Drying wood quickly

[Woody912]

people have asked about having to burn not totally dry wood. Just for the heck of it I took a 20" round of hickory I cut last winter, been sitting outside. Split off the sapwood and split out a section of heartwood which weighed 11#. Hickory heart is 80% moisture by wt so if it was totally green it should dry down to 6.6# Set this pc in behind my wood stove and after 3 days it was down to 10#, another 5 days and down to 9# but little change in the last day and it was -4 last night so stove was a little warm. I'll keep drying till it reaches equilibrium which I don't think is much more. Bottom line, my conclusion is that if you are short on dry wood, splitting some dead wood pretty small and getting it into a heated area for a few days will make a dramatic difference in how it burns. Yea, I already knew it but I wanted to quantify it. And I was bored! lol

 

[mainewoods]

From my experience a fan helps also.

 

[theswampthing]

It does help. This year is burn what I can get, for me. I usually take splits off my wood pile, split them again, and bring them in the house and set next to the stove. Normally 3 days worth, and keep stocking and rotating it. I also throw in a couple lumber scraps to help get a hot fire, and it works alright. I'm not burning wood that was just cut, but it has been laying in rounds for years. Not ideal, or close to dry, but it will work for this winter.

 

[Vibes]

I have drying rack about 12 inches from where my flue pipe goes into the thimble on my chimney. I'll take the wood that's in the dirt on the bottom of my stacks on it and it takes 3 weeks to dry to the point that it doesn't sizzle. I'm sure different wood probably drys faster but that's just the time I let it dry. A lot of times those pieces are soaked through out and usually hard woods.

 

[zogger]

It also helps to rotate the ends that face the heat source.

 

[Bushmans]

split small or just place in fire to dry

 

[branchbuzzer]

Pine, both from same tree, similar size splits:
outdoors, under open cover.... 12/8 173.4 oz. .....1/23 143.3 oz .
indoors, near wood stove....... 12/8 158.75 oz ...... 1/22 65.2 oz

Black Birch, both from same tree , small rounds,
outdoors same as above... 11/8 93.7 oz 1/23 91.0 oz
indoors............................... 11/8 139 oz 1/22 120 oz

 

[Gavman]

From my experience a fan helps also.

Well you come to the right place then, lots of fans on here....

 

[axe2fall]

It does help. This year is burn what I can get, for me. I usually take splits off my wood pile, split them again, and bring them in the house and set next to the stove. Normally 3 days worth, and keep stocking and rotating it. I also throw in a couple lumber scraps to help get a hot fire, and it works alright. I'm not burning wood that was just cut, but it has been laying in rounds for years. Not ideal, or close to dry, but it will work for this winter.

In this part of the country most large rounds will rot before they dry out.
Ideally I will drop next years wood in December when the sap is down, split and stack under roof before it ever gets wet. Then I wake up and the dream ends .
In reality, I usually end up splitting various accumulated rounds 3 or 4 weeks before I need them. I still stack in my covered 2 cord wood rack but it's not properly seasoned firewood.
I then bring in wheelbarrow loads and spread it out around the stove as much as possible. Not perfect but it burns pretty good. The side benefit is that it adds humidity to the dry winter air while it dries around the stove.
Nothing beats the above ideal scenario for perfect firewood in these parts but it rarely comes together that well on this farm. When it does it usually ends up being a warm Winter.

 

[Mad Professor]

I have a wood rack that holds a little more than 2/5 cord ( 5' X 7' 22" splits).

If it is semi-dry it is way dry by the time I burn halfway through it.

Helps humidity issues in the house too.

P.S. In this cold i can get about two weeks from a full rack

 

[Vibes]

Warm winter? I think we've had 1 warm winter in the past 7. I don't know if anyone has been hearing anything from the "GLOBAL WARMING" folks. I did hear one of them blaming our unusually cold spring (or long winter) of 2013 on global warming.

Back to wood drying. I brought in a half chord of standing dead ash that I cut 1 week ago. Its definately not ready for prime time. Pieces of it are standing around the stove like a medevil chess match.

 

[axe2fall]

Warm winter? I think we've had 1 warm winter in the past 7. I don't know if anyone has been hearing anything from the "GLOBAL WARMING" folks. I did hear one of them blaming our unusually cold spring (or long winter) of 2013 on global warming.

Back to wood drying. I brought in a half chord of standing dead ash that I cut 1 week ago. Its definately not ready for prime time. Pieces of it are standing around the stove like a medevil chess match.

That's what mine looks like too !