Firewood Optimum moisture content can wood be too dry?

[Jstpssng]

It will dry much better after you split it. Oak is notoriously hard to dry anyways so if you plan to burn it next winter you want to give it as much opportunity to dry as you can.

 

[/pine]

The way split wood is stacked or stored controls how fast it will dry...the more surface area exposed to surrounding air currents the faster it will dry...ambient humidity is also a factor...

When checking with a MC meter a split should be cut through the center and checked there to get an accurate MC reading.
Checking a test piece frequently will let you know how fast it is drying over a period of time if the weather is typical...

 

[goeduck]

I am getting half a dozen oak trees that tipper over in a wind a couple months ago. What is the best way to handle that. Leave in logs then chunk and split and store as needed or cut rounds and let them lay in a pile outside for a year, then split and store? For me, dryer ones seem to split easier.

Would it change much if rounds were stored on a concrete pad vs. on the lawn?

I split as early as I can. Wood dries best through the split edges, bark holds moisture in and promotes rot. As to where you store the wood, the drier the environment, the better. No soil contact, get it up off the ground. 60% of my wood is not under roof, but under tarp at the top of the stack (exposed sides important) and my tarp stacks are no more than 2 rows wide. The wood intended to be burned the next winter is moved to under roof cover in the spring after the wood stove gets shut down. Long term is to get more capacity than my current 12 cord woodshed. As far as wood eating insects go, here they die off once the moisture is lowered by being under cover.

 

[hosspuller]

Logically, there is no "too Dry" any moisture is water that has to be heated to steam up the flue... But, prolonged storage allows bugs & fungus to degrade the fuel. As for too much heat, that's a function of firing rate. Little dry pieces burn fast and generate lots of heat. If the stove walls can't transfer the heat fast enough, they'll be damaged. The analogy is gasoline vs diesel. Diesel burns slowly, while gasoline burns quickly. The gasoline vaporizes quickly like small dry pieces of wood. (lots of surface area vs large chunks)

 

[Egon]

Firewood splits best at very cold freezing temperatures. The colder the better.

Drying is a matter of top cover protection, air flow, and ambient humidity.

Wasted stack heat is fire volume/temperature vs heat transfer ability.

 

[ericm979]

As far as wood eating insects go, here they die off once the moisture is lowered by being under cover.

I split a lot of buggy Madrone last winter. The worst parts went into the reject pile but the rest got stacked. Burning it this winter I see no bugs at all. My theory is that getting the wood off the ground so it's not soaking up and retaining water and split makes it too dry for our wood bugs.