spongy wood...

[APersonalMatter]

heyyo folks, i just picked up a cord of wood (roughly) from a buddy of mine. the overwhelming majority is 2+ year seasoned oak (16% on the MM), but i'd say maybe an 8th of it has a bit of sponginess here and there on the edges. i know he stacked it directly on the ground, i assume this is where the sponginess came from. being that this is my second winter burning, and the first with oak, should i bother cutting (or otherwise removing) the sponginess of of the pieces, or just screw it and burn it. im pretty on top of covering it in inclement weather, should that make a difference. any input?

many fanks!

 

[cygnus]

It sounds like you have a MM if you know the oak is at 16%. So, I'd take the MM to that spongy stuff to. If it was on the bottom I might put it aside for next year....or mix it in sparingly with the drier stuff. I suspect it may have very high moisture being in contact with the ground. Otherwise the 'spongyness' will burn fine with a few less BTUs. And that oak is prime.

 

[Llamaman]

I can come over and take that pile of wood off your hands..........spongy wood can damage your stove!

 

[shawneyboy]

Dry the sponge, it should dry quickly in the sun, and burn away.

Shawn

 

[Battenkiller]

Dry the sponge, it should dry quickly in the sun, and burn away.

Shawn

Right. If anything, once it's completely dry that punky layer makes the splits start up even faster.

 

[APersonalMatter]

sounds good to me! many thanks!

 

[laynes69]

We have some oak like that purchased from my BIL, I consider it having a built in firestarter. Things take off quick as long as it's dry.

 

[fossil]

If that punk is just here and there on the outsides, and hasn't gone far into the wood anywhere, I'd just stack it off the ground and keep it as dry as I could, like any other wood, and call it firewood. I had a load of Juniper a couple years ago that was a good deal worse...from a dead down tree that had apparently lain that way for a long time. Some of that stuff was punky 1/3-1/2 the diameter. I just sliced it off with a splitting axe and tossed the punk and burned the rest. Doesn't sound like your wood warrants that sort of effort to make it mostly burnable. Rick

 

[Joey]

That spongyness is just built it kindling...helps the split light up, as mentioned above,,,dry a little and burn.

 

[firefighterjake]

Two lines of thought . . .

1) Hack the punk off . . . I might do this if there is a lot of punk since punky wood will act like a sponge if it rains and if unprotected can get pretty wet.

2) Leave it on . . . and let the dry punk work as built in tinder.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

2 years seasoned oak, it is very common to have some punk on the very outside of the wood. That just happens with oaks, especially white oaks. Won't hurt a thing.