Wood piles...air flow really is key.

[Hills Hoard]

Advice for beginners .....stack your wood right first time...don't take shortcuts....listen to what guys on here say when they talk about air flow...

I made an observation after re stacking a wood pile.. It used to be stacked on long lengths of wood i had laying around to keep it off the ground..., two rows in the pile about 35 feet long... I noticed the long bits of wood underneath only allowed airflow under the pile from end to end, not front to back and underneath...and also allowed for a build of of leaves and sticks that never seemed to properly dry out...the ground seemed permanently damp.....

So i re stacked the pile about 3 months ago...first observation was that between the lengths of wood on the ground there was a build up of damp leaves etc...so I stacked on solid pallets, nicely spaced with open ends of the pallets facing the front and back of the pile to allow air flow under the pile from front, back and the ends....a few months on the difference is amazing and quite noticeable...the ground around the pile is actually dry now, and drys fast after rain...there is no build up of leaves and sticks around the base because i can get the leaf blower and blast all debris away....the splits on the bottom of the pile are a lot dryer too...

so after pulling down 2X 35 foot long rows of pride and joy, and re stacking with neighbors and passers by staring at me like i was an obsessive compulsive lunatic, plan your stacks and do it right the first time...

thanks for listening

 

[ScotO]

The perfect combo for seasoning is (in this order) time, airflow, and sunlight........time is crucial, and often overlooked by beginners. Airflow and time will season wood, but add some hot summer sun and that will also help things along. All to often novice woodburners cut, split, stack, and burn their wood (no matter WHAT species) all in a 6 month period.......simply not enough time for it to season. This leads to poor burning, smoldering fires and tarred-up flue pipes.....

Letting that wood in the air for several years guarantees you success. In damp climates (like central PA lately), it also helps to top-cover your wood. Its made a world of difference for my woodburning success.

 

[red oak]

Advice for beginners .....stack your wood right first time...don't take shortcuts....listen to what guys on here say when they talk about air flow...

I made an observation after re stacking a wood pile.. It used to be stacked on long lengths of wood i had laying around to keep it off the ground..., two rows in the pile about 35 feet long... I noticed the long bits of wood underneath only allowed airflow under the pile from end to end, not front to back and underneath...and also allowed for a build of of leaves and sticks that never seemed to properly dry out...the ground seemed permanently damp.....

So i re stacked the pile about 3 months ago...first observation was that between the lengths of wood on the ground there was a build up of damp leaves etc...so I stacked on solid pallets, nicely spaced with open ends of the pallets facing the front and back of the pile to allow air flow under the pile from front, back and the ends....a few months on the difference is amazing and quite noticeable...the ground around the pile is actually dry now, and drys fast after rain...there is no build up of leaves and sticks around the base because i can get the leaf blower and blast all debris away....the splits on the bottom of the pile are a lot dryer too...

so after pulling down 2X 35 foot long rows of pride and joy, and re stacking with neighbors and passers by staring at me like i was an obsessive compulsive lunatic, plan your stacks and do it right the first time...

thanks for listening

Hey - you gotta do what you gotta do!

Get it dry and keep it dry and you won't have any worries come winter!

And let the neighbors stare - you can stare at their heating bill this winter!

 

[paul bunion]

That space under is critical as you have figured out. Simple fact that wet air is heavier than dry air at the same temp. It is going to fall to the bottom of the stack. If there is no breeze to push it out and you don't let it out it just stays and your wood doesn't dry very well.

 

[Applesister]

I know the airflow underneath is a major part of the equation. I have 2-3 cords of oak I stacked on steel I-Beams and the beams have sunk into the ground. Ive overlooked the stacks because I know they are gonna be sitting longer but in truth I feel the need to redo them as well.

 

[Applesister]

I have a hay farmer friend who I offered the advice of stacking his hay on pallets and he stared at me as if I had three heads. He explained that he knows the bottom layer of hay bales will be forfeit. So then it was my turn to stare at him as if he had three heads. His hay barns hold thousands of bales of hay. Thousands and thousands.
I stack my hay in my horse barn on pallets.
The amount of moisture in hay is nowhere near whats in green wood.

 

[oldspark]

The perfect combo for seasoning is (in this order) time, airflow, and sunlight........time is crucial, and often overlooked by beginners. Airflow and time will season wood, but add some hot summer sun and that will also help things along. All to often novice woodburners cut, split, stack, and burn their wood (no matter WHAT species) all in a 6 month period.......simply not enough time for it to season. This leads to poor burning, smoldering fires and tarred-up flue pipes.....

Letting that wood in the air for several years guarantees you success. In damp climates (like central PA lately), it also helps to top-cover your wood. Its made a world of difference for my woodburning success.

I got good money says I can get certain types of wood dry in 6 months here in Iowa, It just does not take that long for all the types of wood and I can back those statements up if need be. YRMV depending on your procedure and where you live.

 

[ScotO]

I got good money says I can get certain types of wood dry in 6 months here in Iowa, It just does not take that long for all the types of wood and I can back those statements up if need be. YRMV depending on your procedure and where you live.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I can get lots of different species seasoned in under a year. Silver and red maple, most conifers, poplar and even ash can be pretty much ready to go in a year or less. But I like a mix of wood in my stacks, I don't stack species in separate stacks. I mix my oak with the silver maple , etc......that way I'm bringing a variety of wood in the basement each week of the season.....both daytime and overnight wood is brought in. I then separate it into different species in the basement. Doing the "Three Year Plan" works fantastic for me. Top covering is almost mandatory here, especially the last several years. We may rename our whole area Seattle, Pa.......

 

[oldspark]

I just dont like new people getting the wrong idea, doing it the right way with certain types of wood will give them good results, doing it the wrong way may lead to problems (which we see all the time on this forum) or even worse a chimney fire.

 

[clemsonfor]

Yep its good advice for newbies to get pine, ash, maples and the softhardwoods like poplar the first year so they know its dry. It will take more volume but it will be dry, or they can mix a few splits of thier 8month old oak in with a load of pine and ash and the total MC will not be that bad in the stove.

But yep you cant stack oak and in 6 months not htink it will smolder and barely burn.

I still shake my head when our friends wanted me to get them some wood. I got one of my loggers to load some fresh cut oak logs on thier dumptruck (same friends truck that is) and then i dumped it in thier pasture. That weekend he was out there sawing and splitting wood for the next few weeks! He did not even cut a winters worth just a few days so that it would not "dry out"??? I just look at them like thier crazy. They say that dry wood burns to fast and that they like thiers to last all day. That why when were there you barely feel any heat in the stove room and they have to poke at it every 10 mins as well???

 

[maple1]

Even better if you can get those pallets up on blocks or something like that - even some pieces of wood off the pile. Might as well help the pallets last as long as they can. Even more better yet if you have a FEL & pallet jack to move those pallets to right beside your firebox.

I cut a bunch of white birch here a couple months ago - it was sopping wet. It wasn't very big to start with so it got split pretty small. I know I could burn it today - it's heavily checked, the bark is all curled up on it now & has that nice 'thonk' when you bang a couple pieces together. Amazing what stacking in a wind-exposed area can do in short order.

 

[NortheastAl]

This year seems like it'll add another one to the seasoning process because of all the rain and humidity. I opened up some splits that are about a year plus, and found moisture levels as low as 18% and as high as to top out the meter at 35%. The intention is to get a couple cord of kiln dried this heating season to burn so I can build up to at least a two year ahead reserve of the present stacks.

You gotta learn that drying wood takes time. You can add Biobricks and kiln dried wood to balance out the marginally dried wood you may have to burn, but the goal is to get three years ahead. That way there is no question you are burning seasoned wood. JMO from what I've learned here.

 

[Mitch Newton]

Even better if you can get those pallets up on blocks or something like that - even some pieces of wood off the pile. Might as well help the pallets last as long as they can. Even more better yet if you have a FEL & pallet jack to move those pallets to right beside your firebox.

I cut a bunch of white birch here a couple months ago - it was sopping wet. It wasn't very big to start with so it got split pretty small. I know I could burn it today - it's heavily checked, the bark is all curled up on it now & has that nice 'thonk' when you bang a couple pieces together. Amazing what stacking in a wind-exposed area can do in short order.

Definitely get the pallets off the ground also.

 

[ridemgis]

...so after pulling down 2X 35 foot long rows of pride and joy, and re stacking with neighbors and passers by staring at me like i was an obsessive compulsive lunatic, plan your stacks and do it right the first time...

Well I must be crazy too! I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago in 90 degree weather. The wood that I'd stacked only inches off the ground on a sacrificial row of poles was a wet happy home to about 7 million pill bugs (aka wood lice). Lesson learned.

 

[oldspark]

Well I must be crazy too! I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago in 90 degree weather. The wood that I'd stacked only inches off the ground on a sacrificial row of poles was a wet happy home to about 7 million pill bugs (aka wood lice). Lesson learned.

Ah bugs another reason to give the wood good air flow. I think you did the right thing even thought it was tough in the 90 degree weather.

 

[Coal Reaper]

Yessir. I had all my wood stacked in the racks shown in first picture, all up against the north side of barn! Then i found hearth.com. Now stacks are behind barn on pallets where sun hits one side in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Also exposed to dominant dry wind from north. After a year incorrectly stacked, splits were thirty plus percent. Not just oak but maple ash and birch too. Eight months later things are down to about twenty five and i hope they will be mostly good for winter. Stacks have grown since what the second pic shows buts thats the idea. I am currently working on the three year out row. This is my first year burning for heat, not just recreationally. Big thanks to vets of the woodshed!