Seasoned Wood... and other questions?

[joshuaboston]

I have wood from 4 different sources, some not as dry as others. Do people ever mix their wet wood with dry wood or are we suppose to NEVER use wet wood. And when I say wet, I just mean the moister level is above 20%... So lets say you have a bunch of wood that is like 35% and other wood that is 15%.

OR should I just wait until next season to use the wet wood? and try to buy some seasoned wood?

ALSO,

What is a good price for fire wood?

AND

OK, so my insert is suppose to be installed in about a week. I would like to know if people buy fans or other fireplace paraphernalia to help maintain their stove or help start the fire? I did buy 100 pieces of Super Cedar.

Thanks for your response.

 

[bholler]

I have wood from 4 different sources, some not as dry as others. Do people ever mix their wet wood with dry wood or are we suppose to NEVER use wet wood. And when I say wet, I just mean the moister level is above 20%... So lets say you have a bunch of wood that is like 35% and other wood that is 15%.

OR should I just wait until next season to use the wet wood? and try to buy some seasoned wood?

ALSO,

What is a good price for fire wood?

AND

OK, so my insert is suppose to be installed in about a week. I would like to know if people buy fans or other fireplace paraphernalia to help maintain their stove or help start the fire? I did buy 100 pieces of Super Cedar.

Thanks for your response.

You should not use wood that is 35% you could probably get away with mixing 15% with stuff under 25 but it wont be great.

As far as price goes that varies greatly by area so it is hard for anyone out of your area to give an answer. Here it goes for under 200 a cord but you cant buy anything close to ready to burn.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I agree with the above. Don't mix in wet wood. Wet wood make for a poor experience. Wood here is about 250 per cord. Im not sure if theres cheeper, i process all of my wood so i'v never gotten wood from a supplier. As far as the unseasoned wood goes I would start to build a wood shed or something for wood storage and start drying that wood out immediately if you have Hardwoods like Oak that is 35% it's still may not be ready for burning in 2019.
How much seasoned wood do you have and how much unseasoned....

 

[joshuaboston]

I don't know how much wood I have...

I have two LARGE limbs that are about 2 - 3 years old but it needs to be cut up (I will plan on doing this). And I don't have a storage shed but I do have a decent area under my porch which I think will work decently.

I also have some 2x4 that I never used (as far as I know they are untreated).

I think I will use what I have and buy a bunch of wood after the season and start seasoning it in my garage and under the porch.

 

[joshuaboston]

Some of my wood is from a VERY large cherry tree. And my 2x4 is spruce, not pine.

 

[Beer Belly]

I also have some 2x4 that I never used (as far as I know they are untreated).

I think I will use what I have and buy a bunch of wood after the season and start seasoning it in my garage and under the porch.

Unless you are 100% sure the 2x4 is untreated, please do not burn it. Also, the wood would season better in an area of direct sun and wind / breeze....not in a garage

 

[Dug8498]

I had some wood in my garage for a while after the winter and it didn't season at all until I brought it outside and stacked in the open. I'm about 45 min north of you and wood is pretty expensive in this area. For "seasoned" wood you'd be paying $350-$400 per cord and it probably wouldn't be all that seasoned; for most of these guys it means they split the wood in the spring and left it in a big pile for 6 months. You can get unseasoned cords for $250-$350 up here right now, but who knows, it may be even more expensive for you as you're in/close to a city.

Have you looked at buying some bio-bricks for this season?

 

[kennyp2339]

Wet wood, here's some hillbilly logic and reasoning... (1) split that weighs 10lbs (not uncommon) @ 30% moisture - that's 3 lbs of water. Now you load your stove up with 5 of those 10lbs splits, you have 15lbs of water or almost 1.8 gallons of water in that stove load. By burning wood @ 18% moisture content that same load will have nearly 1 gal less of water in it.
Granted probably .8gal of water is spread though out the load of firewood and will be steamed away without decreasing stove output, but an additional whole gallon will have bad consequences, question... would you dump a whole gallon of water into your stove when the fire is going?

 

[blades]

The term season wood is the new buzz word for sellers - has literately no bearing on what the moisture content maybe or may not be. wood does not particularly dry sitting in cut up chunks of logs. Doesn't really start drying until split and stacked- big piles are not particularly condusive to proper drying either. Kiln dried is getting to be another buzz word- unless it has been in an operating kiln for at least 30 hours it is just a bug killing deal- nothing wrong with that but it isn't dry to less than 20% moisture content internally which is what counts and what you are supposedly paying for. Surface looks or testing with a moisture meter is not going to tell the true story. To properly test the piece of wood, it needs to be at room temperature then split again and the internal exposed area tested. Moisture meters are available at most of the diy stores for $20 on up. The units are calibrated for furniture type materials- for our purposes that will suffice.

 

[joshuaboston]

OK...

I have WET seasoned wood (wet from the rain). How long does it take to dry if I bring it into my garage?

 

[Dug8498]

In your original post you say that your wood is measuring above 20%. How far above 20% is it measuring on a freshly split piece at room temp?

 

[BIGChrisNH]

Boston area cord prices are probably high, I haven't seen much advertised for less than $350 and I'm in Southern NH. I agree with all the above comments about mixing in wet wood, wood at 35% or so is going to hiss like a mother, and a lot of the energy in the stove is going to be expended burning off that water instead of producing heat.

As far as wet from the rain goes, if the wood is seasoned, a bit wet from rain doesn't matter too much, I bring mine in sometimes and it may have some surface moisture on it but be seasoned for 2 season say, at that point maybe it hissed a bit in the stove but if you move it under good cover the surface moisture isn't anything to be concerned about in my opinion.

 

[PaulOinMA]

What town are you in? If not actually in Boston, check the Action Unlimited for firewood. Classifieds in the back. Some ads list seasoned firewood.

https://actionunlimited.com/read-the-paper/

 

[Manly]

Wet wood, here's some hillbilly logic and reasoning... (1) split that weighs 10lbs (not uncommon) @ 30% moisture - that's 3 lbs of water. Now you load your stove up with 5 of those 10lbs splits, you have 15lbs of water or almost 1.8 gallons of water in that stove load. By burning wood @ 18% moisture content that same load will have nearly 1 gal less of water in it.
Granted probably .8gal of water is spread though out the load of firewood and will be steamed away without decreasing stove output, but an additional whole gallon will have bad consequences, question... would you dump a whole gallon of water into your stove when the fire is going?

That is some good ciphering. I like the cut of you jib.