I have only about a cord of good wood, i was hoping a couple stacks would season with the exceptionally dry summer in NY. Split about 1 year ago. Looks like I'll be buying wood again.
I'm coming 'round on this myself. The advice I'd gotten here more times than I can count is to leave it without cover until August/Sept. of the year it will be burned. Having seen the amount of leaves and other moisture-holding crap that my stacks collect in a year or three, I'm beginning to think that was bad advice.Methinks somebody didn't top cover their stack.
I think if you cut fresh Oak it might well still be at 38 after a year. I've got some that was cut about a year ago, uncovered but not split all the way down, just chunked to where I could load it. I'm about to find out how far it has to go.Methinks somebody didn't top cover their stack.
In most cases that doesn't solve the problem of having no dry wood either.Looks like I'll be buying wood again.
You need to take all sayings here with a proverbial grain of salt, and sometimes you must follow your own path.I thought the gospel of hearth.com preached that only sailors should cover their wood.
You need to take all sayings here with a proverbial grain of salt, and sometimes you must follow your own path.
Another gospel saying here is "thee needeth to be 3 years ahead with thine wood supply", however I've never been there, and don't ever plan too. The reason being I have relied on divine intervention and have been blessed with a natural source of pre-season trees from whence to cut from.
I think if you cut fresh Oak it might well still be at 38 after a year. I've got some that was cut about a year ago, uncovered but not split all the way down, just chunked to where I could load it. I'm about to find out how far it has to go.
I also have a stack going in a good wind spot, single row. I wanted to see how much difference good wind and a little sun would make since most of my other stacks are in the woods. I didn't cover that stack, though, and there's been a lot of rain this summer...might not tell me much.
I remember someone did that recently, may have been you. I don't think three years applies for me, since I'm getting dead Oak that's usually below 30% to start, even pretty far down the trunk. I burned some two-year Red last year that was pretty good but wasn't split too big, was covered, and I had taken off a lot of punky sapwood. I don't imagine having that soggy sapwood on it helps the heart dry, but I haven't been trimming the sap lately....takes too long. If I do get three years ahead, I don't think it will matter about sapwood, big splits etc. Fresh live wood, I don't know, haven't had much so far.especially with some red oak sapwood. I promise you a big eye opener if you do that....You will probably learn that much of the conventional wisdom isn't quite correct and you can fine tune your drying methods to what will work for you.
Now that's the old Carbon Liberator wit I remember...The reason being I have relied on divine intervention and have been blessed with a natural source of pre-season trees from whence to cut from.
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