Got a moisture meeter today and damn my wood is 45% couldn't get to cutting wood until August because of a flood had planned on getting it in the spring but was flooded from December to August.
Moisture
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I got to burn it this year as i did last year i will give the stack a mid season cleaning this year
I have burned a few fires with it and it doesn't seem that bad but then again i have never burned seasoned wood before in a modern stove to compare
You will be wasting massive amounts of BTUs driving the moisture out of your wood. If that was my only option for a wood supply I would be looking for another heat source this winter.
If you have a tractor supply or menards near you, go by there and get some compressed blocks and try them. I keep some on hand for when its really nasty outside and I don't want to pull in wood.
Something like this:
Something like this:
Is mixing those with the wood i have be any better?i might have to break down and buy a cord if its seasoned i have some people i know with tree trimming business
99% of the "seasoned" wood you will find is going to be just as wet as your wood.
Bummer on the moisture content, it's really not worth burning as such a high level. You'll hear hissing-n-pissing sounds and struggle to get any heat what so ever, also the secondary issues with cat, chimney, and otherwise b/c to low heat and not an efficient burn. Good luck with alternatives you mention, or pallets, free wood on CL, or bio-bricks, etc.
Beer Belly
Minister of Fire
Anybody in your area have an abundance of wood that is seasoned that maybe you can cut a trade deal with.....Cord for Cord would be great
maple1
Minister of Fire
If you try to burn this wood this winter, you will be in the same boat again next year. As it sounds like you were last year. Along with whatever you end up doing this winter (I would suggest getting some biobricks or the like, or just using another heat source), you should also be working at getting next years wood processed & ready, right now.
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
If your wood is quality oak or hickory, and if I lived near you, I would swap you a couple truck loads of some really dry wood.
However, not worth driving down there from the NC mountains.
You must learn to be a good Boy Scout, and Be Prepared. Even if you had gotten the wood in the spring, it would not be dry enough to burn.
However, not worth driving down there from the NC mountains.
You must learn to be a good Boy Scout, and Be Prepared. Even if you had gotten the wood in the spring, it would not be dry enough to burn.
Seems like he has next years wood processed and ready, what he needs to do right now is find some wood to burn this year!
What specie is the 45% wood? I hope it's a quick drier, like soft Maple or Cherry. Maybe Elm or Sweetgum can dry in a year, I don't know (I'm wondering about these two since my BIL just stacked some, and it was from live trees.) But Oak, hard Maple, Ash, Hickory or other dense woods all need a couple years in the stack.
Id be checking out area sawmills for cutoffs or demolition jobs for floor joists if my wood was 45%.
Jan Pijpelink
Minister of Fire
Thanks for the advice just found out the deer camp has about a cord of last years ash left and since it's a open fireplace im going to swamp some out and i have been collecting scraps of building sites were my stepdad builds houses..and how would old oak hardwood floors burn in a non cat i just tore out alot of floors
Jan Pijpelink
Minister of Fire
Hardwood floors have (in most cases) polyurethane or other coatings on it. I would never burn that.
K-Mac
New Member
i got a truckload of saw cutoffs this year as an experiment. i mix them in with my splits at startup. has gone great so far and id do it again. has saved me from having to split smaller pieces myself and they were cheap. wasnt real enjoyable to stack them though 
youre going to hate life if youre trying to keep very wet wood burning! and you cant trust people selling "seasoned wood" at all! had a guy this year tell me it was seasoned under 20% moisture wood.....the wood from the tree he brought me had been cut down AFTER our conversation!! no one wants to store wood in their own property that they want to sell.....so in order for you to have good seasoned wood you just have to commit to storing and seasoning it on your own property. i finally got real aggressive and built up 2 seasons worth (going into year 3 of burning wood for home heating). my next plan is to slowly build up to a 3rd years worth over the next couple of years.
youre going to hate life if youre trying to keep very wet wood burning! and you cant trust people selling "seasoned wood" at all! had a guy this year tell me it was seasoned under 20% moisture wood.....the wood from the tree he brought me had been cut down AFTER our conversation!! no one wants to store wood in their own property that they want to sell.....so in order for you to have good seasoned wood you just have to commit to storing and seasoning it on your own property. i finally got real aggressive and built up 2 seasons worth (going into year 3 of burning wood for home heating). my next plan is to slowly build up to a 3rd years worth over the next couple of years.
Im still cutting and will be every weekend until deer season opens the weekend before Thanksgiving im goint to burn what i have to burn with construction scraps added but i should have the few cords i need for next year left
Bad thing its white oak been split for a year snd and a half i think white oak is also called a water oak.so i want know the moisture until i actually get itWhen you're not quite prepared, it sure is nice to get lucky.
I thought it was Ash?
I think Red Oak may dry slower than White Oak. 1.5 yrs. may be pushing it but I would check several splits, for sure.
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