The truth about moisture content?

[Soilarch]

Ash is king for 'green burning'. But there's not much of that around here. (There are a few, but I promised to take out the sick/dead/leaners first.)

Now, seasoned wood is generally regarded as 20% or less, correct? But here this site has a list of green moisture contents at the bottom of the page. According to it Ash, Beech, Locust, Spruce, and Shag Hickory should all be o.k.

So what's the truth? Do those species tend to burn with little seasoning?

http://www.mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

 

[aandabooks]

Ash, which is apparently the driest green wood on the list, when live is at 35% moisture content. Earlier in the page it warns about burning wood above 25% and tells you that 9 months to season. Maybe, if you cut some live ash now, by Feb/March it might be ready to go.

 

[Lignum]

Ash, which is apparently the driest green wood on the list, when live is at 35% moisture content. Earlier in the page it warns about burning wood above 25% and tells you that 9 months to season. Maybe, if you cut some live ash now, by Feb/March it might be ready to go.

What he said.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Soilarch, I don't know about all the species you mentioned, Any green wood takes a lot more to get it to light than does dry wood. Expect to be at it a while. The difference in MC between 20% and 40-45% is enough to put out the fire if there isnt enough air getting to it.

If forced to use green wood, I split it small to start with, less than 2" wood. and put my larger stuff on top. I used cardboard from boxes for starter/kindling. I cut it into 4"-6"X12"-18" rectangles and rolled tightly, first one direction then the other. This gets placed under the wood to be burned, right infront of the air draft. I sometimes had to use 3-4 of the starters one right after the other, to get things going. Let it get a lot of air to dry things out quickly. Once it takes off good and stops hissing at you it is ready to have the draft turned down on it. Dont let it go out or you will be starting almost from scratch again. Don't pack it too tightly or the evaporating moisture will put out your starter fire. Start small, get that going, then feed more in till you get the feel for what you are using.

One thing that helps is to burn a couple of sheets of newspaper under the flue pipe to start a draft. This will help clear the excessive amounts of smoke caused by burning green wood when you first try to start to it.

A good thing to invest in is a flue temperature gauge. It helps you make sure your fire is staying above 250*F. At this temperature and lower you are at risk of dangerous creosote condensing in your chimney. You can tell at a glance how hot it is and gives you a better feel for it quicker.

Each stove burns a bit different from the rest but most should agree that to get it to burn you are going to need to get it lots of air. Which means start the fire where it gets the best draft into the firebox. I always used to make sure the temps were 400*+ before starting to shut off the air. I wouldnt do it all at once , this seemed to put the fire out. But shut it off in halves a couple of time to reduce the output then closed it to where I figured it would run like this for a few hours.

 

[046]

if forced to burn green wood... have a stash of dry wood to bring up to temps, before putting on green. once your wood burner gets up to operation temps, then it's got a better chance to sustain burning of green wood.

don't have a stash of dry wood.... sorry you need to buy some.

yes ... Ashe is the best wood to burn green. when splitting for faster seasoning, split into smaller diameter pieces. consult JUCA green wood list to find species highest rated for your area.

after stacking green wood, make sure it stays covered if any chance of rain. some claim stacking wood a certain way, then covered produces a kiln effect for faster drying.

find some standing dead wood to cut down. like a nice dead standing Oak. it'll be loaded with water, but dead Oak will dry out in 3-4 weeks after splitting. wood near tops will be ready to burn immediately.

some wood stoves tolerates green wood better than others. my JUCA will burn green wood clean enough to produce almost no smoke, once it gets up to temps. others will not tolerate green wood at at. key to use dry woods to get up to normal operating temps, before attempting to put in green wood.

best defense against needing use green wood... is to process enough dry wood for two+ seasons.

hopefully the above information will help out first time wood stove owners...

 

[Soilarch]

Alright, you all are saying exactly what I've heard and thought.

So where did they pull theses numbers from? Is there some secret standard that says you measure "green" moisture at 3 months, or what?

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I don't think there is any secret to it. Just have to get a feel for it. There are a lot of variables to wood and a lot of different species of it.

I'm pretty sure if they are going to post the numbers they have done the research on their own and not just taking commonly quoted numbers. This way they can verify the findings for accuracy, post it and save someone else from duplicating their efforts.

I sort of know what tree is in which of my stacks. So I know about when it was cut for firewood and about how long it has to go before being ready. We like to cook over an open fire in the back yard at times. Nothing big just a cooking fire. I pull a couple of pieces from a stack for this and check to see if it is going to be smokey and hard to light. I do this right away when I bring any home. And again around the end of the drying season, after it has had plenty of time to check on the ends, darken from age and dry out. Knowing when it is ready is something that comes from experience. Each persons experience is going to be a bit different.

Just like 046 mentioned, dead standing is a good choice to take first, for this year. Dead laying takes more time to dry but still less than green wood. Cut, split and stacked the dead laying wood might be ready late in the burning season for this year.

 

[savageactor7]

We and our neighbors have lots of ash around here and until I signed up on these forums I've never heard anything about burning freshly cut ash. Everyone around here seasons their wood for at least a full summer, most longer.

When I first heard on line about burning green ash I made inquires and the locals said .. 'are you nuts'... LOL. they all agreed sure it's one of the driest woods you'll cut and would burn OK in an open fireplace but as dry as it is green ash would still be a difficult burn in a newer EPA wood stove.

 

[046]

note burning green wood .... ash or other wise is only when forced to.

just so happens ash burns the best of any green wood. this doesn't mean one should cut green ash and go burn it.

found out first hand that it's true about ash burning better than other species green. it's for folks just getting started burning wood and have not had time to build up their wood pile.

this will be my 4th season burning wood. it takes a bit to realize.... wood you are processing now should be for the following year or after.

We and our neighbors have lots of ash around here and until I signed up on these forums I've never heard anything about burning freshly cut ash. Everyone around here seasons their wood for at least a full summer, most longer.

When I first heard on line about burning green ash I made inquires and the locals said .. 'are you nuts'... LOL. they all agreed sure it's one of the driest woods you'll cut and would burn OK in an open fireplace but as dry as it is green ash would still be a difficult burn in a newer EPA wood stove.

 

[wkpoor]

I have a friend who has heated with wood his whole life. And....he only burns green wood, that right, straight from the woods to the stove. And he doesn't sweep his chimney till it actually gets so full of creosote that it stops burning. His motto, a hot fire will burn anything.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I have a friend who has heated with wood his whole life. And....he only burns green wood, that right, straight from the woods to the stove. And he doesn't sweep his chimney till it actually gets so full of creosote that it stops burning.

His motto, a hot fire will burn anything.

Including his house.

Green wood , I've dont it. I don't recommend it. Kind of like, backtalking your dad. I've done that too, but learned it wasn't such a hot idea as it seemed at the time.

 

[wkpoor]

I ask him every year to stock up ahead. He says the neighbors will steel if he does. Thats why he doesn't season ahead. My other neighbor seasons a minimum of 2yrs. Now there is two opposites.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I ask him every year to stock up ahead. He says the neighbors will steel if he does. Thats why he doesn't season ahead. My other neighbor seasons a minimum of 2yrs. Now there is two opposites.

With three of you in the same area that burn I wonder which one of the 2 of you he is worried about taking his pile ? J/K

That seems like just an excuse to put it off. Years ago , my health dictated that I couldn't work (high dose chemo). By the time it was getting cool enough that I could get out for a few hours a week it was pretty late in the season. That was a hard winter for us. I thank God I happened onto a deadfall Mullberry when I did and that they didn't mind me taking what I could get from it. I got my experience burning green wood that Winter and have no intention of doing it again.

I'd say offer to trade out seasoned for green with him but that is just enabling him to stil put it off. His method will eventually catch him with his fly open rushing to get it in to fast.

 

[Scootermsp]

My Oak

I've cut and split about 10 cords of red oak. It was cut down in mid July and it's all been split and stacked throughout August. I know the order of my piles which was bucked and split first. My question is how dry can I expect this to be in say Mid December. I'm using an OWB so I know I can burn it, it's just how much potential heat will I get from it versus fully seasoned oak? opcorn:

 

[husky455rancher]

scooter id leave it be if you could. like you said it will burn in the owb but it will serve you better if you could wait till next year.

 

[Wet1]

Red oak takes a looooooooong time to dry. I would give it at least 18 months or more if possible for optimal heat.

 

[Scootermsp]

Thank You

scooter id leave it be if you could. like you said it will burn in the owb but it will serve you better if you could wait till next year.

I guess I'll let all that oak season for next year then. Oh well I guess I'll just burn oil then. At least I won't get cold filling the OWB. Next year I'll have some great wood to burn. (Just kidding, this Oak is ALL I have so it's getting torched this year. I have plenty more to cut also) Just wondering how much MORE I'd be burning due to it being green. I have about 2 cord of pine and other seasoned wood to mix with it, thanks folks! opcorn:

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I guess I'll let all that oak season for next year then. Oh well I guess I'll just burn oil then. At least I won't get cold filling the OWB. Next year I'll have some great wood to burn. (Just kidding, this Oak is ALL I have so it's getting torched this year. I have plenty more to cut also) Just wondering how much MORE I'd be burning due to it being green. I have about 2 cord of pine and other seasoned wood to mix with it, thanks folks! opcorn:

Just a guess from experience with a regular stove says about 1 1/2 times more.

terrible shame that ther isnt provision on an OWB for wood drying. you'd lose some BTU"s to the atmosphere drying the wood but how much would you gain from it ? Not to mention the reduced smoke by burning dry as a popcorn fart wood ?

Nah ! that would never work. It would mean handling the wood one extra time to load the kiln.