Show Us Your Fuzzy Wood

[Caw]

We had an incredibly wet season year in MA so a lot of my wood. All the ponds are high and my front yard is still wet! Even though all my wood is neatly stacked in the sun/wind and top covered it has some fun fuzzies and different colors this year. It burns just the same, it's just a little more annoying to handle inside.

Anyone got any fun pics? Here are some from the red maple I just brought inside:

 

[EbS-P]

When you split it and get sprayed in the face…. Yep it’s gonna get fuzzy down here. Probably any month but January Interesting the heart wood on this tree was pretty dry. Hence why only some pieces are growing junk.
Evan.

 

[kennyp2339]

When I first started reading this thread I was thinking oh crap my pal Caw got into the syrup again, now it makes sense, no fuz on the splits in the woodshed here.

 

[stoveliker]

I thought a pic with the Brady on wood would be included - though calling that animal fuzzy may upset him (owner or animal... ;-) )

 

[Caw]

When I first started reading this thread I was thinking oh crap my pal Caw got into the syrup again, now it makes sense, no fuz on the splits in the woodshed here.

Gotta keep it light!

But yeah it's been the wettest summer/fall here that I can recall. Extremely humid and rainy. All the ponds and lakes are full+. I haven't been able to mow the front side part of my lawn in months it's so wet (we have a small pond there). Even the push mower just sinks. Even though my wood is ideally placed, stacked, and covered it still got some fuzz.

It doesn't bother me too much other than moving it around too much isn't great to breathe and the wife doesn't love it in the house but it'll burn just fine. Mold just adds a few extra BTUs!

Gordon is ready for snow.

 

[EbS-P]

Gordon is ready for snow.


View attachment 282578

I’m training my sled poodle for the 6 hours of fluffy white stuff we probably won’t get

 

[Solarguy3500]

Yeah, definitely one of the wettest summers in recent memory.

 

[stoveliker]

Yeah, definitely one of the wettest summers in recent memory.
View attachment 282644
View attachment 282645

How dry is fuzzy, moldy wood when you split it? It was wet here too, but only some ends where rain hit the wood (tarp on top, double stacks, so only one end may get wet) show some green fuzz.

I split a piece of 3 yr old oak and it was 24%. Non-moldy oak was less (22% or less depending on sit size).

I'm curious how the mc is for those pieces in the pics?

 

[Solarguy3500]

How dry is fuzzy, moldy wood when you split it? It was wet here too, but only some ends where rain hit the wood (tarp on top, double stacks, so only one end may get wet) show some green fuzz.

I split a piece of 3 yr old oak and it was 24%. Non-moldy oak was less (22% or less depending on sit size).

I'm curious how the mc is for those pieces in the pics?

I split those pieces and one was 26% and the other one was 21% MC on the fresh split faces.

That wood is maple that was standing dead and cut in December 2019, but I didn't get to bucking and splitting it until winter/early spring of this year. I didn't have it top covered until about a month ago, so it got rained on for most of the summer and it's not in an area with good sun and wind exposure.

I got curious and split and checked MC on a piece of ash from a stack I had split and stacked last fall that has been in a shed since then and doesn't have any mold or fungus growing on it. That came in at 21%.

 

[Caw]

Good question, I'm curious now too. I'll split some of my dry dusty moldy pieces and report back in a day or two. It's pouring rain here today so I don't want to go to the shed for the axe . It wasaround 17-19% when I checked it back in August so we'll see!

 

[Woody Stover]

Oops, I guess I didn't cover this soon enough! But there's still good White Oak heartwood cores within. It'll smell so good that it will take me twice as long to split. I'll be compelled to sniff at least one split from every round.
Huffing White Oak vanilla fumes is a great high. No surprise then that I like to taste bourbon once in a while...aged in Char 4 White Oak barrels, of course.

 

[Sawset]

A couple months ago I visited a distillery that specialized in bourbon. The last month has meant reliving that experience with the cutting of every white oak round. Talking about sensory overload and reliving past experiences! Last spring I joked with the farmers around about how we're coming out of a solar minimum just like 2012, and how I expected a dry year here. They weren't amused. It's been an exceptionally dry year here. So no fuzzies to show. I did uncover one split though, with a rainbow of lichens. Not sure if that counts though - moisture in the ground, but none in the air, so it's mostly weather checks and bowling pin sounds.

 

[Caw]

A couple months ago I visited a distillery that specialized in bourbon. The last month has meant reliving that experience with the cutting of every white oak round. Talking about sensory overload and reliving past experiences! Last spring I joked with the farmers around about how we're coming out of a solar minimum just like 2012, and how I expected a dry year here. They weren't amused. It's been an exceptionally dry year here. So no fuzzies to show. I did uncover one split though, with a rainbow of lichens. Not sure if that counts though - moisture in the ground, but none in the air, so it's mostly weather checks and bowling pin sounds.

Quick thread hijack (it's OK it's my thread ): What's a solar minimum?

We had a pretty bad summer here solar wise. I had so many 5-15 kwh days from my 12 kw system. Good summer days are usually 60 +/- 5 kwh.

Nice mushrooms @Woody Stover ! Definitely some good wood underneath it all if you have the patience to get it.

 

[EbS-P]

What's a solar minimum?

Sun has regular intensity fluctuations. 11 year cycle first observed by counting sun spots.

 

[Diabel]

Bone dry shrooms.

 

[Woody Stover]

Bone dry shrooms.

Just add water, and they should be almost as delicious as fresh!

 

[stoveliker]

Just add water, and they should be almost as delicious as fresh!

Or smoke them as they are already dry...

 

[fbelec]

hey woody stover watch out for those weeds. leaves of three leave thee

 

[Caw]

It's been nice, dry, and sunny the last couple days so I decided to go check the moisture % of the stacks I intend to use this season today. It's not perfect like having them inside a few days first but it's a good enough rough gage of progress. I used the biggest easily available piece for measurements.

Stacks 1 & 2 - red maple, ash, red oak, cherry. Both sides (my stacks are 2 rows deep w/ 8" air gap). Measured on red maple:

Stacks 2: 100% red oak, this is actually for next year but wanted to check anyways. Making good progress down from the original 28-32%. Should be ready next season but I if I can I'll give it a 3rd summer.

Stack 3: Mostly red maple that was sopping wet when I split it. Have some older maple on the bottom too that's definitely ready.

Stack 4 - cherry, ash, maple. Used maple to measure as it was on top but cherry dries faster and the ash was standing dead 21% when cut last year so I know it's ready. The maple was soaking wet when stacked.

Bonus measure - Wood I brought in from Stack #1 last week. Still waiting for a good day to do my paint curing burn but it's been too warm. I measured on a nice moldy piece...for science:

So I have about 3.5 cords that are ready to go now which is about what I expect to go through this season. If need be I can dip into the next row of stacks or start mixing in someone the 23% red oak with the dry stuff if it looks like I'll run low. I also have more maple in some side overflow stacks that might be ok if needed but I didn't measure them. Overall I'm happy with the readings and I think they show the mold was just a symptom wet exposed ends during the wet summer/fall.

PS - my finger slipped putting the cap on the meter and I measured my index finger meat on accident. That felt good!