Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[square1]

Who said the wood was not dry? I have dead ash stacked in full length logs that's very well seasoned.

 

[aeblank]

Who said the wood was not dry? I have dead ash stacked in full length logs that's very well seasoned.

I'd challenge you to test it with a meter. Larger unsplit rounds needed to be *many many* years old, and covered while they as age.

 

[Piston]

A neighbor of mine has an outdoor wood boiler that he uses to heat his home and shop. He doesn't split his wood either, but it is probably more dry than the average split wood.

What he does is cut "cookies" from the logs. He has a high powered chainsaw (might be a 660) and cuts about a 4" slice off the log. Then we he stacks it, he lies it flat and leaves space side by side between each "cookie", and then stacks more "cookies" over the gap created by the space, and continues like that.

It takes up a lot of space but you can tell the wood is very well seasoned by the cracks and checks opened up in the cookies as it shrinks while drying.

If I had a large wood boiler I'd try this method.

 

[4570Man]

That would be way more work than splitting wood.

 

[4570Man]

I'd challenge you to test it with a meter. Larger unsplit rounds needed to be *many many* years old, and covered while they as age.

I agree. Logs not in a building will never season.

 

[square1]

I'd challenge you to test it with a meter. Larger unsplit rounds needed to be *many many* years old, and covered while they as age.

My practice is to buck it into rounds, split it, load it on the trailer, and deliver it all in the same day. I will go by my many repeat customers word, the wood I deliver is seasoned better than the "split seasoned wood" they bought elsewhere.

Many, many times in 10+ years of wood sales I had delivered SPLIT green wood to customers and was asked to dump it near the house because it was going to burned right away. They could of been running low on wood toward the end of the season or it could have been because I sold green wood cheaper. They would get the fire going using a little seasoned wood and then throw the green wood in.

The 80/20 or 90/10 principle can be applied to almost any issue including people burning split / people burning rounds and people burning seasoned / burning green. Your pontifications are moot because you assume split wood being burned is seasoned. Don't let that stop you from working harder and less smart though. And by all means don't let reality knock the all knowing among you off your high horses

 

[Creamer]

I agree. Logs not in a building will never season.

Wrong! I only cut dead trees and usually they have been dead for a couple of years. I cut them into 14-16' lengths and stack them outside off the ground, i.e. on crosswise logs. I also cut about 2/3 the way through them approximately every 20" to help air get to the wood and shorten the moisture wicking length within the log. In the summer I leave the pile uncovered but in early September I cover it because we start to get more rain. I then finish cut and split it when I use it. My wood is definitely under 20% moisture (by meter testing) when I burn it the next fall. Most will be under 15%.

The keys are stacking in log lengths which doesn't allow it to pack in as dense as individual cuts. Splitting allows moisture to get in as well as out whereas logs are round and the water tends to run off better. The cuts every 20" helps with the drying process.

 

[arrow]

. And by all means don't let reality knock the all knowing among you off your high horses

The only person on a high horse is you. You were the one calling everyone wrong for doing the needed work of splitting to burn wood efficiently. I am going by facts and you're taking it like its an insult to your method so you're the one being prideful. Wood dries an inch year so unless you are using 6" rounds and the trees have been dead for 3 years or any corresponding math to tree diameter, you are burning wood that is certainly retaining a lot of moisture and so is everyone else believing in the false selling adage you are perpetuating about these boilers.
The facts are outdoor boilers have been banned in many cities and towns for a reason and the reason is the steam freight train smoke and pollution they produce when they are in use. Because of their large capacity, it takes a long time for these things to start to burn cleanly and every unsplit round tossed in afterward simply extends the problem.
As I said, you do whatever you want but don't start calling people self righteous when they are simply stating fact. The fact is that you are spreading the continuation of unclean burning telling people you do not have to split wood with this type of wood burner and the facts are they would not have been pin pointed as one of the first wood burners not acceptable for use all over the place as a result.

If you don't want to split wood then just say that but don't call anyone else down for having or desiring to do so while pontificating on what you think is the holy grail of wood burning. Facts simply do not back you up with this method being so.

 

[square1]

Nowhere did I advocate burning green wood. Your premise that wood must be split to burn efficiently is wrong. As long as there are fools, nothing is fool proof.

 

[4570Man]

So, without splitting how do you burn wood that's bigger than you can lift?