Newish

[awicherr]

HI,
I have been lurking around this site for some time now and finally decided to create an account. There is a ton of good information on this page and i find it very useful. We recently moved and all the firewod stayed at the previous property. This house has a hotblast 1557m that came with it. There was slab wood here that held me over this spring and kept the house warm. I managed to scrounge up about 3 cords of what i know will be ready to burn this year but wanted to get a year or two ahead so i bought a load of logs off a local tree company. He said most of the logs had been down for about 6 months. This is what i had sorted out while splitting and considered to be more dry than the rest. Never bought logs before but the bark isn't dropping off. Weight and sound is about right but its not cracking on the ends and the bark is still pretty snug. Anyone have experience with purchasing logs?

 

[kennyp2339]

I burn plenty of cord wood that has been drying on my racks 3+ years and the bark is still as tight on the wood as the day it came to the house. Honestly the only tree's that the bark falls off real easy while drying is red oak and white ash, and those are the trunk wood, larger branches or leaders tend to keep there bark on tight the whole time.

 

[awicherr]

I burn plenty of cord wood that has been drying on my racks 3+ years and the bark is still as tight on the wood as the day it came to the house. Honestly the only tree's that the bark falls off real easy while drying is red oak and white ash, and those are the trunk wood, larger branches or leaders tend to keep there bark on tight the whole time.

I appreciate the insight never had to be really worried about if it was dry or not always had a good stock pile.

 

[blades]

Siberian Elm ( red elm /slippery elm/ piss elm, maybe a couple other names) the bark will get loose and drop off also. Logs do not dry out in a years time for the most part, Needs to be split to properly dry- moisture content 20% or less.

 

[johneh]

Buy yourself a moisture meter
You then will know where you are at

 

[awicherr]

Buy yourself a moisture meter
You then will know where you are at

Yeah i was thinking about one but this womt be burned until next year. I pulled two green green maples put of the load and rounded them out everything else was into the drying stage. But again this is for next year just trying to see of these were actually 6ish months down. I kmow some trees let bark loose depending on when you cut it. Used to burn a lot when i live with my parents but as far as i remember we had piles of logs laying around and every spring time i waa told to buck it split it and stack it behind the old. Isually when i cut it the bark would fall off . And thats where i got all my old fire wood from. Never delt with much stuff that was dumped that year as it stands now two more loads of decent hard woods plus a monster alanthus and a monster cotton wood this winter i should be prepped enough just wanted to get sole insight on some fresh logs is all

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Yeah i was thinking about one but this womt be burned until next year. I pulled two green green maples put of the load and rounded them out everything else was into the drying stage. But again this is for next year just trying to see of these were actually 6ish months down. I kmow some trees let bark loose depending on when you cut it. Used to burn a lot when i live with my parents but as far as i remember we had piles of logs laying around and every spring time i waa told to buck it split it and stack it behind the old. Isually when i cut it the bark would fall off . And thats where i got all my old fire wood from. Never delt with much stuff that was dumped that year as it stands now two more loads of decent hard woods plus a monster alanthus and a monster cotton wood this winter i should be prepped enough just wanted to get sole insight on some fresh logs is all

The seasoning process really doesn't start untill the wood is split. So being in log lenth for 6mo makes no difference. You will be surprised on how high the moisture content is on the wood. Id get a moisture meter and check the wood on a fresh split on the just opened face. The majority of my wood has the bark tight to the split and I'm at 15% mc.. I've done a kiln and gotten cherry to 2% mc and the bark is still tight and no checking and the end of the split.. really the only way to tell is with a MM.. My sister inlaw Swears she can tell by the sound of the wood and how it looks if its dry enough.. I asked her to pull out any dry piece and she handed me one, I opened it up and put the MM on it and it was 25% mc.. not dry..

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Bark doesn't always fall off fast. I have quite a few splits 3 years old with tight bark, but they're ready to burn.

 

[xman23]

Take a look at your stack location, between those large trees. I guessing, the wood maybe in in shade much of the day. If so, look for a location that gets sun and a breeze. For me top cover is needed. rain, snow and humidity.

 

[kennyp2339]

If your stacking double rows on pallets, try this method, stack a double row about 4ft high then in the middle of the two rows stack another foot or higher, this creates a ridge and then when you top cover water / snow just slides off the sides, works well for me.

 

[Stelcom66]

There's a logging company around here that sells log length firewood. if you have the resources to get them home they always seem to be a great deal. Years ago when my late neighbor was probably in his early 80s he paid for the truck to deliver logs to his house, equipped with the appliance that looks like a claw to lift them out of the truck and lay them in his yard.

A technique i learned from him (should have been obvious to me) that when bringing home logs several feet long in your pickup truck, don't
take them out - use the truck a a sawhorse and cut them hanging over the tailgate.