Fastest way to season firewood?

[CrappieKeith]

The fastest way I know of is to season it in my boiler over a bed of hot coals. Moisture starts evaporating almost instantly.
:jester:

I should have mentioned a little thing called EPA.
Most of the guys that burn wet wood are the same guys causing their neighbors to complain and through those complaints arose an issue...now there's laws in some states where they are either not legal or have stringent rules applied...thanks to guys that burn wet wood.

The only real reason a guy burns wet wood...lack of planning or lack of responsibility....and to make matter worse..boilers are smoke dragons anyway for the most part . A guy that owns one that takes care to operate with smaller loads and really dry wood is the guy that is on the ball.
...and to think we have not even gone to the diaper or railroad tie burner.

 

[indiansprings]

Like most have said, prior planning, cut two years ahead, other wise cut, split small, cover lots of air circulation. If your in a bind start with a low moisture content wood like hedge/osage orange, I believe it's about 35% mc content even when cut green, shorter curing time do to lower moisture content to start with, also extremely high btu output compared to most other hardwoods.

 

[wdchuck]

Anyone have any tricks to seasoning firewood quickly? Not talking about kiln drying.

Dehumidifier in an enclosed space with the wood.

 

[Biker Dude]

and go through 2-3 times the wood at that rate that well seasoned air dried wood would require...now if you are joking..then ...opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:

Yes Kieth, :jester: = joking

 

[Jules083]

I can set 4 normal sized pieces of wood on top of my woodburner. I'm sure it's still damp on the inside, but it seems to help when that's all I have. My wood shed is small and most of my wood is getting rained on as we speak. Should have tarped it before this wet spell came.

 

[indiansprings]

Wait until dark and just throw half of a 265/16" tire in your wood burner, it'll help get it hot enough to dry your wood out, it helps if you add a coffee can of diesel to get it going good.
















Just kidding!

 

[Fifelaker]

Wait until dark and just throw half of a 265/16" tire in your wood burner, it'll help get it hot enough to dry your wood out, it helps if you add a coffee can of diesel to get it going good.
















Just kidding!

Yea right:msp_scared:

 

[Wood Doctor]

Holy Cow!

Dehumidifier in an enclosed space with the wood.

I'm in stitches. :msp_biggrin:

 

[stihlrookie]

Yup, "holzhausen" is German for " look at those silly Americans building these useless round stacks". :hmm3grin2orange:

Disclosure: I built one of those HH things years ago. Once. Sure it looked elegant, took plenty of time to get it correct ( "pi r²" etc..), and it only contained barely a cord.
Then: how the H do you get sticks out to burn ? Cute, very cute, butt............

Yeah I know they are kind of silly but they work. Barely a cord? How small did you make it? Built one this summer, 7' diameter, 7' tall. Its at least 2 cords of unseasoned wood. Once it is seasoned the wood will have shrunk and the stack will be about 6' tall, plenty easy to pull wood off to burn.

 

[zogger]

Anyone ever try cutting trees down when the leaves are on and then walk away for a week or two depending on the weather? The leaves continue to pull moisture out of the wood and once they turn brown, you cut the tree up. I've found this probably cuts seasoning time in half. Anyone else do this? And if so, what are your results?

--I do that, I think it works well. In the winter, leaves off and the sap mostly down in the roots, fell and buck right away. In the summer or spring, fell, let it hang around two weeks to a month, then buck it up. Once the leaves are shriveled, that seems to be it for drying, it might get..don't know..an extra 5% maybe more of the moisture out. I don't have a moisture meter so can't say for sure, all is a scientific wild,,,guess. *Seems* to work out good that way. Can't say as I have done a real scientific test on it though. It's real hard to say in the beastly hot summer here though, fresh cut rounds start to crack the afternoon after the morning they were blocked. Once it hits wet fall and cooler weather, might take a week to two weeks to start to see much of any cracks.

Now, I don't know about moisture content, but I can tell by weight for sure. If I let a load of heavy rounds hang out down where it was cut in the summer, for like two weeks, it takes a few hundred lbs weight off of what I carry back. Real easy to tell using the tractor and the tote box, you can feel front end lift so easy. Same size load carrying it back fresh, I am right at front end liftoff starting out, got to ease it out slow in first gear until I get going. Similar load after some "in the field" drying, it seems way more solid on the ground, not any front end lift to speak of, steering stays good. Has to be a couple or three hundred lbs difference there, and that has to be lost moisture.

I think the first large amount of moisture you can lose happens fast, it's that last few percent that takes a long(er) time.

Would be nice to see some real scientific studies of it though. I like real data.

 

[logbutcher]

Yeah I know they are kind of silly but they work. Barely a cord? How small did you make it? Built one this summer, 7' diameter, 7' tall. Its at least 2 cords of unseasoned wood. Once it is seasoned the wood will have shrunk and the stack will be about 6' tall, plenty easy to pull wood off to burn.

OK, now I know I'm accused of many things ( troll, banned club, uneducated, ignorant, assertive, OCD etc....) , but this one does have some math chops. Not much, butt enough to figure out with my hands and toes that your H² total volume of wood results in just about 1.2 cords. True disclosure: 1 cord ~ 128 cubic feet (generously BTW ! ). Your H² ~ 137.4 cubic feet. Bet you thought you Germans could put something over this Yank ?? :tongue2::tongue2:

Just for kicks, we usually figure that a cord ( none of these rick, rack, face, Canadian cords, bush, or venison cords ) holds ~ 90 cubic feet stacked.

So, if you're say 6 1/2 feet tall, getting those sticks out of the H² from the top down shouldn't be too bad. Now the truth: HOW LONG did this thing take to construct ?

You didn't tell us you're from Bavaria.

 

[JRepairsK70e]

microwave it on high for 5 minutes ,seasons up fastest

 

[zogger]

OK, now I know I'm accused of many things ( troll, banned club, uneducated, ignorant, assertive, OCD etc....) , but this one does have some math chops. Not much, butt enough to figure out with my hands and toes that your H² total volume of wood results in just about 1.2 cords. True disclosure: 1 cord ~ 128 cubic feet (generously BTW ! ). Your H² ~ 137.4 cubic feet. Bet you thought you Germans could put something over this Yank ?? :tongue2::tongue2:

Just for kicks, we usually figure that a cord ( none of these rick, rack, face, Canadian cords, bush, or venison cords ) holds ~ 90 cubic feet stacked.

So, if you're say 6 1/2 feet tall, getting those sticks out of the H² from the top down shouldn't be too bad. Now the truth: HOW LONG did this thing take to construct ?

You didn't tell us you're from Bavaria.

I got 269 and small change cubic feet from a 7x7 cylinder. Two cords and some sticks

radius times radius (radius squared) times pi times length (height)

3.5 x 3.5 x 3.14 x 7

ya, air spaces and stuff....get that with any stack.

 

[stihlrookie]

OK, now I know I'm accused of many things ( troll, banned club, uneducated, ignorant, assertive, OCD etc....) , but this one does have some math chops. Not much, butt enough to figure out with my hands and toes that your H² total volume of wood results in just about 1.2 cords. True disclosure: 1 cord ~ 128 cubic feet (generously BTW ! ). Your H² ~ 137.4 cubic feet. Bet you thought you Germans could put something over this Yank ?? :tongue2::tongue2:

Just for kicks, we usually figure that a cord ( none of these rick, rack, face, Canadian cords, bush, or venison cords ) holds ~ 90 cubic feet stacked.

So, if you're say 6 1/2 feet tall, getting those sticks out of the H² from the top down shouldn't be too bad. Now the truth: HOW LONG did this thing take to construct ?

You didn't tell us you're from Bavaria.

Took me and a buddy about 1/2 a day, could have taken less but the black locust we had was pretty twisted and it was our first one. The way you do math though, maybe it only took us 1/2 an hour. Math chops? Really? Short on fingers? Seriously, it was easily over 2 cords--128 cubic feet per cord. Unfortunately it was the very end of summer, September, and it is not seasoned as nicely as I would like. Shows nice checking on the ends and will burn okay but really should have been stacked in June or July. And who are you calling German, you flatlander?

 

[Steve NW WI]

I think the first large amount of moisture you can lose happens fast, it's that last few percent that takes a long(er) time.

Would be nice to see some real scientific studies of it though. I like real data.

That's been my feeling as well, but no data for ya.

BUT, using this formula for finding the volume of a "frustum of a cone", R=base diameter, r=top diameter, H=height,

V = Pi(R^2+rR+r^2)h/3

Giving a Holzhausen 7' at the base a 3' top diameter, works out to 144 cu ft. 1.13 cords. Win to that crabby old Mainer, although he's not quite right, and my estimate of top diameter might be off, they aren't a true cylinder.

 

[mayhem100]

Cut, split and stack as quickly as possible. If I get behind and can't split and stack ahead enough (pretty mcuh this is normal for me), I get it stacked inside and put a fan on it. Let it run for a couple, three weeks and its astonishing how muhc moisture the steady breeze wicks out of that wood. The area has to be well ventilated to get the moisture out of there...I've had condensation dripping down the basement walls after the first day or so of indoor drying.

There's no true substitute for drying outdoors in the wind and sun for a year, but fan drying will work in a pinch and the electricity to run a fan is very low so it doesn't cost much.

 

[TN_WOOD]

smaller pieces
cross-hatched stacks
direct sun
wind
cover from rain n snow (remove tarp on sunny days)
keep a few sticks inside
more time = more better

IMHO, if you planning to burn wood this season, you'll need to 1. find some seasoned wood, or 2. use a fan and find a sunny spot

 

[zogger]

That's been my feeling as well, but no data for ya.

BUT, using this formula for finding the volume of a "frustum of a cone", R=base diameter, r=top diameter, H=height,

V = Pi(R^2+rR+r^2)h/3

Giving a Holzhausen 7' at the base a 3' top diameter, works out to 144 cu ft. 1.13 cords. Win to that crabby old Mainer, although he's not quite right, and my estimate of top diameter might be off, they aren't a true cylinder.

Oh, I didn't know that, I thought they came out more uniform than that. I had to google and look at a pic, didn't seem to be much of a taper to it, looked pretty straight up actually, that's why I used a cylinder.

Well, it needs to be merikanized then in what we call it, call it a wood teepee.

or.....a fast stacking wood teepee, let's call it a standing farmer's eastwest coast dump truck korde load pretty rank in your face rick pile....

 

[logbutcher]

OK OK you bright bulbs. What is it for the miraculous H² volume of wood ? Slightly over a cord in volume ....or macho more as the 6.5' tall builder proclaims ?
Then can you build a round house :msp_sad: wood shed for all the H² 's you'd need to heat for a winter ? Remember that you have cut at least a 7' tree we;ll supported for the center of this wonder...air flow.

We will give one big fat kudo to the H² : pretty.

Deutchland uber alles ( you may sing now ) .:rocker:

P.S. We are called "from away" or "straphanger" by locals, among other terms......not "flatlander".

 

[stihlrookie]

A holzhausen is a cylinder not a cone, 7' height and 7' diameter, 269 and some change cubic feet was the size of this one. How hard is that to figure out? Jeesh mang. You are close, I am 6'2" and can easily reach the edge of the 7' stack from the ground. Don't know about yuse over there but we have these things called ladders, hence my buddy helping. Once the stack reached 5' it was difficult to reach the center and keep the cylindrical shape, ladder was used to climb up and continue stacking as one of us acted as courier of pieces for the other to stack. Its obvious that you previously constructed some sort of pile rather than a true holzhausen, maybe you should go research it a bit and get back to us. The premise of using this method is airflow is increased over just piling or stacking in rows with airspace. It takes time to construct properly but can reduce the amount of time needed for drying. Have you a better suggestion for the OP? Please enlighten us.