Wet, Green, Dry, Seasoned?

[Flatbedford]

Do I have this straight?
Green wood is freshly cut and full of water and/or sap that was moving from the roots to the leaves and back. Once cut, green wood will start to season. By season we mean that the water/sap that is in the fibers of the wood evaporates. Seasoning takes anywhere from a few months to a couple years and can be accelerated by cutting, splitting, and stacking the wood where it will be exposed to the sun and wind. Seasoned wood is wood that has an internal moisture content of about 20% or less and will burn easily and clean. Wet wood can be green or seasoned wood that is wet on the surface, most likely due to rain. Wet wood will usually become dry wood in a few hours if left in the sun or brought into a warm and dry location whether it is seasoned or green. Rotten wood is wood that is either green or seasoned that will never dry.
At least this is the way I see it. Can we agree on this terminology and avoid confusion here at Hearth.com?

 

[SolarAndWood]

I was confused reading that. So the confusion is the difference between surface and internal moisture? Like seasoned wood if brought in from the pouring rain is wet, but that could also be something that was just delivered by a firewood guy as seasoned?

 

[Jack Straw]

Couldn't rotten wood dry, but have very litlle BTU value???

 

[SolarAndWood]

Rotten wood will dry. And then it goes up quick.

 

[savageactor7]

^yup, what Solar said, I'm king of the rotten wood burners...aka punky wood.

Wet wood can either be green (unseasoned), seasoned or rotten. It's just wet from rain.

 

[Duetech]

Do I have this straight?
Green wood is freshly cut and full of water and/or sap that was moving from the roots to the leaves and back. Once cut, green wood will start to season. By season we mean that the water/sap that is in the fibers of the wood evaporates. Seasoning takes anywhere from a few months to a couple years and can be accelerated by cutting, splitting, and stacking the wood where it will be exposed to the sun and wind. Seasoned wood is wood that has an internal moisture content of about 20% or less and will burn easily and clean. Wet wood can be green or seasoned wood that is wet on the surface, most likely due to rain. Wet wood will usually become dry wood in a few hours if left in the sun or brought into a warm and dry location whether it is seasoned or green. Rotten wood is wood that is either green or seasoned that will never dry.
At least this is the way I see it. Can we agree on this terminology and avoid confusion here at Hearth.com?

Green wood is likely fresh cut but wet wood can be green and can also be two or three years (or more) old but not be seasoned. So obviously two or three year wood willl not be fresh and not green. Aged wood could have been dry at one time but become water-logged because of the way it has been stored and still not be really seasoned for immediate use and could/would(?) be termed "wet" or soaked and need to be "re-seasoned". (I think re-seasoning would ge quicker as aging could cause more fissures in the wood. Rot can generally be termed as "punky" and most agree that it is not suitable for burning or worth the bother to dry out so it can be burned but the patient can get some value from rotted wood if they want. Rot works in gardens too.

For the most part I would think you have explained it very well. In fact I don't think I have ever seen it put comprehensively together until now and I applaud your effort towards substantive foundational dialogue construction. er making sense of it.

 

[Joey]

Man thats a mouthful..!! But I think I get the picture. Really good info.

 

[gzecc]

Seasoned is a marketing term. It is used for everything after the tree has stopped living. Its like we are all dying.
Seasoned will never be an accurate term.

 

[Nonprophet]

Seasoned is a marketing term. It is used for everything after the tree has stopped living. Its like we are all dying.
Seasoned will never be an accurate term.

+1

That being said, it sure would be nice if lawmakers could come up with an accurate, definable meaning for "seasoned wood," this would go a long way towards keeping wood sellers honest and protecting consumers. I mean we can define how many micrograms of grasshopper parts can be in a box of Corn Flakes, but we can't legally define "seasoned wood?" In addition to protecting consumers, I think it could/would keep a lot of unnecessary pollution out of the air.............wasn't that the whole point to EPA stoves in the first place??


NP

 

[Wood Duck]

I think you have more or less described the way the terms are used here by those of us who spend a little time on the forum. I think 'green' is usually used as the antonym (opposite) of seasoned, as you have suggested. I agree that 'wet' just means wood that got rained on or a similar accident, but sometimes it is used to mean 'green' or 'unseasoned' even though that is confusing. As for others who aren't trying to conform to a standard way of using these terms, you can't define how the terms are used because they aren't used consistently. In the wider world, 'wet,' 'unseasoned,' 'green,' and a bunch of similar words are used interchangeably, and the concept of intercellular moisture versus surface moisture is lost.

Both my green and seasoned wood are wet this morning.

 

[quads]

It's pretty simple, actually. The seasons are Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. It takes several seasonal cycles before firewood is ready to be burned. That's where the term "seasoned" firewood comes from.

Personally; I don't worry much about "wet" or "dry" and don't go to any extra work to prevent it. If my firewood has been cut, split, and stacked for 8-12 seasons or more, then I know it's ready to burn regardless of the surface being wet or dry.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Steve you are pretty much right except I do not agree with one sentence. That is, "Rotten wood is wood that is either green or seasoned that will never dry." Rotten wood can not be green wood. Or should I say that green wood can not be rotten? It is sort of like a tomato. If it is green, then it is alive. If it is rotten, well, it is rotten and not green. Rotten is rotten and green is green. It is difficult to put into words but hopefully it makes some sense. All in all, it is a very minor point.

 

[Flatbedford]

I added the rotten part as an afterthought. I guess I was thinking of the punky stuff that just seems to stay that way no matter if its wet or dry.

 

[Slow1]

That being said, it sure would be nice if lawmakers could come up with an accurate, definable meaning for "seasoned wood," this would go a long way towards keeping wood sellers honest and protecting consumers. I mean we can define how many micrograms of grasshopper parts can be in a box of Corn Flakes, but we can't legally define "seasoned wood?" In addition to protecting consumers, I think it could/would keep a lot of unnecessary pollution out of the air.............wasn't that the whole point to EPA stoves in the first place??

The cynic in me has to point out that lawmakers have made it a requirement to sell wood by the cord or at least by the cubic foot in most states. However this has not stopped sellers from shorting buyers in many (most?) transactions. So simply having a legal definition such as "Seasoned wood will have an interior moisture content of less than 22%" likely would not solve the problem either - you would still have a few honest sellers out there and then the rest would keep doing what they are doing and give blank stares to those who ask questions.

Informed consumers refusing to buy wood that isn't really seasoned if it is advertised as such in sufficient numbers would go farther to solving the problem. Imagine if a seller showed up with a truck load of wood and had it refused by 3/4 of the folks he drove to because they re-split pieces and stuck them with moisture meters before accepting delivery... I think that he would change his conversation. At a minimum he'd be asking "are you going to check to see if it is? If so, I'm not going to deliver to you." Seems the bottom line is that there aren't enough of "us" out there to force a change.

I realized very quickly that in order to find wood that would pass the MC test I would likely have to buy kiln dried wood at a serious premium so I switched to scrounging and/or buying log length and seasoning my own. IF I were to buy seasoned wood I think I would have to be up front and tell the sellers "when you come here, I'm going to take a few splits off the truck before you unload and re-split to check with my moisture meter, if they don't average less than 22% I'll be refusing the delivery" and see what answer I get - I'll bet that will make it really hard to find any sellers willing to show up.

 

[gzecc]

Imagine if selling wood by the pound was enacted.
I wouldn't be surprised if the gov't initiates wood sellers to weigh any wood sales and anyone transporting wood will be required to have a weight sticker to insure the wood has been properly taxed.
If this happens its time to jump ship!

 

[Duetech]

Imagine if selling wood by the pound was enacted.
I wouldn't be surprised if the gov't initiates wood sellers to weigh any wood sales and anyone transporting wood will be required to have a weight sticker to insure the wood has been properly taxed.
If this happens its time to jump ship!

For safety reasons you have to be d.o.t. certified to haul logs in MI. Some do some don't. IMHO it's difficult to deal with without legislation and almost impossible once there is. But selling by weight would almost open the door to green wood deliveries or forced certified kiln stampings. Then come the forgers.

 

[Slow1]

Imagine if selling wood by the pound was enacted.
I wouldn't be surprised if the gov't initiates wood sellers to weigh any wood sales and anyone transporting wood will be required to have a weight sticker to insure the wood has been properly taxed.
If this happens its time to jump ship!

For safety reasons you have to be d.o.t. certified to haul logs in MI. Some do some don't. IMHO it's difficult to deal with without legislation and almost impossible once there is. But selling by weight would almost open the door to green wood deliveries or forced certified kiln stampings. Then come the forgers.

Bottom line is that nothing replaces having a relationship with an honest business person who has integrity. There are some out there and when you find one you should be willing to compensate them a bit for this - i.e. give them the business they deserve and don't try to push their price down by comparing their price to that provided by less hones sellers. Perhaps wood is a commodity, but the service of selling and such is part of the product and thus you just can't compare it.