remember (timer works best) and bam! Dry wood... You might notice 2-3 bucks more electricity a month... This is what I learned to do when in a hurry. Also, during the winter I bring in a week's worth so the dry air and fan speed it up .. then I put the next load close to the stove but far enough away and after 10 hrs its fine ... Seems like a lot but its really not. Or put a cord in a garage and put a fan on it it all works

 

[PapaDave]

Almost any other wood is good in one full year and this oak I have right now will be 36 months since split this winter and still won't be ready.

You're doing it wrong.

 

[PapaDave]

2 cord of debarked oak that sat on the deck for a year log length.... Guess what ... Its not even starting to cheek on the sides at all!

You're doing it wrong.

 

[blwncrewchief]

You're doing it wrong.

Really. You want to show us how it's done then.

I have some white oak at 39 months that is 23-25%. Stacked single row and 5-8" splits.

Now I also have some white oak from a different tree at 22 months that is 19-22% stacked 20 feet away. Same size, same stacking, same exposure.

 

[HDRock]

Just busted open some 25in white oak rounds today, I picked up in May , was felled a couple years ago, It's 25 to 30% inside.
What MC does green fresh oak start out at ??

 

[HDRock]

I hate seasoning oak and just got burned!
2 cord of debarked oak that sat on the deck for a year log length....
Guess what ... Its not even starting to cheek on the sides at all!
Hopefully this will be ready by Dec/jan
But for those of you who really need your oak to season, here is what I do...
I stack it in 3 rows each box fan width apart... Put whatever you choose on top to cover and turn on 2 box fans couple hrs a day when you can remember (timer works best) and bam! Dry wood... You might notice 2-3 bucks more electricity a month... This is what I learned to do when in a hurry. Also, during the winter I bring in a week's worth so the dry air and fan speed it up .. then I put the next load close to the stove but far enough away and after 10 hrs its fine ... Seems like a lot but its really not. Or put a cord in a garage and put a fan on it it all works

How do U keep the electrical, safe from water, cords, fans ??

 

[iceman]

Cover the wood with plywood etc the fans are 1-2 feet in using outdoor ext cords and Xmas timers
I only do this when I get pressed to get it seasoned in time .... Like this year LOL

 

[rdust]

You're doing it wrong.

Obviously I'm doing it wrong! I'm in the process of changing my stacks around for one "last" time. No more double rows single from here on out. If this doesn't help I've got nothing!

 

[PapaDave]

Yeah, I knew you're working on it.
Takes time.
I'm glad you took that in the spirit it was typed.

 

[HDRock]

Some good Info for ya
(broken link removed to http://www.warnell.uga.edu/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Live-Oak-Keynote-pub.pdf)
(broken link removed to http://montgomerycountywoodturners.org/Documents/Tip29-MoistureContentandWoodShrinkage.pdf)

 

[HDRock]

Cover the wood with plywood etc the fans are 1-2 feet in using outdoor ext cords and Xmas timers
I only do this when I get pressed to get it seasoned in time .... Like this year LOL

Do U use a GFI on the set up ??

 

[iceman]

Never thought of using one! That a good idea though but I do believe that the winter outdoor timer does have a reset button on it. That would make it a one I suppose.. I better look into it.
I don't run these everyday, I try to do it on days its dry with low depoints and humidity to speed up drying

 

[Jon1270]

What MC does green fresh oak start out at ??

I've oven-dried samples of two oaks within a couple of hours of when the trees were taken down, so I could calculate initial moisture content. The red oak was 79% (dry basis) and the white oak was 80%.

I've been tracking the drying of some splits from those same trees, along with some mulberry and elm. One thing the experiment seems to be teaching me is that top-covering is important (or at least helpful) in even a moderately rainy climate. Rain didn't have much effect on the drying process during the first couple of months after a tree was cut, when the wood was very wet anyhow. But the drier the wood gets, the more effect rain has on it. All of my samples, which are sitting out on top of a stack in a sunny spot, exposed to both rain and sun, are slightly wetter now than they were two weeks ago, despite high summer temps, because periodic wetting has erased any gains.

 

[oldspark]

Are you splitting the wood and testing a fresh split after it rains, usually the moisture from a rain is just a short distance in the split of wood.

 

[Jon1270]

Are you splitting the wood and testing a fresh split after it rains, usually the moisture from a rain is just a short distance in the split of wood.

No, these tests are all by weight so they are measuring the average MC, not the spot MC at the surface or interior. You're right that the surface moisture dries off fairly quickly (within a few sunny days) but that hasn't been fast enough this summer, since it's been raining so frequently.