The Correct way to Season Wood for Firewood?

[JackRabbitSlims]

Gidday fellow Kiwi

Does this site have a PM function or the ability to have private conversations?

If so, I have a whole bunch of NZ related questions to ask you - if you wouldn't mind?

Right now we are nothing more than an idea that came about over a few beers on Sunday night....4 days in of pretty solid emails, phone calls and lots of reading and question asking.
I'd ruin this thread by asking whole bunch of questions....PM me if that works.

BTW - no rain here mate, but we need it badly! Good for the grape growers but not the farmers.

 

[MountainHigh]

Plan to burn wood in 6 + months
1) Fell, buck to size, and pack wood home in winter and spring
2) Split and stack loosely on palettes, poles or blocks off the ground in direct sunny, breezy location
3) Cover just the top of your stacks ahead of Fall rains - leave sides of stacks uncovered for airflow
or
4) Burn from your stacks or in late Summer or Fall, move dry wood into your storage shed that has open airflow
5) Burn 6+ month old wood that is under 20% moisture (mine gets to 14 - 16% quickly if stacked loosely in direct summer heat.

Plan to burn wood in 2 years
1) Fell, buck to size, and pack wood home in winter and spring
2) Split and stack wood loosely off the ground in open airy storage shed
3) wood is ready in 1.5 to 2 years


My areas is rainy in Fall, Winter and Spring, so if your area is very dry, you needn't worry too much about covering wood until rains come. Once wood is very dry, keeping the rain off is good or it will regress to higher water content.

 

[sledge&wedge]

I cut for next next next winter. 3 summers out in the sun, bucked but not split. I hand split, so it needs to be seasoned/dry to split without killing myself. I also try and sort my wood on how green it was. Stuff that was healthy and got blown down, is very green, needs the 3 years of drying. Stuff that is dead standing, only 2 years or less. IMO, better to let it dry to much then to burn wood that is not fully seasoned. Chimney or stove pipe problems happen in the winter, and are to be avoided by careful and long drying of firewood.

Hopefully this doesn't derail the thread too much... I'm pretty surprised to hear that you find it easier to split "seasoned" rounds over green rounds. I have yet to find anything other than conifers (which I don't typically process for firewood) and I split everything by hand as well. Then again, maybe you are only cutting conifers... Oak, walnut, hickory, ash, beech, cherry, and locust all split very well for me when green, but I do occasionally run into a nasty round or two that need my username to take them down. Anyway, to each his own

 

[Marine5068]

Plan to burn wood in 6 + months
1) Fell, buck to size, and pack wood home in winter and spring
2) Split and stack loosely on palettes, poles or blocks off the ground in direct sunny, breezy location
3) Cover just the top of your stacks ahead of Fall rains - leave sides of stacks uncovered for airflow
or
4) Burn from your stacks or in late Summer or Fall, move dry wood into your storage shed that has open airflow
5) Burn 6+ month old wood that is under 20% moisture (mine gets to 14 - 16% quickly if stacked loosely in direct summer heat.

Plan to burn wood in 2 years
1) Fell, buck to size, and pack wood home in winter and spring
2) Split and stack wood loosely off the ground in open airy storage shed
3) wood is ready in 1.5 to 2 years


My areas is rainy in Fall, Winter and Spring, so if your area is very dry, you needn't worry too much about covering wood until rains come. Once wood is very dry, keeping the rain off is good or it will regress to higher water content.

I agree that's the best way to season wood for firewood.
I will add that if you live in an extremely cold winter climate like us in Ontario, Canada and burn mostly hardwoods, Then you may be seasoning your wood longer that the usual one year after splitting and stacking it.
Some of our Oaks, Elms and hard Hickory or Ironwood may take two years or a little more to season so you may be burning them three years down the road.
I've burned a lot of hardwood three or four seasons later. I'd try to get it burned by the three year mark though.
Just keep it dry, off the ground and lots of air and sun on it.
That's the trick to good firewood.

 

[user 122190]

Yup, conifers! When the wood is very green the Fiskars sometimes bounces off the green wood. It's like trying to split a steel belted tire. 2 years later the wood splits with an easy swing of the axe.

Hopefully this doesn't derail the thread too much... I'm pretty surprised to hear that you find it easier to split "seasoned" rounds over green rounds. I have yet to find anything other than conifers (which I don't typically process for firewood) and I split everything by hand as well. Then again, maybe you are only cutting conifers... Oak, walnut, hickory, ash, beech, cherry, and locust all split very well for me when green, but I do occasionally run into a nasty round or two that need my username to take them down. Anyway, to each his own

 

[Fred Wright]

For stacking we prefer using log rails. Small diameter sweet gum trees are a great choice for this. They last for years and, when they do eventually rot they're easily enough replaced. And free from your woodlot.

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

Thanks again for all the very informative replies - I'm learning a lot.....this is a great site!

Cheers.

 

[mohick]

Be sure and run out and buy a two-bit moisture meter so you will know the exact m

 

[mohick]

Again! be sure and run right out and buy a two bit moisture meter, so you know the exact moment the wood is fit to burn!!!!!!!

 

[muddstopper]

I think everybody has their favorite methods for drying. In a perfect world, spit and stack in long rows with cover over top is probably the best fastest way to get dry wood. Well maybe a kiln is a little faster. I dont live in a perfect world, plus I am always in a bind for finding time. I harvest when I can, buck when I can, and split when I can. Each step starts the wood on it drying journey. Log lengths I like to lay a couple of logs on the ground and then the remaining logs are set on top crossways. This keeps the majority of the wood off the ground, and it makes bucking easier since your not tempted to stick the saw bar in the ground when bucking. Once bucked, I will take the tractor and fel and push the rounds into a pile, this also gets the majority of the wood off the ground and speeds drying. When I find time to split, I try to split everything in one session. With a big pile of splits, I again use the tractor to push in a pile. I dont make a high pile, but instead try for long waist to head high narrow rows. This keeps the majority of the split wood off the ground and exposes as much of the wood as possible to the sun and wind. I found large high piles of splits, the wood on top will dry, but the wood in the middle will still be wet, even a year later. when it comes time to stack, I have one of those metal portable carports I stack under. It will hold about 8 full cords of firewood. I lay down wood pallets and then use the tractor FEL to carry the rounds inside the carport. I will stack one row on each side lengthways and then fill in the middle crossways. Since I only burn about half of the shed worth of wood each winter, I will use from one end of the carport one winter, and then the other end the next winter. Replacing the used wood each summer. I have about three years worth of splits on hand right now and my carport is not quite half full, so I have a bunch of stacking to do

 

[blades]

ABOUT 3 YEARS WORTH

 

[user 122190]

LOL! Yup, you don't want to miss that moment.

Again! be sure and run right out and buy a two bit moisture meter, so you know the exact moment the wood is fit to burn!!!!!!!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

IMO, cutting and selling firewood is not a business. It's a weird hobby to earn extra money, and it is hard hard work.

Well I work 80-100+ hrs a week at my "hobby" and it pays the bills fairly well haha

Here wood is reasonably dry in 3-6 months depending on species and time of year. Though I've have plenty of folks that don't care and are tossing it in the stove almost before I can dump it.

I dont do seasoned wood. Most people don't want to pay extra for it.

 

[cat10ken]

Unlike the above picture by Fred Wright, stack your wood bark-side up; it'll shed water like off a ducks back instead of pooling in the loose bark like in a boat.

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

Unlike the above picture by Fred Wright, stack your wood bark-side up; it'll shed water like off a ducks back instead of pooling in the loose bark like in a boat.

Good to know - Thanks for the tip.

 

[zogger]

Thanks again for the great replies.

@Fred - good suggestion re separating species.

So, how are you guys keeping your stacks and / or piles off the ground? Smaller stacks in rows would be simple, but what about large piles that are churning off a conveyor belt?
Could you lay out a large surface area of old pellets or crates maybe 6-8 inches off the ground and then pile on top? I suspect the weight of the wood will crush these at some stage, but at least you would have a layer between the bottom cut wood and the earth.....what do you think?

Thanks once again, you've all been a big help.

Cheers.

I use pallets on top of railroad ties. top covered unless I know there is at least a week with no rain, then I will roll the tarp off. I try to not burn anything until it is at least two summer full drying. I do separate out my very best wood, oak and hickory heartwood.

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

How about using pallets placed on old tyres to keep the piles / stacks up off the ground - would that work OK?

 

[muddstopper]

I stacked about 3 cords today. I laid pallets on the ground and stacked the wood on top. I wont cover the wood until next year, I dont see the point in covering green wood that wont be used for a couple of years. Once its seasoned, I'll move the stacks into the dry, but until then, mother nature can have at it. I have about 3 or so more cords processed that isnt stacked. It was in a big pile, but I took the fel and spread the wood around into a low, wide pile. I know I wont be stacking this wood for at least 3 months or more and I figure it will dry faster scattered out than in a big pile.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Most wood doesn't really work like a sponge, so rain doesn't bother it much. It will season faster if it's covered if you are in a rainy area though.

I don't cover my firewood at home. Too much work and I've yet to find a cover that didn't blow off or pull the stacks over with the usual 80-100mph winter winds.

 

[Erik B]

How about using pallets placed on old tyres to keep the piles / stacks up off the ground - would that work OK?

Tires have a habit of collecting rain water and can be a great place for mosquitos to breed, which is not good.