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.

 

[WinterDeere]

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

SR

Nice! You actually just solved TWO problems for me! I have a 3-point pallet fork set that I was just setting up to weld JDQA brackets to. I had been debating whether to make a separate frame, to have one for 3-point and a separate for JDQA, or to just put all the mounts and weight onto the same frame.

But now I think I can re-use the top link connection point for mounting that thumb or cylinder, which answers the original question. I also have a spare top link cylinder, which was too small and weak for my needs at the time, which I've been meaning to sell for some time. I think I might be able to re-use that in fab'ing up a rig like yours.

Just out of curiosity, who made yours? Might be worth comparing buy vs. build, or dollars vs. hours, before I dive in.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Mine was made by the same company that made by the loader, ALO. It's the best design I've seen and super strong!

It's also adjustable from side to side if I should want to use it that way.

You've heard the saying, "buy once, cry once" haven't you? That's what ALO products are, and that's because they last a lifetime.

SR

 

[stumblinhorse]

My wood sits out for 1 summer. Not covered or in a shed. It is split and stacked by May to be started burning by mid October. It is pine and I do about 10-12 cords a year.

 

[WinterDeere]

Mine was made by the same company that made by the loader, ALO. It's the best design I've seen and super strong!

It's also adjustable from side to side if I should want to use it that way.

You've heard the saying, "buy once, cry once" haven't you? That's what ALO products are, and that's because they last a lifetime.

SR

Yeah, it's a real nice design. But I've already got forks and a frame, which double as 3-point for stuff heavier than my loader can lift, so I'd really like to mod those.

In my first glance at a design, it looks like it might be easiest for me to do dual cylinders and thumbs, with the cylinders connected to the lower 3-point link pin studs that are already there. This would have the side benefit of allowing me to keep the thumb(s) installed when using as 3-point forks, as they'd be inboard of lower links, but also not interfere with top link.

What do you think of a dual thumb vs. single thumb design?

Since my loader is more limited than yours (Deere 320R), I'm aiming towards something easily removable, to reduce weight and max out lift capacity when I need it.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I've never needed a second thumb, why have to pick up something that's not needed?

I would make sure you have a strong cylinder so to be able to hold onto heavy things.

SR

 

[Sawyer Rob]

My wood sits out for 1 summer. Not covered or in a shed. It is split and stacked by May to be started burning by mid October. It is pine and I do about 10-12 cords a year.

I build half cord boxes; I put the splits into them right off the end of my splitter and move the boxes with my tractor.

A few weeks before I use one, I cover it with a tarp so the surface dries out, and then the box gets moved to the house where the splits will be thrown threw a basement window to near the stove.

It's not too much work to pick a few off the basement floor to feed the woodstove.

SR

 

[Cougsfan]

One thing I dislike about my wood storage shed is that it is "last in, first out" rather than "first in, first out". In my perfect world I would have a storage shed that had roll up doors on opposite sides so I can keep putting wood in without covering up last year's carry over wood.

 

[4570Man]

One thing I dislike about my wood storage shed is that it is "last in, first out" rather than "first in, first out". In my perfect world I would have a storage shed that had roll up doors on opposite sides so I can keep putting wood in without covering up last year's carry over wood.

I put mine on separate sides so I can kinda separate it beyond that it still has the same problem.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Mine are in a long row,

I can easily pick up a box of the oldest splits.

SR

 

[shooterdon]

The way SR and I store wood addresses the first in first out problem. The modified IBC totes in my post hold just under 1/2 cord and I bought a tractor with enough capacity to lift them.

The only downside of totes is stacking wood in them. Next year, I will not be using them. I will use bulk firewood bags that hold 1/3 of a cord. Using bags, means no handling of wood until I carry the splits into the house. The bags will be filled directly from the outfeed conveyor of the firewood processor. The processor also eliminates the need to buck logs into rounds. I bought 6 bags to test the concept this year.

I might use the bottoms of the totes I modified as caps to cover the top of the bags. They are the perfect size.

I am 72 and a bit crippled up so looking at ways to work smarter and not harder.