Oak moisture

[Jasper]

last year was my first year burning and I had some oak that was dry (18%) but not much. I also had poplar and sweet gum that was close to to being dry and a ton of oak that was only cut and stacked 6 months that was around 35%. I got lucky and got a few loads of slab wood to supplement. Over all I was happy with the stove performance with non ideal wood but I seemed to go through wood faster than I thought.

So yesterday I pulled a few oak splits that had been stacked since last May and split them and put the meter on them. I was very surprised to see that the oak was all in the 18% range after hearing it can take up to 3 years for it to dry out. Could it be because I'm in the south (upstate sc) and the hot wether is longer than you northern guys? Oh yeah when I went inside and excitedly told my wife and five year old I got a sarcastic "congratulations" from the wife. The five year old wanted to build a fire that nigh.

 

[Husky]

I burned red oak for many years. I always had good luck getting it dry in 18 months. I think a lot has to do with the way you stack it, where it is stacked and how you cover it. Your readings do not surprise me. Burn some and you will know. Oak when seasoned burns hot, long and leaves a good coal bed.

 

[Jasper]

It's been stacked loosely under an open tin roofed shed and never gets rained on but gets hot as an oven. So maybe that sped things up a bit

 

[Mettlemickey]

I checked out my wood stack recently and had similar results. Amongst other things I found that my white oak, which has been split and in there for just a year (maybe a little less) is around 17-18%.

I had a test fire on Thursday night as I doubted my meter given the short time its been in there. The oak burn well. I got the fire going with a few bits of birch and beech, then threw on a few pieces of oak that burnt long and slow.

Very pleasantly surprised.

 

[kennyp2339]

I think is about your climate, stack location and split size. My average split size is about 5" thick. I live in NNJ so we have a fairly temperate climate (gets hot in the summer, pretty cold in the winter) My stack location is pretty much full sun exposure with nothing stopping the wind. I can safely say that oak will season fully <16% in two years.
I split up a green oak tree and stacked it in the spring, I checked it in mid fall with my meter and saw that is was floating around 24% range after 6 months. Oak sometimes seems like it dries quick from green to mid 20's % then it takes forever to get to the teens percentage, I think that's due to the density of the wood.