Split wood dries pretty fast

[reddogrunner]

So, I had some seasoned rounds sitting around that were waiting for a splitting day. these have been sitting for over a year. Mix of hard maple, black walnut, ash, locust and red oak. I knew once split they needed more drying time, so I bought myslef a little mositure meter so I could see how much drying had been completed instead of just guessing. I split the rounds and did spot checks on the different wood and most of it was between 20-24%. I dumped the splits in the bottom of an old bank barn I have been using for nasty weather wood processing. Over the past week or two I have been stacking in cords, so I thought I would test the stuff stacked the longest. Now it is averaging 17%. The barn is well-ventilated, and the wood is elevated off the bottom row and stacked in the middle of barn - not against walls. I have to say, that I am impressed at the drying time.

 

[aaron]

Rounds don't season. Are you splitting those splits again before checking them?

 

[reddogrunner]

Rounds season a little. They have to be stacked properly, I have found. The moisture meter is applied to the center of the split and no the end, so I grab a few pieces from different parts of the stack and check. I always keep the thing in my pocket now and if I handle a piece that seems extra heavy, I test and sort accordingly now.

 

[aaron]

You won't get a true reading unless you split it again before checking it is what I am saying.

 

[blackdogon57]

Smaller rounds and logs don't dry as fast but they do dry. Once split the drying time is much faster. I'm burning ironwood rounds right now that are around 6" diameter and were cut last winter and stacked on pallets outside. They throw off a ton of heat and last for hours in the stove.

 

[Saddle Mander]

You won't get a true reading unless you split it again before checking it is what I am saying.

About a week ago I split wood all day and a few hours into the night. By 9:00 I was pretty beat, but I decided to test some wood. A lot of stuff that was green a few weeks ago was now <20% ! GREAT NEWS!! But in my exhaustion I forgot to split pieces before measuring the MC. Once I started splitting pieces, I was back in the 28%-35% range. Party over.

 

[reddogrunner]

That makes sense but it does not. You're never quite measuring apples to apples then, but hey lots of things don't make sense to me.

 

[blackdogon57]

Cut a few weeks ago is a whole different ball game. Cut a year ago or longer it will dry out in a very short time when split.

 

[reddogrunner]

The rounds have been cut and stacked for over a year. I have a different pile of green rounds and that wood gets to sit out for ver a year before I will sell it. I was just mentioning the experiment. Another cool feature of storing inside until selling time is it is free of outside mositure content and if kept completely dry even helps more. Bonus all around.