seasoning red oak in the oven?

[michaelthomas]

This might sound a bit strange, but here it goes. My mom burns a ton of pine as she lives in the mountains in colorado and pine is mostly all you can get up there, whenever she is out to visit me in Maine she is amazed at how hot and long our red oak burns. I would like to send her a big stick of red oak wrapped in the christmas box we are sending her. Kind of a joke but I am sure she will love to burn it. I have a perfect size oak split but I just cut and split it this fall so my question is ...how can I quickly season a 4x4x16" stick of oak. 2 reasons to season it are to lessen the shipping charge (since it is only firewood I don't want to spend $20 to ship a stick) and to have it ready for her to burn upon arrival. My wife has forbid from using HER oven but there are ways around that. She should know that by forbidding me from doing anything pretty much seals the deal and I am going to do it. How can I do it safely and efficiently. Thanks

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'm sure she's already figured it out.

Look into priority mail. If you can fit it in the box, you can mail it at any weight.

Matt

 

[DriftWood]

FedEx Ground Home Delivery is reliable and the lowest at hi weights. Why don't you send her a cleaned up slit off the seasoned pile?

 

[DiscoInferno]

I have put small splits in the oven before, to find out their relative moisture content. It works fine and doesn't stink or make a mess if you are careful, just don't turn it up much past 200-250 F, and don't forget about it. A few hours at 250 should make it burnable.

 

[kd460]

How about the microwave? After all people use them to dry their poodles! KD

 

[ourhouse]

Do you have a place that sells kiln dried firewood near you? They might be able to help out.

 

[Eric Johnson]

You can microwave it, too, but there aren't many radar ranges that can accommodate a decent piece of firewood.

Seriously, a few hours in a conventional oven at low temp (150-200) is how kiln drying researchers do it. Just keep an eye on it.

 

[heydan]

Maybe if you just set it near your hot wood stove for a few days that will do the trick. Most other things dry out real fast near a wood stove.

 

[Henz]

if you really were a decent son you should rent a u-haul, fill it to the max with oak and suprise her on christmas day!

 

[stangds]

moving firewood across the country isn't a smart thing to do now with emerald ash borer, and who knows what other bugs are around. several states have county by county firewood quarantines.

be aware that it will "stink up" your house if you do it in the oven. if you cook it to 160 and hold it there a while it will kill any critters in it.

 

[Henz]

now thats an interesting aspect that I never thought of..Humm...maybe I will do alittle research on that topic.

 

[hardwood715]

You can microwave it, too, but there aren’t many radar ranges that can accommodate a decent piece of firewood.

Seriously, a few hours in a conventional oven at low temp (150-200) is how kiln drying researchers do it. Just keep an eye on it.

Just be careful when you walk outside, them carpenter ants and termites will be lined up at the door with thier bibs on!

 

[Turner-n-Burner]

The microwave really does work - I use it regularly to dry rough turned bowls. You can take a fresh cut piece to ~8% moisture content in a few short bursts - and the heat helps prevent cracking.

If it'll fit in your microwave, nuke it for a few minutes at medium power, then let it cool, and do it again. As moisture comes out of it, increase the lenght of time you nuke for. Shouldn't take long at all to get dry enough to burn well.

-Dan