Drying Firewood

[edlegault]

What is a "rank" of firewood? Never heard of it. Measures out to be 44 cubic feet? Which is a little over 1/3 of a cord. People who buy "face" cords need to be careful, but most of them are ignorant. A normal pickup truck cannot haul a full cord of wood without some serious bending of parts/dragging on the tires.

btw I have cut and hauled many, many cord of wood over the years -- usually hauled 1/4 to 1/2 cord at a time.

 

[Short Game]

Around here, a third of a cord has been called, "a rick."

I cheat on my cords by bucking to 15 inches instead of 16. So, if you get a cord from me, it will be 1/16th short of 128 cu. ft. It will likely, however, have been pressure washed of dirt and moss, delivered to the shed (I appreciate it when I get help stacking it, bark side down in their shed), and will be seasoned and dry come the fall. No one ever gripes about my cheating, as I do this service for my neighbors each year for free. The 15 inch length makes it easy to load my 47 inch wide cart.

If you could be a decent neighbor, buy out our Neighbor From He!! (NFH) and I'll help you with your wood too.

 

[BigE_]

(I appreciate it when I get help stacking it, bark side down in their shed),

I curious as to why you would stack bark side down?

I normally stack bark side up so that if it is raining hard and the wind blows the rain under my wood stack, at least the bark can help shed the rain. Is my thinking wrong?

Here's my wood stack. Not all is bark side down (I have helpers when I stack), but a lot of it is.

 

[LD1]

What is a "rank" of firewood? Never heard of it. Measures out to be 44 cubic feet? Which is a little over 1/3 of a cord. People who buy "face" cords need to be careful, but most of them are ignorant. A normal pickup truck cannot haul a full cord of wood without some serious bending of parts/dragging on the tires.

btw I have cut and hauled many, many cord of wood over the years -- usually hauled 1/4 to 1/2 cord at a time.

Probabally meant either rick or rack?? I think both are 1/3 of a cord. Which is "typically" the same as a face cord. A SINGLE stack of wood 4' x 8' (and usually 16" long peices)

And I have had a few "normal" trucks that would BOTH haul a FULL cord

I curious as to why you would stack bark side down?

I normally stack bark side up so that if it is raining hard and the wind blows the rain under my wood stack, at least the bark can help shed the rain. Is my thinking wrong?

Here's my wood stack. Not all is bark side down (I have helpers when I stack), but a lot of it is.

I too have always heard bark side down for wood out in the elements.

 

[Short Game]

I forget where I read it many years ago. It was either The Foxfire Book, or one of the Eric Sloane books like, A Reverence For Wood, or Diary Of an Early American Boy. Anyway, what I read was, when stacking under cover, barkside down. When stacking out in the weather, barkside up. I have found that the in-the-weather stacks will be mostly dry after years out there. The bottoms of the ricks get wet, even though I put them off the ground on runners, because the moles push the dirt up against them.

 

[magicheater]

I work for a rather large company that produces Charcoal,firewood,chips,chunks, and fire logs. I believe I can help you with your problem. I am unsure of what temps you can reach with your heating system but I will throw some numbers out. To achieve 25% moisture in 24ton cycles in a 40hr period we input 280 degrees with 70cfs air flow. We usually dry in the neighborhood of 1000T per year and I am sure you can pull back the heat and air flow to accomplish your drying needs. Our wood sizes vary as well coming thru a KordKing but you can usually figure on 40hrs for 24T. If you are drying 5T or less at a time I used a tight insulated structure that makes reaching 140 degree ambient temp easily done with a oil or gas burner with the forced air blowing in thru the bottom of one wall. Now this is the tricky part. You need to make a curtain ran in the same direction as your stacks.Attach it to the ceiling and laying on the wood to force the air flow through the wood an not allowing it to pass over. Also you need to install two baffle gates one on either side of the building high up on the walls. Switching the open/closed sides ever 8 to 10 hrs. This should dry 5T in 72 hrs. For mine that I built I purchased an Amish built portable barn 10x12 and insulated it with fiber board. Used a oil burner from a local garage that had closed down and burned used motor oil which was happily donated by the community. Its EPA approved and efficient. I built a heat channel made of metal duck work to run 15 feet to the inlet of the building. In the summer months I can hit 170. I installed a couple of spark screens that I purchased from the local fireplace store as fire safety. I have noticed it takes us(me,wife ,kids, and any neighborhood kids who show up and are bored enough to help) about the entire cycle time to haul in saw up split and have ready for the dryer 5T for the next cycle. My company uses this exact set up with saw mill slab wood for the production of Charcoal. Works awesome brings 60T of wood down to 10% or less in 50hrs at 375degree. There is of coarse some much bigger heat and air sources but the same concept.:thumbsup:

What a cord of info! You have summed up what TBN has come to stand for, "great info from knowledgeable members"!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[CRThomas]

What a cord of info! You have summed up what TBN has come to stand for, "great info from knowledgeable members"!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks that tells me it does not take hears to dry firewood down to below 25 percent. We now have over a hundred firewood sellers in our area. The dry wood from summer went fast do to the home heating. Aim buying cords of green wood for $40.00 dollars for next year and to kiln dry now. If your now a regular customer I have to turn them down. You want green wood it's cheap here in the heart land. A fellow at the truck stop said he payed $450.00 for a semi load 22 tons. Take it back to Kankakee dry it and make 42 ranks and sell for $110.00 sounds high but what do I know about Kankakee. Later gang

 

[Kyle241]

I curious as to why you would stack bark side down?

I normally stack bark side up so that if it is raining hard and the wind blows the rain under my wood stack, at least the bark can help shed the rain. Is my thinking wrong?

Here's my wood stack. Not all is bark side down (I have helpers when I stack), but a lot of it is.

Now that is what I call a nice neat pile of firewood!

 

[arrow]

I curious as to why you would stack bark side down?

I normally stack bark side up so that if it is raining hard and the wind blows the rain under my wood stack, at least the bark can help shed the rain. Is my thinking wrong?

Here's my wood stack. Not all is bark side down (I have helpers when I stack), but a lot of it is.

The method you use to prevent moisture entering the wood also acts as a deterrent for moisture to escape the wood. This is the reason they say to stack wood bark down. Anyway, that is the general consensus of those who measure such things. Do not know if this premise is data driven or old folklore and I haven't done any personal experiments with the oak and maple I burn every year. As capillaries are exposed at the end of the wood and the split surface itself, I would think most wood dries from its ends coupled with capillaries exposed at the split so I am not sure about the wood stacked further down in the pile as opposed to the wood at the top and exposed to the sun and wind. I do know that when I stacked wood 3 deep, the middle row was hardly dry even after 2 years. In this case, I guess it didn't matter a wit if that middle row was stacked bark side up or down.

 

[165masseyky]

At our company we have dried 1000's of Rick's of wood. It will not make a huge difference bark up or bark down do to what some of the members have touched on. Wood dries through the capillaries on the end. When wood is split instead of sawed like lumber only the capillaries on the end are opened. If you have ever busted green Hickory you can really see what I mean.Think of it this way water travels through the wood during photosynthesis and water will leave the wood in the same fashion. About 85% of drying will happen like this.There will be some water lose from surface area evaporation but not much and its slow. Keep the Rick's space about 6" apart in your shed and you will dry the wood in about 3 months in summer temps. The key is surface area to allow the internal temps of the wood to rise so we split even the 5" rounds to allow the wood to absorb more ambient heat. Never stack unbusted wood to season or you are defeating your purpose by making the process a lot longer.