how to season wood quickly?

[Goon 88]

Hi Guys,

Looking for some tips on how to season split firewood quickly. I cut some red oak and maple that was down for 2 years in log length, but is makling more steam than heat right now. I have it stacked around the downstairs wood stove with fans blowing on it, but I have no idea if this will do anything to accelerate the drying process. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John D]

If you need it now,theres no way to easily,economically season it in time to burn it.If I need wood to burn now, i head out and look for dead standing or leaning trees,they are usually seasoned and ready to burn,theres lots of them around here.

 

[Ductape]

I've read on this site that you can make a nice firewood drying kiln out of an old schoolbus. No doubt they'd like that in your yard in Hopkinton !

But seriously, oak really needs a couple years to season properly. Splitting it smaller will help, but i don't think you will have alot of luck doing anything that will allow it to burn better this year if its not burning well right now.

 

[WadePatton]

yes, deadfall or buying properly seasoned wood is the answer. mix the green wood in with the seasoned wood.

and one caution about dead elms. they hold water like a sponge--long after the bark is gone. they burn great, but dead elm needs as much seasoning as green oak.

my ace-in-the-hole "pre-seasoned" wood is black locust. if you can find dead, barkless black locust-it'll be ready to burn when you cut it. except for the dotey spots which may have a little moisture. black locust will season without rotting away. i'm still cutting what was on the ground at my place 10 years ago. barkless is good! if it still has bark on it, the moisture content will be high no matter how long it's dead.

i wouldn't use the fans unless you use them for heat circulation anyway. my opinion that the thermal currents created by the stove will work just fine

 

[yooper]

Throw it in the wood stove, that'll dry er out quick!

 

[Techstuf]

I mix my woods if I have have to burn the green stuff. Also, one might be surprised how fast split wood dries sitting by the woodstove. Also gives the house some humidity and that natural forest scent. I'll stack half a face cord by the stove and it'll burn amazingly well in a week's time.


TS

 

[WoodChuck'r]

Ash. Burn white ash.

You could soak it in water for three years and it'll start better sopping wet than a piece of dry cardboard.

 

[dingeryote]

Down for a couple years means it's still pretty much full of water.
Get it split and wait a couple weeks.

For some reason it seems dead and down for a while stuff, dries faster initally than freshly downed and split wood, and enough so that it's worth running after just a couple weeks in the cold.
Partial cured is better than green!

I had to run green and partial cured stuff most of last year, it sucks.
Stay busy getting ahead, and keeping an eyeball on the chimney for creosote build up.

Good luck to ya!!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[tibikedad]

The wood will season faster if it is split in small pieces and exposed to your fans. Putting it right next to the stove helps too. I had this same problem 2 years ago (lots of green wood, not much seasoned wood), and I was able to burn it this way. It took about 2 weeks inside the house to dry the wood enough to burn ok. However, the right way is to give it time outside with a tarp only on the top of the pile, leaving the sides exposed.

 

[gwiley]

I have also stacked wood in towers for speedier seasoning. Lay 2 splits on the ground 12" apart, then the next 2 on top and perpendicular to them, etc. This creates a tower with a sort of chimney in the middle - great airflow all around the logs. It will speed-dry pine and other softwoods very nicely, but it takes up a fair bit of space and can be tricky to keep the towers stable.

 

[Austin1]

What your doing now with it stacked by the stove and fans blowing on it is really the only way I can see working,however it might take 3 months or more? I don't know anything about hard wood but can tell ya Pine and spruce that fell wile green and sitting in log form for a few years will still take 6 months once split to season.

 

[MarylandGuy]

I have two concrete blocks I stack on top of my stove when quick seasoning is needed. I then criss cross the splits on the blocks. The wood gets warm, but never warm enough to catch fire.

After about an hour over the hot stove, you start seeing moisture pouring out of the ends of the wood. Typically in the center of the end. Then a few hours later cracks start appearing as the water leaves the wood. If it's quiet in the room, you can hear the cracks happening.

On my stove, I can completely dry out small splits of oak in 2 or 3 days. Obviously not the ideal situation, but in a pinch can work well.

Start working on next year's wood now and you won't have this problem. It took me a while to learn that.

 

[showrguy]

i would'nt put green red oak inside to dry..
a couple of years ago the owners son of the hotel/bar we stop at on the way to camp loaded up the basement with fresh/wet red oak........the entire place smelled like a puke bucket for weeks......yukkkkkkk

 

[Austin1]

i would'nt put green red oak inside to dry..
a couple of years ago the owners son of the hotel/bar we stop at on the way to camp loaded up the basement with fresh/wet red oak........the entire place smelled like a puke bucket for weeks......yukkkkkkk

That's funny! I bring in green would as it smells so good the house smells like Xmas tree all the time one advantage to us soft wood burners. I will also through a small sappy piece in the cast iron pot full of water on top of the stove especially when the dog is wet.I leave small rounds all over the house on top of book shelves and such.

 

[Goon 88]

I have two concrete blocks I stack on top of my stove when quick seasoning is needed. I then criss cross the splits on the blocks. The wood gets warm, but never warm enough to catch fire.

After about an hour over the hot stove, you start seeing moisture pouring out of the ends of the wood. Typically in the center of the end. Then a few hours later cracks start appearing as the water leaves the wood. If it's quiet in the room, you can hear the cracks happening.

On my stove, I can completely dry out small splits of oak in 2 or 3 days. Obviously not the ideal situation, but in a pinch can work well.

Start working on next year's wood now and you won't have this problem. It took me a while to learn that.

I have almost 90 cord cut and split for next year. I still have about a cord left this year but an thinking of later in Feb and March this year with the new stuff. I'm going to go and cut up a few Ash trees that have been down for a year or so, stack it inside so I can use that when I run out.

 

[howellhandmade]

I have almost 90 cord cut and split for next year. I still have about a cord left this year but an thinking of later in Feb and March this year with the new stuff. I'm going to go and cut up a few Ash trees that have been down for a year or so, stack it inside so I can use that when I run out.

NINETY? And one cord is going to last until February this year? I'm thinking typo, and if you have access to dead Ash you should be fine anyway, but if you really have that much split and stacked maybe you could sell some green and buy some seasoned, or find somebody willing to trade.

 

[olyman]

I have two concrete blocks I stack on top of my stove when quick seasoning is needed. I then criss cross the splits on the blocks. The wood gets warm, but never warm enough to catch fire.

After about an hour over the hot stove, you start seeing moisture pouring out of the ends of the wood. Typically in the center of the end. Then a few hours later cracks start appearing as the water leaves the wood. If it's quiet in the room, you can hear the cracks happening.

On my stove, I can completely dry out small splits of oak in 2 or 3 days. Obviously not the ideal situation, but in a pinch can work well.

Start working on next year's wood now and you won't have this problem. It took me a while to learn that.

x's 2, as its tooo late now for the outdoors drying--keep stacking by the stove for the rest of the season,try and rotate out--longest by stove burn first--

 

[olyman]

NINETY? And one cord is going to last until February this year? I'm thinking typo, and if you have access to dead Ash you should be fine anyway, but if you really have that much split and stacked maybe you could sell some green and buy some seasoned, or find somebody willing to trade.

me thought same thing---90 is a LOT of cords--maybe 9

 

[WadePatton]

btw, keep bare metal away from green oak. i 'bout ruined a hammer once by leaving it on top of the workbench just built from green sawn oak. mega-rust in no time.

methinks there's acidity along with the moisture.

 

[isaaccarlson]

Sounds like you got a hold of some stink oak!!!!

must have had a fungus or something. I had some of that last year and it smelled like POOP!!!! Stunk up the entire house.