Seasoning Firewood

[The Deerslayer]

Using a moisture meter is definitely a good idea to know for sure (especially if you are buying your firewood). They are not that expensive (think Harbor Freight) and well worth it. I like to periodically check how dry my firewood is ( I harvest and process all our firewood). My goal is to keep it under 15% before burning. The stuff I am burning now is about 10-11% and has aged 2 yrs. Historically, most of what I burn is a year old.

As far as storage to dry, I got tired of tarps and pallets. Both would deteriorate over time and I always needed to remove snow off the top and some of the wood would end up getting wet anyway. Decided to build a shed a couple years ago and it has worked out great. Only wish I did it sooner. The sides and floor are spaced to allow air venting and really seems to make a difference.

 

[BnRidge]

curing a wood of its initial moisture takes a whole lot longer than drying wood out that got wet (as in left out in the rain) after the initial cure.

Free vs bound water. Free water in the pores can evaporate out in weeks. The water bound within the fibers can take years. Most of the free water is gone by the time around 30% moisture is reached. Guys running outside boilers seem to like it at that - slows the burn, steady heat. If the chimney catchs fire, it would go off like a roman candle, outside. Inside epa stoves do better with dryer, 20% wood. I like sitting by a nice cozy fire, so mine is inside.

 

[The Deerslayer]

Free vs bound water. Free water in the pores can evaporate out in weeks. The water bound within the fibers can take years. Most of the free water is gone by the time around 30% moisture is reached. Guys running outside boilers seem to like it at that - slows the burn, steady heat. If the chimney catchs fire, it would go off like a roman candle, outside. Inside epa stoves do better with dryer, 20% wood. I like sitting by a nice cozy fire, so mine is inside.

Nice stove and set up. Especially like the riser. Less bending to load would seem to be a nice feature!

 

[shooterdon]

Current method:

Acts like a little green house in the summer to dry wood.
Wood is covered from rain and snow
I only stack it once in the tote, and move the tote into the garage for use.

 

[Egon]

My neighbor has been heating with wood for almost two decades and always seasons what he's bought for the wood burner. He's quite the expert after all these years, and this is how it's done. "The more you know."
View attachment 776671

So what is the moisture content. That is all that matters.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

how I built the bucking table

Processing Firewood the Professional Redneck Way

This will be a long assembly post with many photos, you may want to bookmark it and read on a rainy day. You will need a root grapple to lift logs, A miter saw to cut multiple 4x4's and 2x8's to size, plus other wood working tools most home owners all ready have. Let's start...

www.orangetractortalks.com

Here's my "bucking" table,

I didn't even have to build it. lol Sometimes I use my equipment trailer, or even my small utility trailer, they all work just fine, and they all make for less handling of the heavy rounds.

SR

 

[WinterDeere]

So what is the moisture content. That is all that matters.

I think you missed the sarcasm.

 

[WinterDeere]

Here's my "bucking" table,

I didn't even have to build it. lol Sometimes I use my equipment trailer, or even my small utility trailer, they all work just fine, and they all make for less handling of the heavy rounds.

SR

This is how I often do it, as well. Just be careful to keep the log balanced on the forks, as you work your way in from both ends, if you don't have a thumb on your rig.

Speaking of which, can you get a better photo of that rig? Working on some mod's to my loader-mounted forks right now, might want to add a thumb to them, which is what I think I'm seeing on your rig.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

It has a thousand uses, I use it all the time, it's been one of my "best buys".

SR

 

[Oaktree]

As far as storage to dry, I got tired of tarps and pallets. Both would deteriorate over time and I always needed to remove snow off the top and some of the wood would end up getting wet anyway. Decided to build a shed a couple years ago and it has worked out great. Only wish I did it sooner. The sides and floor are spaced to allow air venting and really seems to make a difference.

Nice shed!!

I still go with the pallets-and-tarp method. Actually there's a layer of plastic under the tarp. Tarps seem to be somewhat porous, and the plastic deteriorates fairly fast from the UV so the combination works out for me.

My woodshed will only hold a little more than a year's worth, and I try to keep at least 2 years ahead, so the rest is stacked a couple hundred yards away where it's out of the way. I'll just fill up the woodshed in the fall (it's handy storage in the summer). Not really room for a larger woodshed near the house, or at least one that would be acceptable to the chief aesthetics officer.