Firewood drying question
 

Not exactly home repair, but I bet many of you can answer this one. I have a
couple cords of green wood, mostly 2" and 3" diameter logs. I have it
sitting outside in the sun in a single layer on a concrete pad. How long
would it take for it to be dry enough to burn? I expect to be able to leave
it outside in the sun for up to a month before the rain sets in, after which
I'll put it under a carport that is open at both ends.

Firewood drying question
 

On Mon, 4 Sep 2006 13:21:07 -0700, "Ook" Ook Don't send me any
freakin' spam at zootal dot com delete the Don't send me any freakin'
spam wrote:

Not exactly home repair, but I bet many of you can answer this one. I have a
couple cords of green wood, mostly 2" and 3" diameter logs. I have it
sitting outside in the sun in a single layer on a concrete pad. How long
would it take for it to be dry enough to burn? I expect to be able to leave
it outside in the sun for up to a month before the rain sets in, after which
I'll put it under a carport that is open at both ends.

Well.. It will BURN right now.

Depends on what kind of wood, and whether it's been split.
Ideally, you'd want to split it and then let it sit
for a year. Failing that, split it fairly small,
(well, it's already pretty small,
so just split each stick once, you may
be better off using a froe if you can find one,
or a machette and a mallet for splitting small
stuff.)
and roast each armload/hopper next to the stove while
the previous one burns. And inspect the chimney every
couple months for as long as you're burning bad wood.

Firewood drying question
 

Ook wrote:
Not exactly home repair, but I bet many of you can answer this one. I have a
couple cords of green wood, mostly 2" and 3" diameter logs. I have it
sitting outside in the sun in a single layer on a concrete pad. How long
would it take for it to be dry enough to burn? I expect to be able to leave
it outside in the sun for up to a month before the rain sets in, after which
I'll put it under a carport that is open at both ends.

wood that small shouldn't require any splitting. Some folk will burn
almost anything but one year under cover is considered adequate. For
sure it will dry faster if split but unlikely to be worth it with small
wood like that. a carport sounds excellent and there are no special
requirements, just stack it neatly out of the way but not too far from
the stove.

Firewood drying question
 

Lawrence wrote:
Ook wrote:
Not exactly home repair, but I bet many of you can answer this one. I have a
couple cords of green wood, mostly 2" and 3" diameter logs. I have it
sitting outside in the sun in a single layer on a concrete pad. How long
would it take for it to be dry enough to burn? I expect to be able to leave
it outside in the sun for up to a month before the rain sets in, after which
I'll put it under a carport that is open at both ends.

wood that small shouldn't require any splitting. Some folk will burn
almost anything but one year under cover is considered adequate. For
sure it will dry faster if split but unlikely to be worth it with small
wood like that. a carport sounds excellent and there are no special
requirements, just stack it neatly out of the way but not too far from
the stove.


But keep it away from walls and up off the pavement. You don't want to
leave enclosed spaces between the wood and the walls which are
attractive to insects like carpenter ants, powder post beetles, and
termites. 6" is probably sufficient spacing between the walls and the
wood with half that (I use a "rack" made of PT 2X4 to raise mine from
the ground) below the stack. Exposure to cross-ventilation will really
help the trying as will direct sunlight. As others have written, wood
that size really doesn't need to be split to burn well -- I've burned
in-the-round hickory and ash and oak at least 6" across after a couple
of years of drying with no problem. I've burned small ash after just a
few months of drying with acceptable results.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Firewood drying question
 

"Ook" Ook Don't send me any freakin' spam at zootal dot com delete the
Don't send me any freakin' spam wrote in message
...
Not exactly home repair, but I bet many of you can answer this one. I have
a couple cords of green wood, mostly 2" and 3" diameter logs. I have it
sitting outside in the sun in a single layer on a concrete pad. How long
would it take for it to be dry enough to burn? I expect to be able to
leave it outside in the sun for up to a month before the rain sets in,
after which I'll put it under a carport that is open at both ends.

It depends on how long the wood is. Wood dries mainly from the ends and
splitting has little to do with it. If it is about a foot long then several
months is long enough. If 3 or 4 feet long, then it will take over 6 months
to dry to the same ammount of water content.

Firewood drying question
 

learn from my experience on stacking:

if you stack the wood in several rows, keep the rows tight together. I
thought I would be smart and leave 6" - 8" space between rows of
stacked wood for better ventilation, with a tarp on top of the pile.
Started out good- this allowed the neighbor cats to hunt mice in the
wood pile. It was great for drying wood, bad for providing shelter for
critters- I had racoons take up residence in my pile. Have also had
ground hogs. I ended up having to throw small stuff down between the
rows to keep critters away.

Firewood drying question
 

Another factor that makes it impossible to give a simple answer-
species.
For example: white ash can be cut, split, and burned same-day; northern
red oak is ~45%
moisture (overall) on the stump and may take more than a year; gray and
white
birch will rot before ever being ready to burn if not split. Some
conifers take
forever to season & dry. And ... growth habitat makes for substantial
variation
within species. IOW, try what you can, then assess success/failure.

Oh, yes, 2-3" sticks are not ever "logs" around here.

J

Ook wrote:
Not exactly home repair, but I bet many of you can answer this one. I have a
couple cords of green wood, mostly 2" and 3" diameter logs. I have it
sitting outside in the sun in a single layer on a concrete pad. How long
would it take for it to be dry enough to burn? I expect to be able to leave
it outside in the sun for up to a month before the rain sets in, after which
I'll put it under a carport that is open at both ends.