Seasoning through winter

[woodbooga]

How is it that firewood can continue to season after temperatures dip consistently below freezing? Can't quite seem to get my head around how frozen water can continue to evaporate.

As a result, I always target the end of October as the deadline to shoot for when managing the supply that I bring into the barn for winter use.

That said, I do usually notice increased end checking/spits and bark lift as the winter progresses.

 

[Peacock]

It's usually pretty dry around here in the winter. The difference in moisture helps draw it out of the wood.

 

[woodbooga]

It's usually pretty dry around here in the winter. The difference in moisture helps draw it out of the wood.

Dry in New England, too. I'm just having a hard time understanding how frozen water gets drawn out.

 

[mranum]

Freeze drying. Ever notice when you park a car inside an unheated garage and you get some snow melt on the floor that freezes into patch of ice that slowly over time disappears.

 

[myzamboni]

Ever notice that ice cubes, when left alone for awhile in a freezer, shrink? Same principle.

 

[Peacock]

Refridgeration removes humidity. Just like how having the a/c running will remove the fog from your car windows, regardless of temperature.

 

[coog]

The process is called sublimation.It describes the means in which a solid (ice, in this case) goes to a gas (water vapor) without going through a liquid (water) phase.I used to do weight experiments with my firewood (weird, I know) and I found that my wood dried at a faster rate during the cold months of winter.I think the low humidity is the biggest factor.

 

[NDtreehugger]

Sublimation process changes ice or solid

to vapor/gas with no liquid stage only happens below the triple point,

Freezers use a fan to circulate air in combination with the sub zero temperature.

Wood stacked outside in the winter will get the same treatment as an unwrapped steak in a deep freezer.


High school science.

Go get that wood when its 40 below then burn burn burn

Want to get more confused

water at triple point

 

[Austin1]

I find winter better to season my wood the last few years the summers have been wet very wet compared to the old day's lol During bird season Sept and Oct I cut most of my wood I will even take green wind blown down trees the stuff the bull dozzer has knocked down to make a road. Cut it split it by Dec and I am ready for next year.Winters here are cool and dry.

 

[NDtreehugger]

If I can........................

I like to cut in the summer let the trees lay then go back in the winter and cut and store.

do my splitting in the spring and summer

its not always possible and most folks want there trees move NOW

 

[Al Weber]

coog has it right. The process is sublimation of vapor from the solid to the gas state without going to a liquid. I dry my milled lumber in a barn (in SW New Hampshire) and it loses water much faster in the winter than in the summer. Of course it all equilibrates somewhat in the wetter months.

 

[Patrick62]

Last year...

I cut/split green stuff last fall, and then it got buried under 4 feet of snow.

In the spring it became necessary to see if anything was burnable. Surprisingly it was about 1/2 dry!!! Even under all that snow!!!

-Pat

 

[KsWoodsMan]

The process is called sublimation.It describes the means in which a solid (ice, in this case) goes to a gas (water vapor) without going through a liquid (water) phase.I used to do weight experiments with my firewood (weird, I know) and I found that my wood dried at a faster rate during the cold months of winter.I think the low humidity is the biggest factor.

Grandma used to dry clothes in the winter, hung out on the line. First they'd freeze then they'd dry. Come to think of it. Mom did too ! It does seem to have taken longer

As a kid I didnt get it. Dense wood retains its heat longer than the surrounding air. The trace salts and impurities in the woods moisture keep it from freezing just a bit longer. The 'dry' winter air pulls the moisture out of the warmer wet wood.

I dont know if it seasons faster in the winter if exposed to the sun rather than during the hot humid months of Summer with the same exposure. But the dark color of the woodstack has to help warm it and the dry wind blowing through the stack cant hurt. I'd be a liar to say I have never burned wood the same Winter it was cut but it did heat the house and I was glad to have it.