How do you guys dry your wood?

[Henry and Wanda]

Hello,
The drying process in wood is on the cellular level. Water is contained in wood in 2 places. In the cells themselves and in the cell walls. The water in the cells leaves first while drying. Then when the wood reaches between 23-30 percent water (which is called the Fiber Saturation Point) then the water starts leaving the cell walls. This is when wood starts to shrink and move. I think the sooner you cut and split the wood, the sooner and faster it will dry !!!!!! This info is probably way more than you all wanted to know...LOL !!!!!!!



Henry and Wanda

 

[zogger]

There was a study done on this a few years back. Still trying to find the report, but the upshot was that there was, in general, no benefit to waiting until the leaves fall off. "Busted" as per "Mythbusters"?

Seems that one big difference between drying in place or bucking green would be the fire hazard. Dry leaves would be lit much easier (by exhaust of saw without spark-arrester). But still low probability.

Whatever happens with boxelder wouldn't have much relevance to real wood, nor with black willow. Both purely nuisances. :cool2: Whatever makes things simpler.

That's cool, like to see the report if you can find it.

I know when the big chipper here was working, I preferred to chip green branches.

All in all, I like to fell and buck in the winter, but it gets impractical here due to deep mud to follow through. Sometimes I fell and buck, walk in, cut some, walk out, wait to drive tractor closer to pickup the wood months later. I have cord and a half or so of oak right now still sitting waiting to get picked up, finally starting to get dried out enough.

 

[rarefish383]

I skipped all of the replies, so if I repeat this, sorry. He's wrong. The leaves will draw out a lot of the moisture that is in the vascular system. They will draw out none of the moisture in the wood. The vascular system is in the cambium, just under the bark. I have plenty of dead standing Oaks on the farm. I let them stand till the bark falls off, nice grey wood, dry as a bone, in the limbs, up to the size of your arm. We call them seasoned on the stump. Start bucking and splitting larger wood and it's still wet inside. If I throw it in my stove on hot coals you can see the steam and water running out of the ends. If you check out the milling site you will see that it takes about a year per inch of thickness of a board or plank to air dry. The sooner you cut and split the wood the sooner it will start to dry. The smaller the splits the faster they will dry. If you figure out the total surface area of the log exposed to the air, and then figure out the total surface area of all the splits exposed to the air, the surface area of the splits is many, many times that of the log. More surface area, faster drying. Most of the moisture loss comes out of the ends of the wood, so many cuts and splits have many ends, versus the one or two ends of the log, Joe.

 

[flashhole]

Lots of good discussion in this thread. I'm in the neogeezer camp in both perspectives, age and opinion . Never really thought about it all that much because I buck it up and split it when I get the chance to do it. Sometimes when I fell it, other times it might sit for a couple of months until I find get the opportunity to get back at it. I like to get it done as quickly as possible and leave it stacked off the ground exposed to the elements. Wind and sun are great for drying wood. I even like it to get rained on because the surface moisture vaps off quickly and I think that has an affect on pulling moisture out of the inner wood.

 

[medic8852]

just some pics, couple at home and one of the "remote" wood pile in the woods where I cut...
View attachment 301993View attachment 301994View attachment 301995

 

[flashhole]

What a novel use for a canoe, rain shelter.

 

[medic8852]

What a novel use for a canoe, rain shelter.

lol, yeah, its keeps the canoe off the ground and protects most of the wood. Plus the overhang on the garage tends to keep it fairly dry. usually keep the ready to burn stuff closest to the door of the garage, as currently that where my only burner is. Ya work with what ya got.

 

[Whitespider]

Whatever happens with boxelder wouldn't have much relevance to real wood...

Even if I desired... I wouldn't be able to come up with any sort of creditable argument to that statement!!!

 

[luckydozenfarm]

I skipped all of the replies, so if I repeat this, sorry. He's wrong. The leaves will draw out a lot of the moisture that is in the vascular system. They will draw out none of the moisture in the wood. The vascular system is in the cambium, just under the bark. I have plenty of dead standing Oaks on the farm. I let them stand till the bark falls off, nice grey wood, dry as a bone, in the limbs, up to the size of your arm. We call them seasoned on the stump. Start bucking and splitting larger wood and it's still wet inside. If I throw it in my stove on hot coals you can see the steam and water running out of the ends. If you check out the milling site you will see that it takes about a year per inch of thickness of a board or plank to air dry. The sooner you cut and split the wood the sooner it will start to dry. The smaller the splits the faster they will dry. If you figure out the total surface area of the log exposed to the air, and then figure out the total surface area of all the splits exposed to the air, the surface area of the splits is many, many times that of the log. More surface area, faster drying. Most of the moisture loss comes out of the ends of the wood, so many cuts and splits have many ends, versus the one or two ends of the log, Joe.

Ah, thanks.

Yeah I've never thought about it till he said it. Usually if I have to get my gear together, drive out to someone's property and cut a tree down, I am coming back with the tree. Just so I don't have to worry about the neighborhood people making off with my fall. I usually don't cut green trees for firewood because standing trees in our area are worth more in property value than firewood. Most of my calls are for standing dead trees, which is what I prefer for firewood, myself. I got into a field of 30-40 drought-killed water oaks this week and most of them are still good for firewood and aren't spongy. I want to get them opened up to this 100 degree heat we have today.

 

[olyman]

I skipped all of the replies, so if I repeat this, sorry. He's wrong. The leaves will draw out a lot of the moisture that is in the vascular system. They will draw out none of the moisture in the wood. The vascular system is in the cambium, just under the bark. I have plenty of dead standing Oaks on the farm. I let them stand till the bark falls off, nice grey wood, dry as a bone, in the limbs, up to the size of your arm. We call them seasoned on the stump. Start bucking and splitting larger wood and it's still wet inside. If I throw it in my stove on hot coals you can see the steam and water running out of the ends. If you check out the milling site you will see that it takes about a year per inch of thickness of a board or plank to air dry. The sooner you cut and split the wood the sooner it will start to dry. The smaller the splits the faster they will dry. If you figure out the total surface area of the log exposed to the air, and then figure out the total surface area of all the splits exposed to the air, the surface area of the splits is many, many times that of the log. More surface area, faster drying. Most of the moisture loss comes out of the ends of the wood, so many cuts and splits have many ends, versus the one or two ends of the log, Joe.

rarefish. EXCELLENT!! and you beat me to it!! now the que is,,how many will believe, the TRUTH that you wrote????

 

[flashhole]

I always thought of a tree as a System of Systems. Leaves have a specific function, bark has a specific function, roots, branches, trunk, fruit, etc. All the sub-systems operate independently, one from the other, but they all contribute to the same thing .... growth. If any one sub-system fails, the tree dies. Stands to reason the leaf system will have limited impact on the drying process of the trunk.