Do rounds dry?

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, by 12" slabbed round I mean a round that was 12" wide, split in two. And yes wood dries quickest on the end grain, that's the natural flow of free water, so it's gonna. And yes also talking bound water being lost. Non-the-less it all comes down to size, not about the bark. Heck, I never had dry firewood that the bark wasn't falling off and big deep checks.Helps to stack your wood in a heated (drying) environment and not out in the rain and snow. ;D

[CRThomas]

Sh green splits Ash dry will knock the tire out of you. I can kiln dry Ash in one night if it's split.

[doctorb]

I never expected a revitalization of this old thread, but I do enjoy the topic. 

angelo c-

I think you're right, wood drys differently in different parts of the country, with the obvious variables as to how it's treated in each area.  The general rule, as learned here, is that oak takes 2 years to dry.  What I have found in my area is that, split and stacked in my shed, I can get oak to dry in about 16 months.  My plan is usually to put up all the wood I need for the next year's winter in the fall.  So, the wood I have been working on the last couple of months is planned to be used in January, 2015.  I have measured the moisture content and find that even oak gets below 20% MC with this method.  I don't think that would happen in Maine or Michigan, as my Spring starts earlier and my Fall runs longer than in the north.  Reading this thread, you can see that everyone tries to figure it out for themselves given the individual variables of their locale, there time, their space, and how compulsive they desire to be!

[CTYank]

I never expected a revitalization of this old thread, but I do enjoy the topic. 

angelo c-

I think you're right, wood drys differently in different parts of the country, with the obvious variables as to how it's treated in each area.  The general rule, as learned here, is that oak takes 2 years to dry.  What I have found in my area is that, split and stacked in my shed, I can get oak to dry in about 16 months.  My plan is usually to put up all the wood I need for the next year's winter in the fall.  So, the wood I have been working on the last couple of months is planned to be used in January, 2015.  I have measured the moisture content and find that even oak gets below 20% MC with this method.  I don't think that would happen in Maine or Michigan, as my Spring starts earlier and my Fall runs longer than in the north.  Reading this thread, you can see that everyone tries to figure it out for themselves given the individual variables of their locale, there time, their space, and how compulsive they desire to be!

Not really- the compulsive bit. Being an engineer, it's important (to me) that the wood be dried to where it lights readily in the stove, and evolves min. moisture. That avoids energy waste, and nasties up the stack.

[doctorb]

[quote author=CTYank link=topic=52878.msg1052664#msg1052664 date=

Not really- the compulsive bit. Being an engineer, it's important (to me) that the wood be dried to where it lights readily in the stove, and evolves min. moisture. That avoids energy waste, and nasties up the stack.
[/quote]

I don't know, CTYank, you sound a little compulsive to me!    :D.  Just pullin' your leg.......

[SwampDonkey]

Trouble makers, eh?  We're all burning the same product. Some of us found out we don't have to work as hard at it. Others, don't like to hear it. :D :D

[hardpan]

It seems I mostly agree with Al and angelo. Buck it, split it, stack it, or lose it. I will add remove as much bark as reasonable and cover it. In the round, on the ground, not in a mound, with the bark, in the woods, and I have seen my 30" white oak decline in 3 years. Maple much faster. I'm in southern Indiana, 40" of precipitation a year and humidity 50-90 percent mostly. Location is a big factor, both by global geography and local location of your wood pile.

Holy cow I just reread and I sound like Dr. Seuss and I didn't even have green eggs and ham for breakfast.

[Sonofman]

I agree with you, Yank. I'm not going to go to all the trouble to cut, haul and stack the wood and not let it dry as much as is possible before burning to get the most heat out of my work. That is part of the dilemma, though. It is warm enough here in SC to dry oak in less than a season, but not really cold enough to need a lot of it to heat with. Up where youse guys are, you need the heat, but it takes so much longer to season the wood.

[SwampDonkey]

Trying to dry firewood out in the damp humid woods is about the worst method possible. Bring it in under cover with good air and save your wood and the extra work.   You still need to split wood, as in split it to be usable size and to dry quicker, not because it's round. Piece size is the key, not bark or shape. ;D

Just think of a forest fire, fine fuels are most often with bark, like brush and limbs, round. Just need a lightning strike, exhaust spark or cigarette....poof.

And by the way, now that we are on about fires, it was recently concluded with some research that airborne sawdust that is green in nature in a sawmill are just as likely to ignite as dry stuff. In other words, sawdust off beetle killed spruce is no more explosive than from green logs. However, there is more of it in the air milling beetle killed logs. FPInovations, formerly FERIC of Canada.

[angelo c]

It seems I mostly agree with Al and angelo. Buck it, split it, stack it, or lose it. I will add remove as much bark as reasonable and cover it. In the round, on the ground, not in a mound, with the bark, in the woods, and I have seen my 30" white oak decline in 3 years. Maple much faster. I'm in southern Indiana, 40" of precipitation a year and humidity 50-90 percent mostly. Location is a big factor, both by global geography and local location of your wood pile.

Holy cow I just reread and I sound like Dr. Seuss and I didn't even have green eggs and ham for breakfast.

as an added bonus getting rid of the bark cuts way down on the critter count. many times I pull the bark on a "dry" piece and there is a bug hiding in the moisture caught between the bark and the wood.

no moisture no critters no rot...I am I am said Sam

[SwampDonkey]

Never any trouble here with bark on firewood and bugs, no bugs at all. Spiders are about all I get and a ground beetle once in awhile, both have nothing to do with bark. Both predators not wood eaters. No free water between the bark and wood in my firewood. No bug trails or holes neither because mine don't sit for months or years out in the weather. In fact the bark falls off mid winter in a warm basement and makes good fire starter material. ;D

[clusterbuster75]

Do not leave either sitting on the ground.  The maple will tend to rot and the black locust will sprout and grow.  Black Locust is as bad as willow.  Nice rot resistant wood but it sprouts awfull.  Farmer say that if you use it for fence posts you need to be sure to put it in the ground upside down or you will have a tree.

This farmer will tell you that black locust will not sprout and grow like willow. I haven't ever flipped a black locust fence post upside down and haven't seen one grow. I will never use black locust again as a fence post.  Replaced a bunch of them last year that didn't even last a decade, some only lasted 5 yrs.  Hedge is far far superior. 

[SwampDonkey]

I do know that balsam poplar will sprout off a cut sapling that the government places by the culverts in the fall so they can locate them in spring melt. They will leaf out and the whole nine yards. No good for posts, but sure do sprout.

[CRThomas]

Yes, they dry, and will be dry next year, however, I want a movie of you splitting that black locust. ;D

Yes you are right on that I have had chunks stacked for a year they show 14 to 16 percent with my gauge I take them and split them in side they 35 to 45 percent that is only if they longer they get up to same as when I cut them close to 60 percent.