Is my wood doomed?

[101mph]

Hi Guys,

Well I got all the logs (mostly Maple and some Beech if you recall) from the trees I took down several weeks ago cut up. I'm a little concerned about what is happening to the wood:





As you can see from the images I'm getting quite a bit of mold growing on the wood. I have most everything that I cut up, stacked under the trees behind the cottage until I can get to splitting it.

Should I be worried about burning this wood inside with this mold on it?

It's mostly the Maple that this is happening too so far but some has been cut up longer so I'll have to wait and see if this happens to all of it. I didn't sem to notic this happening to the Beech.

There isn't much I can do about it. I'm trying to stack as much of the stuff I split in direct sunlight, but there is still a lot of shade from the trees that the wood is stacked under. The rounds that are still un-split are under the trees still.

[beenthere]

Keep splitting and stacking, and soon cooler temps will come so your split wood will dry out over the winter and through next summer. Should be ready to burn for heat a little more than a year from now. Hope you can wait that long.

No worries about a little mold, as that will stop as the weather changes and the wood dries.

And soon those leaves will be down.. maybe a couple weeks?

[SLawyer Dave]

I would also recommend getting the wood out from under trees.  Direct sun light will kill mold, and dry the wood faster.  Keeping it under shade trees is going to increase both your mold/rot problems as well as slow down the drying of the wood.

[Gary_C]

That's the nicest job of stacking firewood I've seen, but that is also working against you for drying. You not only need sunlight but also air flow to dry stacked wood and your neat stacking job is restriction air flow thru the stack.

[101mph]

Thanks for the heads up guys.

I'm trying to put as much as I can in the sunlight. But as I said....that's a little tough to do right now. That's why the trees are coming down.

I did pack it a little tight in that wood pile ;D That's one of the only places that has sunlight pretty much all day so I was trying to put as much split wood there as possible. I didn't want it to get too tippy on me.

It's a little frustrating though. I have all this wood, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to burn any of it this year (inside at least). It's kinda like being a drift in the ocean and dying of thirst ("water water everywhere, and nary a drop to drink"). :

I did try and split a bunch up pretty small earlier this summer with the thought that if I made it small enough, it would dry out fast and give me some to use this year when it starts getting colder.

Any thoughts on this theory?

[Corley5]

A firewood client couldn't keep his wood piles from falling over.  I pointed out to him that the trees he was piling his wood between move when the wind blows.  He stacked his wood between posts after that and his problem went away  ;) ;D

[clww]

Nice wood stack! 8)
As others posted, once it cools down the mold will go away. Lots of sunlight and wind is what you want on your firewood. The thing you should avoid is moisture on it. Mold and fungus will burn up in the firebox and should be no concern.

[GAB]

I've been told that firewood should be stacked loose enough for the chipmunk to squeeze through and tight enough so that the cat can't.  Based on that I think your second photo has some ideal spots.
Gerald

[stumpjumper83]

That moldy wood is terrible, you need to load it up and deliver it to my house where I have an incinerator that I will use free of charge to dispose of that nasty, moldy wood for you.  Again free of charge to use cause your a fellow forum member and I'd hate for you to have to pay disposal fees at your local dump.... 

[glassman_48]

101mph,
I am located in Kalkaska, what part are you from?  If your concerned about mold then google mold in firewood and see what it says.  I use compressed firewood bricks and my allergies are much better burning that.  good luck,,,,,,Ed

[36 coupe]

I never cut fire wood in warm weather.The maple has sugar in the sap thats why it grows mold.Cut your wood in late spring and early fall.I gave up cutting in winter years ago,too slippery to be handling a chain saw.Green sugar maple will plug your chimney.You are making syrup in your chimney.Forget the mold,live trees have mold on them.

[SwampDonkey]

Can you store some of that in a heated building? If you have some already seasoned, a cord or two, it'll drive the moisture out of the rest by the time it's needed. Waiting two years on maple drying outside will be growing some nice toad stools by then. ;)

[Al_Smith]

FWIW maple doesn't take weather well neither does hickory .

Now I heard a trick and never did it .It's been said if you flop a live maple in warm weather let it lie for a week or two before you buck it with the leaves on it .It's been said the leaves will suck part of the sap from the wood .Might be true could be an old wives tale .

I can't answer yea or nay because I'm not in the habit of dropping live maples .Swampish is the maple slayer .What say ye ole equine of the swamp .

[SwampDonkey]

It will only dry that way as long as the leaves are green. Once it wilts, your out of luck. Usually that's within a day with any trees I've cut. I always like my wood stored and stacked for drying and hopefully in the same building I'm heating.  :D

This week I probably dropped thousands of them maples, but nothing bigger than 3" on the stump. :D

[101mph]

Can you store some of that in a heated building? If you have some already seasoned, a cord or two, it'll drive the moisture out of the rest by the time it's needed. Waiting two years on maple drying outside will be growing some nice toad stools by then. ;)

Unfortunately this is all I can do at the moment. No building to put it in other than inside the cottage which isn't really an option other than maybe a few arm fulls.

I'm trying to put the wood in the best spots possible on my property, but there is still only so many sunny areas. I don't want to have stacks of wood all over the place either. I was pretty much out of wood at the beginning of spring so all of this that I cut over the summer is what I have currently (which is quite a lot for me as I don't live there full time and don't burn a ton of wood).

[SwampDonkey]

A cabin needs a nice woodshed.

[101mph]

A cabin needs a nice woodshed.

;D You sir are correct. That's #25 on my to do list up there.

I only need a few more days/week added to the current 7 day cycle and I think I may be able to get to it within the next couple years. :D

[timberlinetree]

Mr All Smith cutting wood and letting the leaves suck the moisture out is common practice for us. We use to drop and chop but found that if you do this in the winter the log doesn't dry as fast( we store our wood in log length) I have seen winter cut wood in a pile sending out shoots months later. If we have a firewood job we cut in spring just when leaves are out. Works for us.