How long should firewood season?

[rms61moparman]

As the title says, how long should cut and split firewood season for a home woodstove? I try to cut and split wood in the winter/spring to burn the following winter. I keep the top covered during hard rains in the spring, but leave it all summer uncovered. I burn oak, ash, and hickory mostly.

Somewhere between 3 hours and 3 years depending on how cold your backside is!
I LIKE to have a good mix of green and seaoned wood. The green doesn't burn quite as hot but lots longer. The seasoned stuff keeps the green going, burns slightly hotter and helps keep the creosote burned out of the pipe and chimney.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Pioneer,
I agree with that 100%
But I(AND THE WIFE!!!!!!) think firewwod grows on trees! LOL
And with the advent of acquiring some new family members(brother in laws). I find my firewood stash(32 cords) getting a little low!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If need I have PILES, PILES of 2-3year old logs 2'+ in diameter, that are for next year. What might I see in moisture content from them if I busted them down into firewood!

And from now on the newest members of the family will help! LOL!!!

I think it would depend on the weather in your area, if it has mostly high temps and dry with plenty of wind then one season would be adequate . Like in Arizona. Around my area we are in a maritime climate with more moisture in the air and falling as rain during the warmer months. One year seasoned wood around here would burn but leaves a lot of soot on the glass windows of the stove and creosotes up chimneys quite badly. By covering the tops of my piles with materials that shed rain and melting snow my wood would be fine to burn in 2 seasons but I like to pile the 2 year seasoned wood under the roofed over woodshed for another season of drying to reach the stage where it burns real clean.
Pioneerguy600

 

[FATGUY]

ash can be burned when its cut,,, i had a whole ash tree, cut in august last year, that i cut and split, and burned it last winter,,,,,

I know I say it all the time, but ash is by far my favorite firewood because of what you said. It doesnt have a lot of moisture even green, and it makes a lot of heat, plus doesnt leave a lot of ash.[/QUOTE]

I don't heat with wood but I have noticed ash is so dry it just sucks the bar oil off the chain

 

[Teddy.Scout]

I am glad I asked!
I have some large ash logs in the pile I can dig out.
They are 2-3 years old and so if I get LOW! I will hit those first!!!

THANKS GUYS!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pablo26]

I like at least a year for mixed hardwoods, but have enough surplus now that it gets 2 years. I'm trying to finish off a 3 year pile now, daily in the mini Jotul. Does not take much wood to stay toasty in this part of CA.

 

[willsaw4beer]

What I did this year was cut and split most of my firewood in the dead of winter, and over the course of the summer brought it up to the house and stacked it. The wood that was stacked all summer seems very well seasoned, especially the ash and cherry. Ash does burn right off the tree, but the seasoned ash burns noticeably better. Red/pin/white oak I've noticed takes awhile to dry out, sugar maple needs a whole summer of being stacked but is ready to go by winter. Cherry is similar to ash but doesn't burn quite as well green. The softer maples don't burn for #### green but season pretty fast if split small. Beech seems to me to season like sugar maple but kick out more heat. My favorite trees on the property are the Eastern Hophornbeams- well seasoned standing dead ones kick out an insane blast of heat. :drool:

 

[deerlakejens]

You guys that burn unseasoned wood are wasting a lot of wood, time and energy. Wood with a high moisture content is heavier to handle and won't burn as hot because it has to evaporate the moisture, so you are hauling and using more wood than you need to. As was stated earlier, different woods season at different rates. It's best to split and stack off the ground as soon as possible, with just the top covered. I use fiberglass or metal roofing panels. You can tell when wood is seasoned with a moisture meter, by checks or cracks that develop on the cut ends, by weight (they will be about 1/3 lighter) or by knocking a few together, they should "clank" instead of "thud". Also, the bark will slip off of a lot of species when dry. Ideally, I cut, buck, split, and stack a tree where it stands, so I'm not carrying all the weight of the water. Once I see the checking, I haul into a covered shed for use that winter. With seasoned wood and a good drafting stove, you don't need kindling to start and there should be no visible smoke coming out the chimney.

 

[eyolf]

Could a firewood cutter/user in, say, Pennsylvania really answer for someone in Texas or Minnesota or Idaho?

IMO, dense hardwoods like maple take longer than open-pored ones like ash, elm and hackleberry. I'm going to unload a trailer full of White ash from a driveway widening in a few minutes for the outdoor boiler, and some will probably get burned this winter, Next year it will be bone dry. The red maple will be set aside for a 2nd year.

My average rainfall is about 24" a year, and we have high humidity (slows drying) from mid-June through mid September. A firewood user in Virginia experiences almost twice the annual precip, and twice as many humid days.

For an indoor stove, where creosote is a worry, most poeple like their wood very dry, but for an outdoor boiler, almost anything goes.

 

[Freyboy23]

I like you play it on the safe side and wait at least 9 to 11 months. then I know I am not going to have any problem with anybody calling me and saying the wood is not going to burn.

 

[Slamm]

I too am an "ash lover", LOL, I love ash it cuts super easy and burns hot and long, easy to start as well. I think its the best overall firewood there is.

My opinion,

Sam

 

[knockbill]

yep, that was the only ash i had for a while, but it was just across teh street so i got it all,,,,, i get mostly oak, and its my favorite,, splits easy and burns hot... i have about 2-3 years stacked, so its ready when the burning time comes,,,,i have a little maple and cherry for teh warmer days,,,,,,

 

[ropensaddle]

Here it seasons fast in july and August, as then we are a solar kiln But it stinks cutting and splitting then. I just keep splitting and cutting when I have time. Some wood drys fast some don't white oak is slow to season , hickory fast and dead sometimes is ready to go.