Ready for Winter 2014 and beyond Down Under

[Apprentice_GM]

G'day All, getting cold enough to burn yet for you Northern Hemisphere folk? It's stinking hot here, high 30's to 40 degrees C (90 to 100+ F) with bushfires raging already . . . over 200 homes destroyed and dozens of fires with some big ones eg 300kms of firefront, and they reckon the next 2 days will be worse . . .

Having burned my way through ~7.5 cords 2011-2013 (see this thread) I have replenished my stacks from some backyard clearing including my Big Tree Drop (documented here with video of the tree almost falling on my car!) over the last few months. I've used a 40 ton petrol splitter manouvering 600mm long x 750mm diameter rounds into place for vertical splitting and used a wheel barrow to shift firewood to the stack locations, and near killed myself for ~5.5 cords. I take my hat off to you guys still maul-splitting, and I can't believe old timers did it all with axe and maul. Legends!

Row 1 along fence most splits 24 inches long, mixed Aussie hardwoods (bluegum, turpentine, paperbark)

Row 2 freestanding, left half (darker red) is bluegum and right half (lighter yellow) is turpentine.

 

[curber]

Nice looking stacks there!! Pat

 

[Jags]

Sad news on the brushfires.

Good news on getting those stacks back up to par. Yes, many are burning now. I am, and have been for about 3 weeks. Mostly once per day, but the pace is picking up.

Those are some sweet looking stacks...and just think about what those high temps are doing for the drying process.

 

[Auzzie Gumtree]

Them fires look scary - I remember the ones here (in Vic) a couple of years ago . Just looking at your awesome stacks - how long are you finding the seasoning time is for the hardwoods you have? i pretty new to all this and just got through my first season - i was quite surprised at how long it is taking for my wood to dry. i am close to 5 years in front with my longest seasoned wood being ~ 18 months but still not perfect. Also how soon does your gum wood turn the darker shade? Mine is still pretty light with no cracking on the sides which i would suggest means its drying very slowly.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Nice work Auzzie. Read about the fires. Terrible.

It is difficult to compare your firewood to ours but it seems most wood should be ready in 2-3 years with no problems. In addition, I believe you are in a dry climate and that helps a lot.

Don't worry about cracking on the ends. Some wood cracks a lot and some doesn't. Even on those that do, it is almost meaningless as it only shows that there has been some drying right there on the ends but says nothing about the rest of the wood.

 

[Auzzie Gumtree]

Don't worry about cracking on the ends. Some wood cracks a lot and some doesn't. Even on those that do, it is almost meaningless as it only shows that there has been some drying right there on the ends but says nothing about the rest of the wood.

Thanks for putting my mind at ease - who would have thought there was so much to burning wood

 

[Apprentice_GM]

<snip>Just looking at your awesome stacks - how long are you finding the seasoning time is for the hardwoods you have? i pretty new to all this and just got through my first season - i was quite surprised at how long it is taking for my wood to dry. i am close to 5 years in front with my longest seasoned wood being ~ 18 months but still not perfect. Also how soon does your gum wood turn the darker shade? Mine is still pretty light with no cracking on the sides which i would suggest means its drying very slowly.

G'day mate,

I have a good spot for sun & wind to season them and find they go grey - at least the exposed bits I can see - within a year. They've noticeably faded / weathered after 6 months over summer. I get a fair bit of cracking on the ends of all my hardwoods, the larger the cross-section, the more cracking. Do yours get direct sun & lots of it?

I always do at least 2 summers of seasoning, preferably 3. I always buck (cut) my rounds into 600mm / 24 inch lengths and I think it takes a bit longer than say 450mm / 18 inch lengths to season given the same cross-sectional area. I have a theory that it's easier for water to work along the grain and escape than going across the grain. That may be why it takes my longer lengths longer to season, however, it might just be a function of larger mass / volume needing longer. When splitting I split into 2 sizes, medium and large, the large ones intended for overnight burns. The medium splits definitely season well enough in 2 summers and are excellent after 3 summers. The larger splits are "OK" after 2 summers but really need 3 summers to be like the medium splits after 2 summers seasoning.

I am working on stacking a little more loosely nowadays for better airflow - I used to stack too tightly. The old phrase "loose enough for a mouse to get through but a cat can't chase it" is helpful (I picked up that bit of wisdom from these forums but can't credit the author due to bad memory).

The fires are terrible, over 1600kms of firefront at the moment and 120,000 hectares (250,000 acres) burnt out so far, 208 homes, 1 death from a resident who chose to stay and defend and saved his house but had a heart attack. Take care all, stay warm you northerners - no problems for us Aussies in that regard!

 

[Auzzie Gumtree]

Do yours get direct sun & lots of it?

Not really - the stacks get ~ 3 hours a day (more in summer) but i have lopped a few trees to try and get a bit less shade. There is plenty of wind though. I have re-stacked part of my pile which had been cut 18 months ago and stacked it looser and more out in the sun, i will use this next year. i dont cut any of the wood i get it all comes ready cut from scrounges around the area. I have also scrounged some Pine and Poplar which i hope will season in time for next year. The rest of the pile ~ 3 years worth will get another 2 summers at least to dry.

The old phrase "loose enough for a mouse to get through but a cat can't chase it" is helpful (I picked up that bit of wisdom from these forums but can't credit the author due to bad memory).

My problem with stacking is the limit of available space and inconsistencies in wood length which make it hard to stack too high. you have to do the best you can with what you have, i have top covered the main stack to try and keep all this rain out.

The fires are terrible, over 1600kms of firefront at the moment and 120,000 hectares (250,000 acres) burnt out so far, 208 homes, 1 death from a resident who chose to stay and defend and saved his house but had a heart attack. Take care all, stay warm you northerners - no problems for us Aussies in that regard!

I remember the fires over here - they were devastating. we are in a fire danger area living in the forest - make a plan and stick to it. If you are leaving - leave early. My thoughts are with all those affected.