What's considered seasoned

[cutter88]

We bring our logs in our yard in November leave them sit until the fallowing September to process and deliver... woods running 20 to 30 on my moisture meter is that's ok??

[OH logger]

never checked mine with a meter but we bring home logs all the time but we only split in the early summer(may, june) and I sell in sepember and have real good luck. hopefully someone else knows the moisture numbers better than I do. I do know wood don't dry much at all till you split it. even cut chunks don't dry great

[lopet]

Yup, it  takes a loooooong time to dry out a log. Same here, we cut in the fall and winter if there isn't much snow or it becomes a battle, process in May June also and deliver in September. No complains, for some reason my customers like to see the bark still on, so they can tell what specie it is.
Can't really help you with the moisture level either.

[mrselfreliance]

I'm no expert, but from the research I've done it's good to get your wood under 20%.  Make sure to check your wood after a few sunny/windy days.  If you check right after a rain, it will skew your readings.

[North River Energy]

I wouldn't call that 'seasoned'. 'Tenderized' perhaps?
The clock starts ticking once the blocks are split. Back when I spot-checked with a moisture meter, I seem to recall an approximate percentage below 20 after 6-7 months?
Then again, there are regional differences in what people call things, so what you have may be the expected norm for your area?

[Ox]

Cut it this season.  Burn it next season.  Boom...seasoned.  :laugh:

[Gearbox]

Before we had a OWB we burned a freestanding brick in . You can see a huge improvement between 1 and 2 years dry . Were talking Red Oak split in 1/2 x 6 x16 . After 1 year you split a block and it still had moisture in the middle . If your selling it's seasoned when it hits the trailer .

[John Mc]

Some states have a legal definition of "seasoned", so if you are advertising seasoned, it would be best to check with your state.

Wood should be below 20% moisture content to burn cleanly and efficiently. (I have no problem getting my wood down to 15% or below just air drying it, if I cut to length, split and store it properly).

How long it takes to get down below 20% varies greatly depending on a variety of factors. Wood does not dry much when in long lengths - personally, I don't even count the time that a log sits in 6'+ lengths as seasoning time. Once cut, split, and stacked (preferably off the ground, exposed to sun and wind), it will drop to about 30% rather quickly (the fiber saturation point - though the exact % varies from species to species). It takes a bit more doing to get it dried below that point.

If I do everything right - cut to length, split on the small side, stack off the ground in a single row exposed to full sun and wind, I can easily get below 20% in one good summer of seasoning (though Oak seems to take longer). Different parts of the country or different storage methods may have different results.

[timberlinetree]

We cut in spring right when the leaves come out. The leaves help suck the water out. I have seen winter cut delimbed wood( logs) shoot sprouts 6 month later?

[John Mc]

We cut in spring right when the leaves come out. The leaves help suck the water out. I have seen winter cut delimbed wood( logs) shoot sprouts 6 month later?

I heard that some years ago. I was told as long as the leave are still green, they can be pulling some moisture out of the tree. It makes sense, since the leaves do transpire. I've tried it on some firewood trees, but have never done any real comparison measurements. Just form my subjective judgements: It helps get a jump start on drying as compared to limbing the tree but leaving it in tree-length. It will not get the tree all the way to "seasoned". I'm not sure which is quicker - leaving the leaves on till brown, then cut, split, and stack or just cut/split/stack as soon as the tree is on the ground. It would be an interesting experiment.

[williaty]

As a consumer of firewood, I wouldn't pay for seasoned wood that was above 20%. If it's above 20%, I have to wait for it to dry out before I can use it, so it's not worth a penny more than fully green wood.

As more and more people end up with modern/EPA cat and secondary air stoves, you're going to find that this they're all going to demand <20%MC wood because that's what it takes to make the stoves run right.

[Ox]

I can vouch for the leave the leaves on trick.  Cut em in summer, buck and split late fall and it's ready to burn.  At least in the good old old fashioned stoves.

[John Mc]

I can vouch for the leave the leaves on trick.  Cut em in summer, buck and split late fall and it's ready to burn.  At least in the good old old fashioned stoves.

I'd be curious what you are getting for MC with that process. I just couldn't get it dry enough for a clean, efficient burn like that. I could get it to burn, but it would burn dirty, and I'd burn more of it than if I had some well-seasoned wood. But then around here our prime drying season doesn't last all that long.

[Ox]

Yeah, I have no idea.  We never got scientific about it.  Any wood was good wood.  Our stove wasn't huge and it needed to be half roaring all the time so it didn't matter much about perfectly seasoned wood.  Only had about 10 feet straight up for pipe and it never needed cleaning.  It was a good little setup, we burned everything and had no problems.  Once every few days or so I'd leave the door partially open and let it roar up with a new load and the flames would be licking the cap/cover for 5 minutes or so.  Never had to clean. 

One trick if you have wet wood is to bring it inside and let it dry out next to the stove.  Makes a big difference for burning and adds moisture to the dry winter inside air.  We'd always have 2 armfuls drying out inside. 

[Mad Professor]

Cut split and stacked in single rows, then covered on top, winter or spring.

[bobby s]

Where I am in N.H., any species except for oak, will be ready to burn if cut and split in late winter or early spring. Oak needs two summers to dry out.

[John Mc]

Where I am in N.H., any species except for oak, will be ready to burn if cut and split in late winter or early spring. Oak needs two summers to dry out.

That's been my experience as well, IF it is stored properly (exposed to sun and wind). If it's just thrown in a big pile on the ground or put in an enclosed building, it doesn't dry out very well (in fact, in the enclosed building, some species of freshly felled and cut wood generally gets moldy).