Seasoning Red vs. White oak

[FishKiller]

I got my hands on a pile of green red oak. i broke it down today and plan on getting it stacked asap. I've never dealt with green red oak before, how does it season compared to white oak? this is assuming all the conditions are the same of course. my father got a load of "seasoned oak" from a local tree guy, huge splits of red oak and it would hardly burn. i busted some of it up and it was green as could be. The tree guy swore it was from hurricane sandy in 2012 (which actually seemed legit). i guess i just have a sour taste about red since then... and in my experience, every time I have cut standing dead reds they tend to be punky or wet and take a year to dry out.

but! i'm pretty happy with the free score, probably 2 cords at the end of the day and more to come.

 

[Wisneaky]

it will take 3 to 4 years to dry enough to burn. Red oak retains water and white oak doesn't.

 

[Wood Duck]

I find them more or less the same. White Oak is supposed to have closed pores, which makes it waterproof. That is why white oak is used for barrels and, formerly, ships. Red Oak has open pores so it isn't as waterproof. You'd think the open pores would make Red Oak dry faster, and maybe it does, but since I measure seasoning time in whole years, the difference is not noticeable to me.

 

[claydogg84]

it will take 3 to 4 years to dry enough to burn. Red oak retains water and white oak doesn't.

What in the hell..

 

[Wisneaky]

I find them more or less the same. White Oak is supposed to have closed pores, which makes it waterproof. That is why white oak is used for barrels and, formerly, ships. Red Oak has open pores so it isn't as waterproof. You'd think the open pores would make Red Oak dry faster, and maybe it does, but since I measure seasoning time in whole years, the difference is not noticeable to me.

The open pores make it retain water.

 

[FishKiller]

them

that's kinda what i figured. I usually cut in the late summer... so my "years" are actually + 4-5 months. i'll stack it in the sweet spot for drying and won't look at it for a few years. i'm a fair amount ahead, almost 2 years, and just started getting away from the standing dead and going to the green stuff. I'll hit the standing dead this fall again to make sure i'm up enough to give the green stuff at least 3 years.

another question, does cutting in the middle of winter help speed up seasoning time? you would think that the tree is in "hibernation" for lack of the appropriate word, are moisture contents down? does it make a difference?

 

[claydogg84]

Regardless of exact species, Oak is extremely dense. Figure a minimum of 2 years if split on the smaller side.

 

[FishKiller]

That's basically what i wanted to know... it's the same. year 3 and i should be able to start into it. i have green white oak that has been on the stack for 2 years now and i've tested a few of the smaller splits. they seemed pretty good, but not the chunky stuff (next year hopefully). i'm just in this intermediate phase where i'm getting enough ahead to starting thinking 3 years, plus i got a new connection for green wood.

rather then start a new thread.. anyone here burn holly? I messed around with it and it seasoned super quick, burned really nice too. Hot and fast, but made really nice coals and didn't fill the stove with ash. i have access to a decent amount of it. just looking for other opinions on it.

 

[claydogg84]

You might get more responses on the Holly in a fresh thread - I've got no experience with it myself.

 

[BamaScroungr]

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I've no experience with Holly either, but check the link: American Holly is rated higher in btu's than white oak.

 

[2PistolPacker]

I just split and stacked a half cord of red oak this morning, it was mostly 6"-12" limb wood and it didn't split near as easy as the white oak I had last year. It was just cut last Wednesday so it is green and heavy as hell. I sure hope it doesn't take 3 years to season, I already have a neighbor that wants it for next winters fires. Good score Fishkiller.

 

[Stinkpickle]

Regardless of exact species, Oak is extremely dense. Figure a minimum of 2 years if split on the smaller side.

This.

 

[Wisneaky]

I just split and stacked a half cord of red oak this morning, it was mostly 6"-12" limb wood and it didn't split near as easy as the white oak I had last year. It was just cut last Wednesday so it is green and heavy as hell. I sure hope it doesn't take 3 years to season, I already have a neighbor that wants it for next winters fires. Good score Fishkiller.

It will burn next winter, but not good. It will sizzle, steam, smoke, and produce at least half the heat output.

 

[jatoxico]

I just split and stacked a half cord of red oak this morning, it was mostly 6"-12" limb wood and it didn't split near as easy as the white oak I had last year. It was just cut last Wednesday so it is green and heavy as hell. I sure hope it doesn't take 3 years to season, I already have a neighbor that wants it for next winters fires. Good score Fishkiller.

I can't get oak to season in less than 2yrs and even then some is iffy but I have a lot of shade. Some folks out your way seem to have better luck if they can get it out in the open. Years probably pushing though.

 

[claydogg84]

I just split and stacked a half cord of red oak this morning, it was mostly 6"-12" limb wood and it didn't split near as easy as the white oak I had last year. It was just cut last Wednesday so it is green and heavy as hell. I sure hope it doesn't take 3 years to season, I already have a neighbor that wants it for next winters fires. Good score Fishkiller.

I tried burning medium sized oak splits that were in my stacks for 18 months and they wouldn't keep a flame.

 

[Woody Stover]

I can't get oak to season in less than 2yrs and even then some is iffy but I have a lot of shade.

That's about how it is for me, and the stuff that's in the shade (woods) doesn't get as much breeze. I've pretty much resigned myself to 2 yrs. for dead Oak, 3 for live blow-downs, and those times are if it's not split too big, maybe 4" on a side.

 

[MarylandGuy]

Yup, my red oak is stacked at least three years. I actually tried to burn some two year old stuff earlier in the season as an experiment and it was miserable. My stove just didn't like it.

 

[Poindexter]

another question, does cutting in the middle of winter help speed up seasoning time? you would think that the tree is in "hibernation" for lack of the appropriate word, are moisture contents down? does it make a difference?

Its going to depend on species and humidity. For oak, I dunno.

Local to me spruces and birches cut in the winter with the sap "down" are really only about two weeks of drying time ahead of green sap "up" wood cut and split in April.

For the other half of your question, how much does wood dry over the winter, it depends on your climate. I am sure you have seen freeze dried products, water vapor will evaporate from ice cubes in below freezing weather, its just a really slow process, how much air flow you got and how dry is that flowing air? I am going to look at my woodpile pretty careful this fall. One end I had stacked and split going into Thanksgiving weekend, the other end I finished after Valentines Day,a ll of it was felled sap up in late Sept 2014.

I think I will find (at my house) at the end of the summer that cutting wood sap up v- sap down and splitting before Tgiving rather than on Valentine's Day neither one really makes a huge difference. Having it all split and stacked up and ready to start drying out on the first day of the thaw is I think the main thing I need to shoot for year in and year out.

 

[Dune]

Holly is great firewood but also in high demand for it's dimensional stability, similar to black walnut. I would try to market the trunks first just to be sure. Very expensive wood, used for jewelry boxes and gun stocks IIRC.

 

[Poindexter]

Holly is (was) also popular for making thin floor boards on wooden boats. Narrow strips of holly between wide boards of mahogany is a really really good looking floor, at least to my eye.

If you got some good straight pieces they don't need to be very thick to be floor boards, usually the holly would be maybe 1/2" wide and 1" tall, between 3/4" thick mahogany boards 4-6" wide. A little proud of the mahogany boards for some traction.

 

[Got Wood]

In the dead of winter(Jan-Feb), I broke out the red oak that I split and stacked June 2010. Kept us nice and warm. I mixed it in with other woods, which I found to work best.

 

[toddnic]

I burn a lot of red oak. It takes between 2 - 3 years for the red oak to be ready to burn. We have a fairly wet climate in western North Carolina so I stack it on pallets and keep it covered.

 

[Jon_E]

I hate oak. It's way down on my list of favourite species for nearly any purpose, including lumber. Any oak I get, I trade away for something more to my liking - usually beech, birch or ash.

 

[Woody Stover]

Any oak I get, I trade away for something more to my liking

About half the trees here are Oak so I just have to bite the bullet and get it dry. Once dry, it's about the best-burning wood there is IMO, especially White.

 

[Ashful]

it will take 3 to 4 years to dry enough to burn. Red oak retains water and white oak doesn't.

Based on every bit of info I've ever read on this, the extreme difference is between Northern (aka upland) and Southern (aka lowland) oaks, much more so than red vs. white. The Northern oaks dry roughly twice as fast, as their lowland counterparts, which may be why we see such variation in dry times reported on this forum. All kiln tables, etc., break oaks into four (sometimes five) categories:

Upland red
Lowland red
Upland white
Lowland white
Bacterial

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/x...5242/Techniques_Procedures_ocr.pdf?sequence=1

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