Does wood season better in the winter or summer?

[Wishie22]

For my personal use - about 10 cords:
1. Winter, Rounds collected - cut to 20" & under for my use.
2. Spring (late) early summer, split wood (after the garden is in and growing), pine & punky separated and used outside.
3. Summer, stacked on pallets (allows air under the wood & off the ground)
4. Early Fall, cover the top but allow air to pass on the sides

Has been working for me, Few pieces of kenneling and the logs fire right up. Only moisture seems to be when the wood is allowed to soak some up, my dried wood seems thirsty, acts like a sponge.

Leftover is used outside along with any pine or punky (have some cedar chunks I ran into this winter, not long enough to do anything else with cut before I showed up, would have at least made fence posts) wood. Family enjoys a fire in the fire pit, at BBQ's, parties, etc.

 

[logbutcher]

I'm sure it dries some over winter but the rule of thumb around here is split for seasoning no later than April if you want too use it that winter. Heat is only a part of the equation. Wind is the real key too a good seasoning.

Good point, but there's too much to do in Spring and Summer to take time for splitting and stacking though it's done just at odd times. We've always got some left over wood from the last winter to burn until real winter anyhow.
Besides, Downeast seasons are 11 months of winter and one of pi$$ poor sledding ( from some Bert and I type Maine comic ) .
The piled butts do just fine seasoning through the spring and summer. The local folk tale is that the rain actually "pushes" the sap out of the wood. Who knows ?

How was your Valentine's Day Steve ?

 

[reaperman]

Ok boys, I started a little experiment today to settle this matter once and for all. Today I placed a pan of water outside to see how long it would take to evaporate. The high today was 15 degrees F, the dish of water froze solid and didn't not evaporate one bit. On the 4th of July I will start phase 2 and place another pan of water, the same size, outside to see how long it takes to evaporate. I will tabulate the results and we should know the answer by July 5th.

 

[flotek]

Lets say your gloves got wet, you lay them on the deck rail in the sun, would you expect them to dry quicker with January's sun, or July's?

good point never thought of i that way

 

[Slvrmple72]

IMO, wood seasons better in the summer.
As long as you keep it covered up with a tarp, it will cook all summer long and dry really well.

Good Post! I try to get all of my stuff split before the hot dry summer weather. I keep it off of the ground on skids, rounds stacked with space for airflow all at about 16" and cover it up before the rain soaks it! Some stuff (Oak) takes longer to dry then others (Ash ) but if you split it smaller it will dry out just about the same.

 

[stackwood]

little sapp

From what I was taught when the trees drop thier leave then drop thier sap and do not pull more sap up as long as it stays below 32 degrees. A guy I sell firewood to makes maple syrup(he sounds credible anyways).

The colder the weather the drier the tree, I cut all my wood in from late Dec until early march and I stop when I see sap come out when I notch. i'll stack and cover with tarp ,come Nov its all ready to burn.

 

[Kazpian]

Ok boys, I started a little experiment today to settle this matter once and for all. Today I placed a pan of water outside to see how long it would take to evaporate. The high today was 15 degrees F, the dish of water froze solid and didn't not evaporate one bit. On the 4th of July I will start phase 2 and place another pan of water, the same size, outside to see how long it takes to evaporate. I will tabulate the results and we should know the answer by July 5th.

Don't forget to simulate this properly shouldn't that pan be covered with a tiny opening for the water to escape ? One thing to remember is water expands when it freezes. If there is logs with lots of water they may very well expand and help split even more holes allowing for more air to get into the wood. I'm not sure which is the best I think it simply comes down to season it as long as you can until you have to burn it. (Sorry to bring up an older post but I was thinking about this the other day when a drink froze and split wide open when left outside.)

 

[wooddnasty]

Don't forget to simulate this properly shouldn't that pan be covered with a tiny opening for the water to escape ? One thing to remember is water expands when it freezes. If there is logs with lots of water they may very well expand and help split even more holes allowing for more air to get into the wood. I'm not sure which is the best I think it simply comes down to season it as long as you can until you have to burn it. (Sorry to bring up an older post but I was thinking about this the other day when a drink froze and split wide open when left outside.)

 

[wooddnasty]

if you think firewood dries in winter your way out there, maybe if your in texas but not anywhere its cold, its the same as dry wood in log form ,only if the bark has fell off and they are at least four years old piled in a shed , green wood wont dry in a basement , moisture cant escape in the confinds it only makes mold , cut your wood in sept , oct and see how well it burns good luck to you I wish you well

 

[Woody912]

It's all theory; I don't care, my degree was not in Forestry Science.

We harvest and pile the butts in winter ( ask why ).
When I feel(s) like it , the butts/bucks get split and stacked during late summer/early fall (ask why ).

Now the science: who cares. Been working for us for close to a decade here.
Wood partially dries in stove length butts late winter into spring and summer. Then has always dried for the few months after split and stack for burning. No sizzling, no foaming at the butt ends in the stoves. Never.

Factoid for you more scientific minded: tree moisture is dormant below freezing. Butts are frozen but drier in our temperate zone winters.

One year I tried what a Forester friend said: cut in spring after the leaves come out. Leave the leaves ( poetry ) on without limbing to speed the drying. Didn't do much except pi$$ me off that I had to finish off the felled trees with heat, bugs, mushy ground. Never again.

That's it folks.

Actually I think it is better to cut them before the leaves break bud and then let them leaf out of the log. Ice does sublimate but converting water to vapor requires energy and there is a lot more energy available at 320 Kelvin than there is at 273 Kelvin. (0 fahrenheit_

 

[wooddnasty]

I agree getter done before the spring thaw and the bugs

 

[jrider]

This thread is 7 years old but I will play along.... Wood seasons much faster in the heat of the summer. Sure ice will evaporate in the winter but it's a slow process. Ever notice how long it takes a wet road to dry off when the temps are in the 30's and 40's compared to the 80's and 90's? Evaporation rates are much higher when the sun is stronger and temperatures are higher.

 

[Marine5068]

Either way you're seasoning hardwoods for at least a year and Oaks, Hickories and other dense hardwoods like Elm for two or three years before burning.

 

[ashy larry]

I cut some green red oak, split it and stAcked it betweem trees. In the few months since then, one of the stacks is leaning bad (was not initially) and the other has toppled over. Red oak holds a lot of moisture in general, so there must have been a quick MC drop causing the stacks to contort. Im expecting the leaning stack to fall by spring.

 

[Whitespider]

Ever notice how long it takes a wet road to dry off when the temps are in the 30's and 40's compared to the 80's and 90's? Evaporation rates are much higher when the sun is stronger and temperatures are higher.

Evaporation rates are higher when the sun is stronger and temperatures are higher... if all else remains equal, such as relative humidity.
The relative humidity has a lot to do with your wet road scenario. A 100% relative humidity level at 35°, is only 17% relative humidity at 85°... and 17% is damn dry air.

Up here in the north it's not uncommon for temperatures to remain below freezing for weeks... at night the temps drop and frost forms, sucking any moisture above 100% relative humidity from the air. So if, for example, temps drop to 5° overnight, and then rise to 30° the next day, the relative humidity at that 30° is only 34%... and that's some pretty dry air that will suck any moisture from wood in a hurry, especially if a little sun shines on it. Similarly, if temperatures drop to -5° overnight and then rise to 30° in the next day or so... the relative humidity becomes only 21%. Unless temps rise above freezing, the lowest relative humidity is during the warmest part of the day... when there's solar energy available for drying.

When we get an extend cold period, such as in January-February when temps can fall to -10°, -15°, and even lower several times, but never rise above 32° (when true melting occurs)... we can end up with some extremely dry air whenever temps are between 0° and 30°. That dry air will suck the moisture from anything that can absorb even a tiny bit of solar energy (snow and ice don't... at least not much). My Grandmother always hung her winter laundry out to dry on sunny days when temps were below freezing, and it dried real quick... but she wouldn't hang it out when temps were, or had been, above freezing because the melting snow had replenished the humidity in the air.
I'll tell ya' what... it's hard to explain how fresh a bed sheet smells when it's been line dried on a sunny 15° January day... and it only takes a few minutes to dry.

Typically our summers are hot (for a northern boy) and humid... I wouldn't wanna' say when firewood drys faster... but I'm betting in the overall scheme, there ain't a lot of difference.
*

 

[muddstopper]

I cut some whiteoak the week after Christmas, havent bucked them yet. I have noticed some pretty good cracks coming in the logs. We have had planty of rain so humidity 100%, We have also had below freezing temps and a couple of good snows. Just by there being cracking in the logs, I suspect some measure of drying, but I also suspect that the wood probably wont be used before 2018 so if I get it bucked and split, it will have a couple of summers and winters on it before its needed.

 

[jrider]

Evaporation rates are higher when the sun is stronger and temperatures are higher... if all else remains equal, such as relative humidity.
The relative humidity has a lot to do with your wet road scenario. A 100% relative humidity level at 35°, is only 17% relative humidity at 85°... and 17% is damn dry air.

Up here in the north it's not uncommon for temperatures to remain below freezing for weeks... at night the temps drop and frost forms, sucking any moisture above 100% relative humidity from the air. So if, for example, temps drop to 5° overnight, and then rise to 30° the next day, the relative humidity at that 30° is only 34%... and that's some pretty dry air that will suck any moisture from wood in a hurry, especially if a little sun shines on it. Similarly, if temperatures drop to -5° overnight and then rise to 30° in the next day or so... the relative humidity becomes only 21%. Unless temps rise above freezing, the lowest relative humidity is during the warmest part of the day... when there's solar energy available for drying.

When we get an extend cold period, such as in January-February when temps can fall to -10°, -15°, and even lower several times, but never rise above 32° (when true melting occurs)... we can end up with some extremely dry air whenever temps are between 0° and 30°. That dry air will suck the moisture from anything that can absorb even a tiny bit of solar energy (snow and ice don't... at least not much). My Grandmother always hung her winter laundry out to dry on sunny days when temps were below freezing, and it dried real quick... but she wouldn't hang it out when temps were, or had been, above freezing because the melting snow had replenished the humidity in the air.
I'll tell ya' what... it's hard to explain how fresh a bed sheet smells when it's been line dried on a sunny 15° January day... and it only takes a few minutes to dry.

Typically our summers are hot (for a northern boy) and humid... I wouldn't wanna' say when firewood drys faster... but I'm betting in the overall scheme, there ain't a lot of difference.
*

Everything you said may be true but temps 'round here just ain't that cold. 4-5 days in a row below freezing may be all we see here and only a few times a winter. So I go back to OUR normal situation, 30's and 40's for highs- how long does wet pavement stay wet? Perty much all damn day long which ain't so in the summer.
In wood terms, I cut and split year round cause doing 100-130 cords a year ain't just gonna get done while the weather is nice. When I split on a hot AND humid day in the summer I can watch the oak turn color as the moisture evaporates in the sun. That don't happen nearly as quick on ANY winter day even If'n I split when it's in the teens out.

 

[svk]

If you cut rounds in October or November they will be noticeably drier in the spring even if they were completely covered in snow. However wood does dry significantly more during a summer season than winter.

If possible I drop my firewood trees in the middle of winter when the moisture is the lowest possible. This ensures that if split in the spring, they will be ready to burn that fall.

 

[Saddle Mander]

Now in the summer there's other forces at work. Yeah, it can get humid and muggy, but there is also the sun beating down on the wood mercilessly....

Not in my yard. Pretty much my entire yard is in the shade. It's quite wonderful, but it sure doesn't help oak season!