So today I was out loading up the garage and decided to do some moisture readings on the wood I have been burning this year. Almost all the wood has been Elm and Lodge pole pine. The Elm has been split and stacked for over 5 years now. The Pine has been split and stacked for over 2 years. I have two different moisture meters and took some readings with both. I also took reading on two different splits of Elm and on the Pine. The Elm I got 12% on one of the splits and on the Pine I got 10% With the other meter and other split I got 10% on the Elm and 8% on the pine. I would like to point out at this time I do not have any issues burning this wood. No run away fires. No creosote build up. No excessive smoke. Just good ole BTU's from some good dry wood. So I all this hype about wood being to dry I just cannot buy into. This is real world here I am talking about and not some hypothetical theory. Last of all this is Wyoming and with the amount of wind, sun, and low humidity we have here it is easy to get wood this dry outside with no top cover.
We cut some logs in July, that had been decked from fire breaks for the Sept 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, some of the top layer logs were 11-13%, a few as low as 9%, burning those right now. I will take 9-13% MC wood all day long, Burns GREAT, we close the draft down, get some nice long burn times out of White Fir and Hemlock, Glass stays CLEAN, 2 weeks or more between cleaning ash out of the stove, no complaints from me I have heard people talk about wood being "Too Dry" I suppose in an Open Fireplace, you could get enough draft for a "Runaway Fire", but if you're heating with a woodstove, I can't imagine getting your wood "Too DRY" If I had 40 acres, not a neighborhood lot, I would Love to try one of those shipping container kilns, and really dry out some wood to see what really LOW MC would burn like Doug
I’m with you there. With the way how the rain gets things wet again, the best way to keep wood absolutely dry is under a covered structure with a wall that blocks out that rain.
If those M/C levels are taken on a freshly exposed face of a room temp fresh re-split I'd forget the solar kiln! Your already there IMO.
Your wood is perfect. There are those of us that have to wait years to get the moisture content of hardwoods anywhere near your reading. Enjoy the heat!!
I've posted these before, but you are right, in our neck of the woods, you HAVE to keep your wood DRY. The tarps are easy to roll up in good weather, and roll back down for heavy Rain, especially with the wind we can get here. The wind isn't as Bad right here at the house, but where I went to High School, at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge, Chicago ain't got Nothin in comparison for wind. Some places can top cover only, many places here in the PNW, it isn't an option. These were cut in July, the pics were the end of December. OUT of the weather is a MUST for us. Doug
Not always at room temp, sometimes checking out in the woods, freshly cut, but always checking a Fresh Split, and not on end grain. If I had the room, I would try a wood fired shipping container kiln. Unfortunately, not all our wood was that low of MC, the lower into the deck, and further in from the sides the wetter the logs were, some 40%+ MC. Definitely Not "Hardwood" but I like my wood "Easy", as close to the trailer as possible, and uphill, if any hill at all "Hardwood" That is wood that is Downhill, or Too Far from the Trailer, Our usual cutting areas are typically 3,500-6,000' elevation about 5,000' most often, solidly Conifer Country, with very little Deciduous Trees around. I have had More Unicorns ON my woodsheds, than OAK in them I have heard Rumors and Stories, about some Mythical Wood, Known as "Oak" but it is Pretty Rare in my area, mainly yard tree removals, and rarely in any great abundance Doug
Nice straight logs to process. And plenty of it. Likely softwood that dry's easily, heats beautifully, and leaves next to zero for ash/residue compared to hardwood. Dreamy compared to some variety's of hardwood we deal with. I believe I've finally found someone with more Fiskars products than me
Yep, that was mainly White Fir, Hemlock, and a bit of Douglas Fir, those decks were from fire breaks from the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, the Forest Circus opened up those decks and another this year to firewood cutters. The deck behind and to the right of the trailer was likely the tops of the trees in the larger deck, not as long, and smaller diameter, but very Low MC, especially the top layers. We normally cut larger wood, but that was too good, and too easy, the 50cc saws got the most use this year. Conifers may not give as long of burn times, but we have learned how to load our stove for up to 9 hour burns with the real low MC wood, and the Glass stays clean, low ash, over 2 weeks of 24/7 burning between ash cleanings. I Love the Fiskars products, the kids got me some Madsen's gift certificates for Christmas, just picked up a Fiskars 28" Hookaroon last Tuesday, and the Wife enjoys working in the yard, her Birthday was the 10th, and she got a BUNCH of different pruners and other yard tools, much better quality than what she had, and is looking forward to using them this Spring Doug
moresnow yeah them “Telephone Poles” process Nice, especially when they have been run through a processor for you Even the blowdowns though are really quick, just walk the log buzzing off limbs, and forget them, and start Bucking ,and those Conifers will season Quickly, even fresh blowdown, if CSS Early in the season can be ready by Winter. We are known for 13 months a year of Rain, but actually July, August and September can be very Dry and Warm, High 90’s to low 100’s is common, and a bit of a Breeze helps too. As Plentiful as that deck looks, never underestimate the power of serious wood cutters, those decks were at the end of about 11 miles of logging road, with a really badly washed out section 3/4 mile long, the tail end of the trailer was doing “Grader Duty” through some of it, coming out loaded with 2 cords on board. It didn’t take much over a month, and there wasn’t much left worth the trip I definitely Appreciate how the Conifers process, and the low ash left after burning. About 2 years ago my Wife’s Cousin had Bought ( a Blasphemy to Me) some firewood, I don’t know if it was yard trees or what, neither Black Walnut nor Redwoods are common to our area, but they had over a cord of Knotty stuff they couldn’t hand split, and told us, if you haul it away, you can have it , Dayum I was anxious to get that BW I couldn’t Believe how much Ash that Walnut left, and it was DRY, that was a Rude Surprise , I actually ended up preferring the Redwood, it didn’t burn as long, but left very little ash, like the Firs and Hemlock that we are used to burning We don’t have the hardwoods that are common back East, but our Firs and Hemlock, plus a bit of Alder keep our Home very cozy, our Furnace hasn’t even been turned on yet this Winter, which is our normal goal. We only run the furnace when we are out of town, and can’t keep the stove fed. Doug
Sounds like you're burning outside EPA safe burning parameters. Surely there must be some regionally adoptable standard CODE you are willfully violating. Maybe you should shut that unsafe heating equipment down and quickly convert to safe environmentally friendly and green earth saving electricity.
I experienced a couple thousand miles of those logging roads last summer on a motorcycle. Saw lots of guys cutting firewood. How they got trucks up in there made me chuckle! I had rough going on a dual sport bike setup. Sounded like the heavy spring rains had really done a number on those roads. All the ranges were rough going.
