I know this may seem like a very stupid question and you will ask me why I didnt start earlier, but I have a ton of people that want seasoned firewood from me and I only have green. Is there a method that I can take to season my firewood like within a month. I have a small barn I can store wood in and I was thinking of during the day when I am home, to put a small space heater in the barn to warm it up to dry the firewood out. Any suggestions would be great. I dont want any negative remarks please I am very new to this. When I am saying I have a ton of people wanting firewood from me I am talking 80 cord. I have enough wood its just not seasoned
Thank you
Cassidy
You've encountered a problem most every firewood producer runs in to. Installing a kiln is your only option to season wood in a month.
can I build a kiln or how much do they run
JR
Not a stupid question.
You can do some calculations on the amount of water that you will have to evaporate and the BTU's to do that. It however will be a "ton" of water and take a "ton" of heat.
I would expect that you will be better off not trying to invest in that venue and bank the green wood in a place that it will dry some for next years' sales. Sell what you can as "green" wood but just don't risk telling them it is seasoned if it isn't.
Curious about your situation, but in the other thread we were curious as well and didn't hear back from you. ::)
We don't have to have replies, but we would like to help if we can.
Some wait until the last minute than want it all. The only thing you can do is cut more now and sell it dry next year,without adding a kiln. Also if trying to dry with a space heater and than you say it is "dry" and I doubt it will be dry and customers are not happy,who will buy from you next year?
Besides...you spend more running the bloody heater than you get out of the wood...
Commercial kilns start around forty grand from what I understand...
Some guys build them out of insulated containers.
Hi JR
I try to keep my wood two to three years out . I made a drying unit for summer time out of some old cover it garages that had gotten damaged . We got some heavy mil black plastic and stretched it over the top and ricked the wood on palates to put under the the tarp an used a fan to move the air . This worked pretty well . My problem was the volume of wood we sell , is to high for what we had to work with in the cover it garages . We also use a moisture meter to check our wood for moisture content , lesss than 10% is good dry wood . The cover it garages wook very well at drawing the moisture out , and we still use it if we end up with some wet wood in the spring , after firewood season .
it will burn around 18 to 20 percent, just takes a little longer to get a hot fire going.
But usually coals up better...
Quote from: JRServices on November 07, 2011, 05:01:08 PM
I know this may seem like a very stupid question and you will ask me why I didnt start earlier, but I have a ton of people that want seasoned firewood from me and I only have green. Is there a method that I can take to season my firewood like within a month. I have a small barn I can store wood in and I was thinking of during the day when I am home, to put a small space heater in the barn to warm it up to dry the firewood out. Any suggestions would be great. I dont want any negative remarks please I am very new to this. When I am saying I have a ton of people wanting firewood from me I am talking 80 cord. I have enough wood its just not seasoned
Thank you
Cassidy
Hello Cassidy,
About the only way you will dry firewood quickly is to purchase a very
small Porta Hut to throw a cord of firewood in to heat up and try to dry
up your firewood using kerosene space heater.
Your going to burn a lot of fuel to dry your firewood.
Quote from: leonz on November 09, 2011, 12:05:37 AM
About the only way you will dry firewood quickly is to purchase a very
small Porta Hut to throw a cord of firewood in to heat up and try to dry
up your firewood using kerosene space heater.
Your going to burn a lot of fuel to dry your firewood.
I'd be more inclined to burn that fuel heating my house, rather than trying to dry firewood with it.
That's what I do. I use seasoned wood, but the furnace heat keeps driving the water out from the stacked wood. The slabs open up from checks and the bark falls off by mid winter. The RH is usually under 30% in the house. ;D
Winter is the best time of the year. :)
Say what,winter is the best time of the year . ??? I wish I could share your zeal and enthuisiasm but I find myself lacking .
So what is seasoned or not ,oak, ash ,swamp willow ? If it's ash it's all dead anyway,It'll burn .
:D I guess some of us enjoy it more.
Do what we do. Be glad your done for a while and its all gone. Lasted about a week here and now back in the bush cutting and skidding to start the cycle all over again!
Green wood is money in the bank for next year and now you know you need more so go hard!
Somebody check and see if SwampDonkey is sick. He's talking out of his head.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on November 11, 2011, 07:25:21 AM
:D I guess some of us enjoy it more.
Them "southerners" just don't understand it. But when you live where its winter 6+ months of the year you have to sort of enjoy it. 8) ;D
I didn't understand it either so after living in the snowy/cold north for over 30 years I moved to Florida. 8)
:D There was a time in my life actually about half my working life where I had no choice but to freeze my behind off in inclimate weather .Things have changed I only do so now if I want to because I don't have to .
Now winter itself is tollerable,nice warm fire .View of new fallen snow ,bear (bare ) hunting under the sheets .Stuff like that .Ohio is a more tropical area than NB or Mich .We only have 5 months of winter and 7 months of bad weather or so it seems at times .If you don't like the weather just wait a few days ,it will change .Tank yew berry much Lake Erie .
I guess I've never been froze up yet. When they have to thaw me out, I'll report back. ;D :D
Quote from: Al_Smith on November 11, 2011, 08:38:02 AM
:D There was a time in my life actually about half my working life where I had no choice but to freeze my behind off in inclimate weather .Things have changed I only do so now if I want to because I don't have to .
Now winter itself is tollerable,nice warm fire .View of new fallen snow ,bear (bare ) hunting under the sheets .Stuff like that .Ohio is a more tropical area than NB or Mich .We only have 5 months of winter and 7 months of bad weather or so it seems at times .If you don't like the weather just wait a few days ,it will change .Tank yew berry much Lake Erie .
Mine was Lake Ontario..... CCCCold!
Along this subject, the USAToday online newspaper had a "NOTAM", of sorts, from the EPA (which is not dead, yet) about pollution from burning firewood. The article mentioned burning "seasoned" wood.
It (the article) also had a map of the U.S. showing those states experiencing increases in the number of firewood-burning households over a ten year period.
Jasperfield - you must be a pilot, or somehow otherwise connected to aviation. "NOTAM" is not all that common a term (Notice to Airmen).
Here's a link to USA Today's recent article (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-11-10/woodstoves-regulations-heating-pollution/51160192/1).
And here's a link to one USA Today ran 5 years ago (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-13-woodburning-pollution_x.htm)
Basically, they say the same thing. The older, pre-1992 EPA regulation woodstoves are a real problem ("a wood stove sold before stiffer regulations took effect in 1992 can emit as much pollution as seven diesel buses"), the newer ones are not so much of a concern.
OWBs are getting increasing scrutiny (no surprise there). Those that meet the voluntary 2007 EPA guidelines are much less of a concern.
I am with you Swampdonkey, I have been an avid icefisherman all my life. Nothing beats it except cutting firewood in my opinion!
Oh Lawdy please don't tell me the EPA isn't satisfied with already having the chainsaw police now they have the wood stove police .What next an EPA endorsed horse ?
Speaking of horse, sounds like a bunch of horse -----. Well er in other words perhaps better termed organic fertilizer for the more gentile among us myself obviously not one of same .
i personally wouldnt be burnin wood if propane wasnt over priced. natural gas i assume is just as outrageous
on the subject. one filling of the stove or 2, keeps the house currently 60-80, then back down to 60 in roughly 10 to 12 hrs, now with the 80 percent efficient (read 2005 propane forced air furnace) that deal comes on several times in the night. at $2 a gal.
Quote from: Al_Smith on November 12, 2011, 07:14:37 PM
Oh Lawdy please don't tell me the EPA isn't satisfied with already having the chainsaw police now they have the wood stove police .What next an EPA endorsed horse ?
Al, that woodstove reg is almost 20 years old. As a side benefit of burning much cleaner, they also burn a lot more efficiently. Basically, you can't sell a new stove that doesn't meet these regs.
Ah-so didn't know that .The key word being "new".
Never gets colder than 65 unless I let it. On forced air wood and oil here. Oil only used if I'm away for a few days. I never built a fire here for 3 days and was still 65 in here. Today I stirred up the coals for a fire because going away for 3 days, but i doubt the oil will come on. Didn't last week when I was away.
I can't get warm for long unless I use wood. Wood warms the walls and floors and the heat gets "stored" for hours. Once the oil furnace is done it's cycle, it cools rapidly. So wood has more heat value than just burning, the heat sticks around. Don't ask me why, but that's the way it is. 8)
Quote from: Al_Smith on November 13, 2011, 04:27:26 AM
Ah-so didn't know that .The key word being "new".
Yeah, they haven't banned the old stoves... yet.
There were substantial tax credits for a while if you bought a new stove and turned in your old "pre-EPA reg" one. I think it was up to 30% of the cost of the new stove, with a max of $1500. This year that is down to $300 credit, and I believe it expires at the end of the year.
With the OWBs, I think the deal is more like the "Energy Star" appliance label. The federal guidelines are voluntary, and the consumer decides whether they want to buy the EPA compliant model or not. I believe some states (or maybe even some municipalities?) have banned the non-compliant models due to air quality concerns.
To the best of my knowledge, John Mc is correct.
You know I really don't know .I'm out in the boon docks so to speak and thank heavens we neither have the chainsaw nor the wood stove police so I'm safe at least for the moment .
Oh they might get in a huff if I burned old tires in the stove I'd imagine but so would Mrs. Smith beyond a doubt .I'd rather deal the police . :D
They won't pay much notice out there among the corn stalks. ;D
I cut, split, loaded, hauled, unloaded and stacked three cords of red oak last year. Burned one cord during last winter. Mostly on cold nights and the week ends where wife enjoys a fire. We have natural gas heat and the fire place is for the great room. Back in 93' we had an ice storm in Memphis and power was out a few days. I had just replaced the hot water heater changing from electric to gas. Nice warm showers or bath, heat from the fire place. We cooked on the grill from the freezer as I did not have a generator at the time. I even cooked buttermilk bisquits (?) in a cast iron skillet, with one on top of that one acting like a dutch oven. Life was good even then. Have two cords of seasoned wood ready for this winter. Green wood will produce a fair/good amount of creosote in the flue. Even with a hot fire of 1200°F, it will still form. Then, you could or might have a chimney fire after a build up of creosote. A chimney fire can produce temps more upward of 2000°F. A regular masonry flue is only designed for 800 - 900 °F. This is how masonry flue's develop cracks that cause fires in attics. Prefab on the other hand. Each joint of the three pipes are suppose to contain three screws. Not depending on the snap lock at all, this is an alignment feature for the installers to know when to put the three screws in.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on November 15, 2011, 10:01:59 AM
They won't pay much notice out there among the corn stalks. ;D
Yeah we seem to be able to get by with less hassel . It makes me sometimes wonder though why in the world they would be so anal in the boondocks of Canada where the hoot owls romance the chickens .At least we have some chickens for the owls to romance instead of northern ravens which aren't too romantic .Grumpy ,somewhat "fowl " tempered .Corn fed chickens too ,nice plump ones to go along with our corn fed honeys . :D
Quote from: Al_Smith on November 16, 2011, 05:30:33 AM
It makes me sometimes wonder though why in the world they would be so anal in the boondocks of Canada where the hoot owls romance the chickens .
They aren't that I'm aware of. Never had a run in with these types of police. All you have to do is look at the neighbor's yard full of smoke like a fog bank and you will soon realize. :D
Well yeah but some time ago you said he burnt anything from cat peed carpet to dirty diapers . I suppose in all it would depend on which way the wind is blowing .
We here in the great field of corn are more gentele with our cat peed carpet .We toss it on the burn pile rather than in the wood stove .Might toss the cat in too but they are hard to catch at times . :D
No your confusing the issue a bit. My next door neighbor burns wood in an OWB. My brother's neighbor was burning diapers and such in an old oil drum in his yard and some days would be smoke from that at my brother's place. That "bonehead" with the burn barrel has since fled back to Holland as far as I know after his little empire fell. ;)
Why did he skedaddle of to Holland for ? Did your brother offer to put him in the barrel with the diapers or something ? :D---I just can't myself --- :D :D
Oh...debt, wife beating, divorce among other stuff. Yeah, my brother got in his face a time or two over the burning issue. ::)
Sounds like addition by subtraction!
Hmm perhaps tip toeing through the tulips with Tiny Tim as we type .
While driving through downtown Atlanta Monday on 75 I saw one of those huge LED bill boards that said "kiln dried firewood for sale". Must have cost a fortune to post it there.
I had a wheel barrow load of old firewood that laid in the basement in a damp corner for a couple years. And the decay fungus got at it of course. I moved it this spring to another spot to dry. When it dried out enough to burn, which is now, it was light like dry aspen. A firebox full of that stuff is hardly enough to sustain heat enough for the fan to kick on. Well good to use it up while it's not real cold. Well maybe not quite as bad as all that, it seems warm enough when it's 24 outside. Albeit intermittent fan heat delivery. :D
Yeah, wood loses BTUs incredibly quickly once it starts to rot. It can also be tough to get dry once that happens.