At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

I hate to cause you more work but I were you I would put it in the garage and on a nice day pull it out and wire brush the rust areas and paint with rustoleum. I would also check those wheel bearings and perhaps regrease them before any road trip off your property.

You know what with a wife like you have maybe it would be a good project for her.

PAGUY,
Packing the bearings is a good idea. I'll tell my wife that you think she should paint the trailer.

Obed

 

[Obed]

My wife took several readings at different places and orientations of the logs. 20% was the most common reading. I won't be splitting the wood to see the moisture reading. I probably don't want to know. Ignorance is bliss!
Obed

 

[Obed]

Our chimney brush and poles arrived today.

 

[Obed]

My wife cleaned up the utility room down in the basement and put some stuff up on our new shelves. The rest of the basement is still a mess. One step at a time...

 

[Coyote machine]

You stated that you guess wood will season itself even when its not split. I believe you cited an article way back that was a definitive expose on wood, wood burning, etc. and it said specifically that this was NOT the case.
IMHO you need to solve the stack temperature issue AND the moisture content of your wood issue before you burn any more fires. Cleaning the flue is just the tip of the iceberg in your situation, and testing moisture maybe fun, however a few weeks of seasoning is in no way adequate for proper moisture content to occur- as is evidenced by your flue's condition. Please take this warnings seriously, or you risk a chimney fire at best, and burning down your house at worst.
I'd rather you heed my warnings than consider me your friend; ideally I could be both, but I worry about your families safety more than what you might think of me. Here in VT we witness houses having burned to the ground many nights, on the news, and its a strong commentary on doing things the way they need to be done or face dire consequences.
I've said my peace, and I hope you use it to your benefit.

 

[Obed]

Coyote,

I admit that I burned some obviously wet wood in our fireplace earlier in the season. However, I haven't done that recently - my wife put a stop to that. She's got a good head on her shoulders. Also, I was not burning a hot fire daily; I was keeping the combustion air supply choked down all the way. You guys have made me see the error of my wicked ways.

I don't really know a better way of verifying if a piece of firewood is seasoned than to use a moisture meter. From what I have read, 20% - 25% moisture means the firewood is seasoned. Please correct me if I'm mistaken. That's also the moisture range recommended in our fireplace manual. In addition, I have read that if the wood is significantly drier than that, the logs will burn up too fast.

Yes, it is commonly thought by lots of people that wood will not season until the tree is cut into firewood lengths and split. However, I've never read about anyone's actually testing that theory using actual data. Well, in my case, that theory doesn't seem to be backed up by my data. I'm just stating my findings.

Anyone who has spent much time in the woods has seen dead trees off the ground that are dry as bone. Obviously, cut and split firewood should dry faster than uncut wood. But that doesn't mean uncut wood will never season; it just may take a little longer.

The trees I'm cutting up and burning were stacked off the ground on our log pile 2 1/2 years ago. We are reading 20% moisture content for both hickory and poplar firewood that was cut, split, stacked, and covered about 2 or 3 months ago.

You can draw whatever conclusion you choose. Basically I have learned that people will believe what they want to believe - and I'm not really any different.

After we clean our chimney, I have no qualms about lighting a nice hot fire, sipping some hot tea beside the fireplace, and enjoying reading people's comments in this thread.

Best regards,
Obed

 

[dstig1]

20-25% is right in the good range - perfectly fine.

The other end of the spectrum - too dry - is a problem too, but not with air dried firewood. I toured a glulam beam factory once. They said a side benefit of working there was the guys take the offcuts home to burn for heat. But they always had to warn the new guys not to load up to many offcuts as they were kiln dried and so would burn much hotter than the usual firewood. You could seriously damage your stove that way or burn the house down. Throw a dry chunk or two in with a load of regular firewood to be safe, in their case.

Trees/logs will dry some as is, but it is a slow process and the risk is that rot sets in before they get dry enough. That's why it is best to block and split ASAP. You get the most drying time and drying potential, and less chance of rot ruining good firewood.

I think you've got a handle on the issue now and will be much better setup going forward as you get settled in.

 

[Obed]

... and yes, Coyote, I consider you my friend.

Obed

 

[Coyote machine]

... and yes, Coyote, I consider you my friend.

Obed

Well thanks, Obed, Wasn't really soliciting endorsement, but I'll take friendship any day over any alternative.
I'm including a link which gives further detail in various sections of the article about seasoned vs. not seasoned, and specifics on ash and other 'tricky' woods. Six months they state is not enough to be considered seasoned, and yes too dry could be a problem but from what you've said to date I don't think you'd have much cause for concern in this category.:laughing:
One key thing to mention as previously stated by me is what the article says about storage at least 20 feet from your home- not in your garage, cellar or basement, for instance. You southern guys really have to be vigilant about bugs wanting to turn your homes into dust piles!
Let's see pics of a clean chimney! And you in one piece- alive and well.

How to Season Firewood: 6 steps - wikiHow

One last thought: try some blue locktite on the threads of the chimney brush and then attach it to the first section of the poles. That way you will only have one section attached semi- permanently to a section of pole, and it will be way less likely to come undone inside the flue. You could always undo it if needed with vise-grips.

Carry on!

 

[woodlandfarms]

I think I just remembered something.... I believe that we tied a rope onto the end of the brush before we put it in the flue. We dropped the rope down to the bottom. Helped if it got stuck, came apart.

Sorry that this is going out so late, I have a feeling Obed is on his roof now.

I just asked my dad and he aid I was somewhat wrong (thank god he is still around). We did tie a small rope onto the brush, but it was left on the roof. We once dropped it down and used it as an "assistant" on a long run.

Carl