is it seasoned or not

[tumm21]

OK I just went outside on the deck to roast some marshmellows with the wife and kids and I figured I would see just how seasoned my pignut hickory is. I got a blaze going with my oak strips from the cabinet shop( Keep in mind these pieces are kiln dried, )and then threw in about 3 pieces of hickory. There was no water or hissing from the hickory, but I had a hell of a time trying to get it light. Is this normal with hickory, or should it light pretty quick. We were out there for about 2 hours and after about maybe 45 minutes it was burning. Just a reminder no water came out of the wood. It just turned black like charcole. Then it lit later. What do you guys think. Am I dead in the weater this year for heat?

 

[onetracker]

hmmm.....

can't say i've burned too much pignut. mostly shagbark and when its seasoned it roars in my stove like any other good seasoned hardwood. actually someone in my house (no one will 'fess up) musta left the door open one aftenoon and warped the baffle on my insert.

your results may vary.

OT

 

[Wood Duck]

I think if it took a long time to light, it probably isn't well seasoned yet. I have burnt plenty of unseasoned wood in camp fires and it doesn't necessarily hiss, but may just sort of sit there burning only a little on the edges (I assume losing water) until it finally lights up and really starts burning.

 

[oldspark]

Dense wood like Hickory on some Oak strips (not a nice large coal bed) is going to start hard, less dense wood much easier to get going.

 

[gzecc]

Tell us how long its been split, and stacked in single rows off the ground. We can then give you a good idea.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

For sure taking that long to light, I would not put it into a stove for a while. Oldspark is right that some woods like oak and hickory can take longer to light off but it should not be as you have stated. btw, what oldspark mentioned is why we've almost always put in a soft maple when loading the stove because that lights off really fast (makes excellent kindling too) and helps get the harder woods started sooner.

I say leave it in the stack yet.

 

[smokinj]

On the bbq last night I started pignut and apple with dozen sheets of newspaper. Pignut was cut in april.

 

[CTYank]

To get to the heart of the matter, "seasoned" is so fuzzy, meaning so many different things to so many people, that it's meaningless. What you can't quantify, you really don't understand.

To move forward, tell us about moisture-content (MC) of the wood. Generally expressed as a percentage- moisture density (e.g. lb/cubic foot) / dry fiber density (in same units). For crude guideline, 20% is getting there, 10-15% is about as well as MOST folks will see outdoors, 5-10% is extra-primo- possible after indoor storage for a few weeks. And, yes, the lower the MC, the better. Except for smoke dragons and fireplace back-logs.

For your best results:
Learn how to dry wood rapidly outdoors (how to cover it a big plus).
Learn how to measure MC quickly and simply (eventually, by inspection.)

You can get a decent moisture-meter (MM) for $10, and then let it save you from all that wild speculation. Many will volunteer operation how-to-s.

Yes, your hickory was way too wet; your test was, in fact, a "quick, cheap, and dirty" way to evaluate it. (Like sampling a vintage.)

 

[Todd]

CTYank,
How do you get your wood down to 5-10%? You have a kiln? Every stove manual and firewood site on the net states 15-20% is best and <25% is burnable. I don't think you can get firewood under 15% unless you live in a desert or have a kiln. Even inside the humidity would never get that low to allow 5-10%.

As far as the Hickory goes it's very dense and if it's anything like the Black Locust I burn it takes awhile to lite off and it will burn differently in a stove compared to a fire pit. Also could be the splits are a little large? It's probably good for the stove if it isn't hissing imo.

 

[tumm21]

its been split and stacked since early March. Its stacked on pallets 2 rows deep by probably 65 feet long. The bark is already falling right off it. So maybe 6 months split and stacked

 

[Jagtec1]

I'm guessing it needs another year to be ready to go. 6 months isn't all that long.

 

[rdust]

CTYank,
How do you get your wood down to 5-10%? You have a kiln? Every stove manual and firewood site on the net states 15-20% is best and <25% is burnable. I don't think you can get firewood under 15% unless you live in a desert or have a kiln. Even inside the humidity would never get that low to allow 5-10%.

x2, I split some rounds of elm that were 22 years old a couple years back and they were 12-14%. Wood I got from Dennis(backwoods savage) that was 6-7 years old was about 16-18%. In my area wood stored outside is never going to get down to those numbers IMO.

 

[gzecc]

its been split and stacked since early March. Its stacked on pallets 2 rows deep by probably 65 feet long. The bark is already falling right off it. So maybe 6 months split and stacked

6 mos is barely long enough, under perfect conditions for locust or white ash. For any other wood, they need at least a year. For oak it needs two years, split and stacked. Sorry, burning wood is a long term investment.