I Hear Ya Dennis!

[wkpoor]

I'm just a little behind the 8 ball this year, not with quantity, but with quality. So I ask my neigbhor that has the 20 cord supply if I could maybe get a dry cord and I would restock him. He said sure so I ask for a couple sticks to try and see if it was indeed better than what I had. So he hands me 2 medium splits of red oak that came off a 2 yr old stack. I take it home and throw it in the back of the old Elm. Wait a few minutes, open up the door and wow! Water literally running out the end of both pieces and bursting into steam. Dennis is always harping on the fuel quality, and righlty so. And this experiement reminded me how much I hate Oak. Sure its great firewood......if you can get it dry. There are plenty other species that will give off the same or better BTUs and don't take a lifetime to season. To name a few, ash, osage orange, and hickory.
So I go back out to my wood pile. Pull out some nasty bark falling off muddy half rotten whatever log. Cut it to lengths and split it. Take my glove off and yep, feels wet to the touch. Ain't no way this is going to work right? Decide what the heck, throw it in the stove, wait a few minutes, open the door.....no water no steam. Go Figure!
Seasoning firewood is all about removing water from the wood on the cellular level. And that can't always be determined from feel is my conclusion.

 

[oldspark]

Were they stacked in single rows in the wind and sun, I do not have that much problem with getting Oak (Burr) to season in 18 months.

 

[bogydave]

Wood sellers sell seasoned fire wood.
Don't mean that it's "dry" firewood.
Excellent point: "Do a test burn, tells you more than words every will, sometimes, even better than a moisture meter"

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'm just a little behind the 8 ball this year, not with quantity, but with quality. So I ask my neigbhor that has the 20 cord supply if I could maybe get a dry cord and I would restock him. He said sure so I ask for a couple sticks to try and see if it was indeed better than what I had. So he hands me 2 medium splits of red oak that came off a 2 yr old stack. I take it home and throw it in the back of the old Elm. Wait a few minutes, open up the door and wow! Water literally running out the end of both pieces and bursting into steam. Dennis is always harping on the fuel quality, and righlty so. And this experiement reminded me how much I hate Oak. Sure its great firewood......if you can get it dry. There are plenty other species that will give off the same or better BTUs and don't take a lifetime to season. To name a few, ash, osage orange, and hickory.
So I go back out to my wood pile. Pull out some nasty bark falling off muddy half rotten whatever log. Cut it to lengths and split it. Take my glove off and yep, feels wet to the touch. Ain't no way this is going to work right? Decide what the heck, throw it in the stove, wait a few minutes, open the door.....no water no steam. Go Figure!
Seasoning firewood is all about removing water from the wood on the cellular level. And that can't always be determined from feel is my conclusion.

Thank you wkpoor. I know several folks do hate oak for that reason but once it is dry, it is hard to beat. You just need time. Oldspark seems to get by with earlier burns and I have to wonder if oak does vary a bit from region to region. Also, I think his climate is a bit drier than ours. For him, I'm happy that he can get it to burn sooner. For me, I'll wait 3 years.

 

[PapaDave]

I'm with oldspark here. Where I dry my firewood has great wind
AND sun exposure, and it gets dry enough (most of it) in about 2 years to not cause problems. I will get an occasional hisser, but not much anymore.
Watch, later this season, I'll be mentioning how my wood is hissing at me. %-P

 

[FireAnt]

Like Dennis said. Burn 3-4+ Oak and you'll see why people like it.

 

[Thistle]

Must be drier here too cause I dont remember ever having to wait more than 2 yrs for any of my Red,Black,White or Bur Oak to be dry enough to burn well.

Close to 1/2 is ready within 18 months,the remainder either less or a bit more.That's whether it was a standing snag,deadfall or the (rare) live one cut in spring or summer. Single rows sure helps a great deal,once its ready the shed gets filled first (about 4 cords roughly) any remainder stays outside uncovered.

 

[BrotherBart]

Always scratching my head. 99 percent of what I burn is red and white oak. Cut split and top covered the same day with 18" space between the rows. This place is surrounded by 80 to 100 foot trees so just the top of the house sees much direct sun, wind is just what can jam itself through the woods and we get more annual rainfall than Seattle. Our first cloud free day since November 10, 2010 was two weeks ago.

And the stuff is ready to rock under 20% in two years like clockwork.

Excuse me if I don't stop top covering immediately. ;-P

 

[wkpoor]

Like Dennis I like to harp on firewood. For me its where to stack firewood when its outside. I like my wood way out in the open with nothing around it and no grass growing up nex to the pile. I don't stack next to buildings, next to trees or let weeds grow near my wood pile. My neigbhor is pretty much the same and his wood is all out in the open. At least I think it should be kept in those conditions until it is dry enough to go under roof where it can complete the process. I was very surprised because this wood felt so incredibly dry and ended up so wet. Maybe 75+ inches of rain didn't help this year.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wow. 75" of rain is pretty serious! And to think, the year is not over with yet.

 

[Thistle]

wow I thought we got soaked - normal winter snowmelt in March,then 24 inches rain from April to mid June - bigger 3 month total than the record floods of 1993 & 2008.Then the tap shut off,barely 4 inches from July to October.Inspite of 1" yesterday,most of the state is still in moderate to severe drought.Driest September & October in over 50 yrs.

 

[red oak]

From reading these posts I do think there is a lot of difference in seasoning times around the country. My red and white oak that has been c/s/s for two years burns great, and the stuff that's been seasoning for a year burns okay. Of course I cut stuff that's already dead so that does make a difference.

 

[rdust]

The red oak I'm dealing with this year has 31 months on it as of right now. I haven't burned but a few sticks since I don't need it yet but it burned nice. Last year I chose to burn my one year seasoned white ash over my 18 month oak. My oak is stacked in single rows with 3' between them and it still seasons slow. I'll take white ash any day of the week over the oak if I have to choose but I ain't gonna turn any oak away.

 

[wkpoor]

Wow. 75" of rain is pretty serious! And to think, the year is not over with yet.

It was so wet most crops didn't get in till almost July and some planted Beans even later. I planted 2 acres of sweet corn on July 1st. And basically it rained every 2nd or 3rd day the rest of the summer. No one has ever seen it this wet before. I did get a really good crop though.

 

[certified106]

Always scratching my head. 99 percent of what I burn is red and white oak. Cut split and top covered the same day with 18" space between the rows. This place is surrounded by 80 to 100 foot trees so just the top of the house sees much direct sun, wind is just what can jam itself through the woods and we get more annual rainfall than Seattle. Our first cloud free day since November 10, 2010 was two weeks ago.

And the stuff is ready to rock under 20% in two years like clockwork.

Excuse me if I don't stop top covering immediately. ;-P

I am with you, I top cover within a week of splitting and stacking and my stacks are back in the woods (hardly any sunlight my whole property is dense woods) and they are easily dry within 2 years. I left a stack back there for a year once with no top cover and it was as wet as the day I split it. I learned my lesson and top cover immediately now

 

[wkpoor]

Guess I've seen too many rotten wood piles left in the woods. My own person experience when we first started selling wood we processed in an open area in the woods. We had to deal with alot f wood getting rot in it in the first year. Once we moved the operation at to the field the problem went away totally. Uncovered wood 5yrs later is still good off the ground in the field. 1 yr max in the woods. No top cover was used.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wow. 75" of rain is pretty serious! And to think, the year is not over with yet.

It was so wet most crops didn't get in till almost July and some planted Beans even later. I planted 2 acres of sweet corn on July 1st. And basically it rained every 2nd or 3rd day the rest of the summer. No one has ever seen it this wet before. I did get a really good crop though.

I was wondering if any farming in your area. That 75" is almost double our annual total. And I can't imagine someone planting corn on July 1, at least in these parts. I have planted white beans on July 4 many moons ago and they did okay.

 

[wkpoor]

Well what me and farmers around here found out was with the 80 degree soil, high temps and plenty of moisture the corn crop flourished and made well ahead of schedule. I planted on a Saturday and Monday morning the spikes were through the ground. Already a week ahead at that point. My 75 day corn was ready in 60days and the 85 day corn was ready in 70days. I think the guys that decided to gamble and not take the insurance have made out like bandits. I think most field corn got in by 3rd week of June and Beans were in by 1st week of July.
I thought the garden was a bust too. Ended up with best garden ever even with stuff that was planted 1st week of August. Planted second round of green beans and got bumper crop end of Sept.