My wood just won't dry

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jrider

jrider

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I hope this summers weathers pattern changes soon. We have had the rainiest June on record- 5 nights in a row with thunderstorms and we just topped the 15" mark for the month. I know the farmers are really hurting so I don't want to complain too much but damn ain't no wood drying out at all in this weather. Humidity is running so high night and day as well.
 
BillNole

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I hope this summers weathers pattern changes soon. We have had the rainiest June on record- 5 nights in a row with thunderstorms and we just topped the 15" mark for the month. I know the farmers are really hurting so I don't want to complain too much but damn ain't no wood drying out at all in this weather. Humidity is running so high night and day as well.

Funny how we shattered records for heat and dry last summer and here we are a year later looking at nothing but water and mud since early spring. A little moderation would be nice!
 
Whitespider
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Same thing here... everything is wet, soggy, damp and muddy. We just hit 48-hours without rain, I think that's only the second time this month. Mushrooms, toadstools, moss and mildew growing everywhere 'cause we ain't seen the sun but a handful of times over the last three months. The humidity levels are flat oppressive, miserable working out-of-doors... but what are ya' gonna' do?? Lost a good share of the garden due to cold and wet... but I believe I've cut the grass more times this year than I did all of last year. Surprisingly, some of the corn fields don't look too bad... they're behind, but look pretty good... others not so good, and still others just never got planted.

The little boy is enjoying it though, his quad has been covered in mud and slop since the day I brought it home. He stands there and watches me clean it up... then instantly jumps on it to see if he can get it muddier than it was :angry: I guess, to a little boy, there must be something sinful about having a clean ATV :( Actually, I get it... there's still a bit of little boy left inside me :rock:
 
Big_Al

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Had a real wet june here too, luckily it looks like summer starts tomorrow! Sunny and 80-90 temps with 20% humidity forecast for next couple weeks. Normally it'll stay that way thru Aug, really dries the wood quick.
 
stihly dan

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Had a real wet june here too, luckily it looks like summer starts tomorrow! Sunny and 80-90 temps with 20% humidity forecast for next couple weeks. Normally it'll stay that way thru Aug, really dries the wood quick.

20% humidity!!! I don't think I have ever experienced that in my life. That sounds awesome.
 
haveawoody

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Same here, we get one semi sunny day followed with 4 or 5 days of cloud and rain.
Been an odd summer to say the least, hot for a couple days then like fall for a couple days.
 
alleyyooper

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Yup the farmers here haven't got all the fields planted and it is getting late even for beans. A horse farming friend is having a horribile time gettin hay in the barn with out it getting wet. I have been b i t c hing about the rain since way back in April.



Forget drying wood just getting the soil dry enough you can get it out of the woods is a problem here. Have though about doing a float to the nearest road that has a bridge where I can retrive the stuff.



Funny thing is I belong to a garden forum and there is a guy who says he lives in Port Huron Michigan that complains nearly every day about dragging a hose around to water his flower gardens. I've called him a lier so many times it isn't funny as I live with in and hour of PH and see the radar tracks on the weather forcast. We get 5inches and he is still supposed to be dry and the storm crossed into Canada right across him.

We just got another 4 inches this week. One of the lawns I mow is under water still as of saturday.

:D Al
 
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Fred Wright

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Yer wood won't dry? I'd like to have a problem like that. :)

Oh... THAT wood. ;)

Cover it to keep the rain off if it's stacked. It should dry fairly well over summer anyway. The rain won't keep it from seasoning.

Yeah it's been a wet summer in Delmarva to put it mildly. Storms most nights and sun the next day. Thankfully, we've been spared the flooding. Just north of us, New Castle County has had floods, tornadoes, trees down.

So far the veggie garden is loving it. I haven't had to run the sprinkler much.
 
jrider

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Yer wood won't dry? I'd like to have a problem like that. :)

Oh... THAT wood. ;)

Cover it to keep the rain off if it's stacked. It should dry fairly well over summer anyway. The rain won't keep it from seasoning.

Yeah it's been a wet summer in Delmarva to put it mildly. Storms most nights and sun the next day. Thankfully, we've been spared the flooding. Just north of us, New Castle County has had floods, tornadoes, trees down.

So far the veggie garden is loving it. I haven't had to run the sprinkler much.

I sell wood and have about 75 cords at the moment making it a little difficult to cover especially when some of the thunderstorms have brought 60mph winds with them.
 
Whitespider
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Even covered it isn't going to dry much with the humidity so high there isn't room in the air for more moisture.

Ain't that the truth though.
When it's raining you basically have 100% relative humidity and nothing (including firewood) can shed one drop of moisture.
If it rains for 21 hours a day, 9 out'a 10 days for three months (like it has here), that only leaves you 460 hours of drying time... that's less then 20 days of seasoning time since the first of April, roof or no roof. And those 20 days have been damn poor seasoning days, with relative humidity running well over 80%.
 
slowp
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Well, we have an invention called a woodshed out here. A slanted roof, with open walls and the wood will continue to dry. I keep my newly cut stuff covered with metal roofing and tarps--no walls and it magically dries. You must have different rain, or something.

Oh, people who have a lot of firewood throw it in a barn to dry.
 
zogger

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Ain't that the truth though.
When it's raining you basically have 100% relative humidity and nothing (including firewood) can shed one drop of moisture.
If it rains for 21 hours a day, 9 out'a 10 days for three months (like it has here), that only leaves you 460 hours of drying time... that's less then 20 days of seasoning time since the first of April, roof or no roof. And those 20 days have been damn poor seasoning days, with relative humidity running well over 80%.

You are a fabricator of some decent skill level. Come up with a fits one cord (whatever quantity works for you) at a time kiln, (big metal box, old trailer, rusty grain bin, whatever... and you already have a surplus heater I think) and run all that junk wood you have that you don't know what to do with, like your conundrum wood as the fuel source to dry your primo select wood. Once a fire is going you can alkways cheat and pre dry the crap wood, the next load, in with the good wood. You could stay ahead of it that way, always have good dried wood for burning for heat, and that kiln dried goes directly into your basement storage area, then reload up the kiln. Once dry, leave it in the kiln until you need to reload basement. Lather, rinse, repeat.

No worries ever again about dry wood, how rainy outside, etc.
 
Whitespider
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Well, we have an invention called a woodshed out here. A slanted roof, with open walls and the wood will continue to dry.

No slowp, it does not... not when it's raining for more than a hour or so.
When rain falls for any length of time the air becomes saturated with moisture (100% relative humidity), partially because of all the water molecules contacting all the air molecules, partially because rain cools the air it's falling through and raising the relative humidity level... at 100% relative humidity the air can not pull any moisture from anything, absolutely no evaporation can happen. Fog is a state of 100% relative humidity, mist and drizzle is a state of 100% relative humidity, and under normal circumstances rain lasting more than an hour will cause a state of 100% relative humidity (or as close as you can get to it).

Don't believe me?? Well... next time "they" predict 3 days of steady rain, and just after the rain begins, hang a wet bath towel in your open-sided woodshed and see if it drys anytime during the 3 days of continuous rainfall.
 
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