Wet Firewood Question

[Bob95065]

I have my 2015 firewood on the ground. I am almost done with my woodshed but I was too late. We had three rainstorms in the last week and the firewood is wet.

Now that the wood shed is done I have a question. Should I leave the wood on the ground until next fall or should I stack it wet.

Before you answer I'll explain the weather in Felton, California. It rains a lot between November and April. Around May is dries up and won't rain until the following November. We get full sun all summer and temps from 80° to 100° and not a drop of rain. Temps in the winter get as low as 40° with higher temps between storms.

I am concerned that the wood won't dry in a woodshed as well as in the sun. On the other hand will leaving it out all winter make it hard to burn next winter?

Please let me know what you think.

Bob

 

[hupte]

there is really 2 kinds of what is called "wet" wood. (no dirty jokes please) there is wet with water/rain, then there is wet/green or wet with sap. the green wood is what takes a year to dry/season. (or 2-3 years if its oak) rain wet wood only takes a few hours or a day or 2 tops to dry if its brought inside near the wood stove... so to answer your question i'd stack the wood in the shed asap. that way you'll keep it off the wet ground all year. since the ground will keep the wood wet and attract bugs/rot but stacking it in the shed will promote the wood drying your searching for.

 

[Big_Wood]

what kind of wood? generally most wood here is good to sit all winter as long as it's not sitting low in the ground. hemlock will get punky pretty quick if left where it cannot get adecuate ventilation. it be the best overnight wood where i'm from so i try to get at least a bit of it every year. i usually go to the far end of a cut block and fall a bunch around this time of year and let them sit til march-april. of course, there are always those pricks that go and take it if they find it. i have a salvage permit for my area so i always mark big cedars i find with yellow twine to mark them as claimed but i always get some greedy ****'n prick cutting them up into firewood/kindlings. meanwhile i'm the legit one

 

[unclemoustache]

What hupte said. Good stuff.

Where did you come by that name, hupte?

 

[woodchuck357]

A good wood shed will have plenty of ventilation. Split and stacked inside so air can get to all of it will get it dry fastest.

 

[Marine5068]

What hupte said.

 

[CRThomas]

I leave my wood out side in logs and chunks then as I need it I bring it in side and split some times a rank some times a cord turn up the heat fans and the dehum. the next day I have dry Ash and bundle it and deliver it to my customers. My wast of splitting and chunks that won't bundle nice pile them on the road come and get and load your self cash $35.00 a rank or a trunk full $10.00 still cash. I deliver 4 or 5 ton to the ladys for $35.00 a rank dump and run. I built my kiln for less mony than a shead to put my Ash in the building wood have only dried 4 cord in a year my kiln drys little over a 100 cord a year. My friend has a 40 ft container he burns his waste and he drys a container load every 2 weeks with his kiln. When is meters read 15 % he calls his customers and they they show up he opens the doors and loads there pick ups. They hand him $70.00 cash. Each wire basket hold a rank. I think his kiln holds 8 cord might be more not sure. His customers make appointments just like they do at there doctor. He is like me got to old to get bigger. People ask if they can dry oak cut in the summer in 24 hours the asnswer is no. I cut all my Ash in the winter when the sap is down. The only greene I get is from tree trimmers in the summer time. But its free. Was going to get busy went out side it's pouring down wasn't supose to rain till late this after noon. Got to empty my kiln and refill it. I got behind me and my family has been getting our right to care a con. gun. Four days schooling. Illinois is tuff but we lucky we can carry in all the states that border us. Back to wood in my thinking a kiln is the only way to go. I don't burn wood so I have no idea how many cord you burn a week. A big house down the highway said he burn 15 ton a month. That sounds like a lot but I'm not in to heat from wood only looks.

 

[blackdogon57]

I leave my wood out side in logs and chunks then as I need it I bring it in side and split some times a rank some times a cord turn up the heat fans and the dehum. the next day I have dry Ash and bundle it and deliver it to my customers. My wast of splitting and chunks that won't bundle nice pile them on the road come and get and load your self cash $35.00 a rank or a trunk full $10.00 still cash. I deliver 4 or 5 ton to the ladys for $35.00 a rank dump and run. I built my kiln for less mony than a shead to put my Ash in the building wood have only dried 4 cord in a year my kiln drys little over a 100 cord a year. My friend has a 40 ft container he burns his waste and he drys a container load every 2 weeks with his kiln. When is meters read 15 % he calls his customers and they they show up he opens the doors and loads there pick ups. They hand him $70.00 cash. Each wire basket hold a rank. I think his kiln holds 8 cord might be more not sure. His customers make appointments just like they do at there doctor. He is like me got to old to get bigger. People ask if they can dry oak cut in the summer in 24 hours the asnswer is no. I cut all my Ash in the winter when the sap is down. The only greene I get is from tree trimmers in the summer time. But its free. Was going to get busy went out side it's pouring down wasn't supose to rain till late this after noon. Got to empty my kiln and refill it. I got behind me and my family has been getting our right to care a con. gun. Four days schooling. Illinois is tuff but we lucky we can carry in all the states that border us. Back to wood in my thinking a kiln is the only way to go. I don't burn wood so I have no idea how many cord you burn a week. A big house down the highway said he burn 15 ton a month. That sounds like a lot but I'm not in to heat from wood only looks.

Love to see some pics of your drying setup

 

[zogger]

Maybe just stack it loose in the shed. The whole idea of a "shed" is to shed rain off. If you ain't gonna stack it in there, why bother building a shed if the summers are real dry.

I'd like a shed*, but, I just plastic cover the tops of stacks that I am pulling from this winter. I cover last hot dry day that I guess at in the fall, before many leaves fall on the stacks.

*actually, I like the idea of a used semi trailer for stacking, big tight metal shed, put a small fan in the back, run it from a solar panel on the top, perhaps add a small woodstove near the entrance door and burn scraps and uglies, sort of a mild shed/kiln. A forklift and bins would be ideal. And sitting out in the sun in the summer around here, that thing is gonna get hot inside, real dang hot. Move some air out slow and steady, it should stay pretty warm and get the moisture out. And with the solar powered fan, it is self regulating, turn itself on and off during the heat/sunny part of the day.

Then I would have a winter setting/attachment air tunnel, where the small fan blows the hot moist air from inside the trailer into the greenhouse.

 

[UpOnTheHill]

My vote is put it in the shed

 

[mga]

what ever works best for you

 

[blacklocst]

If its on pallets leave it outside and then stack it in the shed a little at a time over the summer so all the pieces get sun and wind.

 

[Uncle John]

I like to leave mine outside on skids all summer. Move it under roof in the fall.

 

[Marshy]

Can't go wrong with getting it in the shed ASAP. Even if the wood is seasoned it will absorb moisture from the ground and atmosphere. Keeping the rain off it over the next 6 months will be better than leaving it on the ground during the rain season.

 

[Big_Wood]

I was under the impression that when he said he has his 2015 firewood on the ground that means it is freshly fallen green wood. If the wood is seasoned I pull it out of the woods all throughout the year. The green stuff that I drop for the following year sits there until end of summer if no one else finds it

 

[Bob95065]

It's mixed. Mostly it's green wood that I scrounged. There was a bog bay tree that went down years ago that the previous owner of the house cut up but left on the ground. It was dry but not rotten so I dragged it out of the ravine and cut and split it for firewood.

Some of the wood is split and some in rounds. It's a mix of eucalyptus and oak. Before I moved to CA I never saw a eucalyptus tree. It seasons very quickly. It seasons so quickly I have left rounds in the sun that split in half. When it dries it can be hard as iron.

We have very wet winter weather and very dry summers. I hope this year is wet because we are experiencing the worst drought in recorded history.

 

[slowp]

How open is your woodshed? Is it just a roof? I turned a building into a woodshed but only have one side open and that is not enough ventilation to dry green wood. It got moldy and grew mushrooms. So, any green wood gets stacked outside for a year with a cover on the top of the stack. I keep a year ahead so don't have room for it in the woodshed anyway. Both are in the shade. Sun is hard to come by at my place.

That ought to work for California too. Don't move here. I shall send some of our rain your way.

 

[CRThomas]

I have friend leaves wood piled out side on the ground he puts a rank on each side of his out side furnace room couple days it's bone dry. Some put it in the basement by there furnace. There are so many ways to dry firewood with all that building.

 

[hupte]

Where did you come by that name, hupte?

my first car. it was an 84 Chrysler fifth avenue i bought it for $400 in 98. i got hupte (pronounced hoop-tee) on the lic plate never once referred to it as my "car" it was always my "hupte." wasnt long before everyone was calling me hupte. shoulda changed the spelling after computers became popular, but that didn't happen.

 

[Bob95065]

How open is your woodshed? Is it just a roof? I turned a building into a woodshed but only have one side open and that is not enough ventilation to dry green wood. It got moldy and grew mushrooms. So, any green wood gets stacked outside for a year with a cover on the top of the stack. I keep a year ahead so don't have room for it in the woodshed anyway. Both are in the shade. Sun is hard to come by at my place.

That ought to work for California too. Don't move here. I shall send some of our rain your way.

Patty,
My woodshed is a roof on 4x4 posts. It's open all the way around. I plan o getting canvas tarps that I'll let down in the winter and roll up and tie during the summer. I'll probably get them next year as money is tight due to other projects.

We get plenty of sun here in the summer but during the winter it is cold and damp. There are redwoods on the neighbor's property to the south. During the winter the sun drops below the treeline most of the day. I'm already looking forward to spring.

We'll take the rain if you send it.

BTW I missed seeing you at the Nor Cal GTG. Robby and I will be there next year.

Bob