A month or so ago my wife saw a message on Freecycle saying somebody was giving away "1/2 cord of firewood." A few emails later we were towing the trailer over to a resently sold house where the buyers had requested that a pile of firewood in the backyard be removed before the sale. It turned out to actually be 1/2 cord and all oak. Some was a little rotten and after a few days of rain it was hard to tell if any of it was dry, but when I got it home and split some it looked and felt very dry so I moved it to the front of the queue to be burned. The first few times I tried it were cold starts without reloading because of the marginally cold weather, and it seemed a little slow to burn even with the primary air fully open. I didn't see any water hissing out the ends, and it lit up quickly, but I was beginning to think I should stack it for a few years and try again. Today it is about 35 degrees out, so I loaded some of the oak on a hot bed of coals and got a whole different impression. In about five minutes the whole fire box was full of flame (as seen in the picture), and right now, an hour later, the primary is fully closed and the firebox is full of secondaries. It has been that way for 40 minutes or so and seems to be going strong. Before you decide your stove isn't working well or your wood is too wet, wait until the weather gets cold and try again.