I have red oak I have had stacked for a few years now, I took some of those splits and split them down to 2-3" kindling splits, They are still hissing water out the end once they catch fire. All my wood is stacked and covered. I have access to all the red oak I want but I am not thrilled to keep CSS it. So my question is for those with experience does white oak dry any faster than red? I remember seeing a video on you tube about how red oak sucks up water more than white.
Waiting to see an answer on this one. I’d guess White takes longer. It feels a lot more dense to me. I’m not saying that’s more water but would guess it’ll give up the water it does have less readily.
White dries slower due to the cellular structure of the wood. 3 years usually, as opposed to 2 years here for Red on average. Good firewood, but long term drying/storage is necessary.
Sorry, nope. White oak is more dense than red so it takes longer for the moisture to pass out of the wood. mr.finn do you have a moisture meter? Your oak may be at or below 20% and still cook a little juice out of it when burned. I have some white oak in my stacks that will sit for 4 years before I touch it. I'm in the Ohio Valley with higher humidity so it takes a bit longer. Plus, I'm far enough ahead that I won't really miss it for that amount of time.
Not sure where in Mass you are, but I have lots of red oak, and after 3yrs, it burns just fine, with no wood snot bubbling out of it. I leave all new split wood stacked uncovered until a year before I expect to burn it. My wood is stacked in amongst trees, so not much sun on it once the trees leaf out. Most of my wood is stacked in no more than 3 rows wide, most, not more than 2 rows wide.
I've had some oak in the stacks 4 and 5 years and still occasionally some will weep some sap as it starts burning. I've never worried about it and never had any problems because of it.
This is one of my favorite topics, oak drying, and I have done a lot of research without reaching any conclusions. I appreciate everyone's insight and experience. My recent experiences: I just split a 3" thick red oak split from the row being burned and measured 23% moisture after 3 years. All the sugar maple pieces from the same spot in the row tested 15-16% moisture even though they were 5-6" thick. This spring, I cut and split three oak poles all downed by stump rot in the same immediate forest area, 2 red oak and 1 white oak. All fell about the same time and none had full ground contact, i.e. they were on top of older falls. Both red oaks were totally free of bark and sapwood. The white oak still had both bark and sapwood. One red oak tested 15% moisture and went straight into the furnace and burned GREAT. The other red oak tested 25% moisture and is in the new rows. The white oak also tested 25% moisture and is in the new rows. I suspect the white oak dried quicker because of the sapwood and bark but white oak starts out with less moisture... The only wood I cut which can immediately weep liquid water from the heartwood is red oak which means red oak has more "free" water than any other wood I cut. Sugar maple, white oak, ash, walnut, cherry, hackberry, ironwood, bitternut hickory, basswood, red elm, and white elm have never immediately leaked liquid water from the heartwood, i.e they have "free" water but it did not flow like red oak. Red oak is the most widely available downed wood in my area. My cutting habits: Sugar maple is my favorite firewood, dries well and burns hot but is average for coaling. I cut downed bitternut hickory, ash, ironwood, hackberry, and bark free red elm before red oak since they dry better. I prefer to cut white oak before red oak, though they are similar, because after three years white oak has more heat in a cord. The supply of downed white oak is low since white oak lives two or three times as long as red oak.
There is nothing in the above statements that I disagree with. Well thought out & stated. I too have a lot of Red Oak available, usually big stuff 36" plus. Lots of work to process & slow to dry, but it does heat well. Sugar Maple & Elm are my best bet for quick seasoning & good heat. Locust when I can get it.
Thanks for all the info and thoughts on this. I just got some so I will keep it set aside and leave it be for a while. I have had good luck with red maple, cherry and hickory drying quickly and burning great. Those will be my go to woods from now on.
iowahiker I would be interested if you go into detail on when you do the splitting. Then when do you do the stacking and especially where and how you stack it, etc.
Even dead standing Red Oak takes at least a couple of years to be ready for burning in split stacks. Been working up a 2 year old Red Oak blowdown ~ 20" DBH -- the butts are wet ( "snot" is right ). It's a pleasure to split it, but heavy, dense wood. With my age the butts needed splitting to get them into the trailer. Woe.
How thick are your splits? Nothing burns the night better than a thick, well seasoned piece of oak. But those take a very long time to season. If you split them a bit smaller they will dry faster.
I’ve had oak five years in the stacks (pole barn, good air flow, no rain hits it) and some still hisses. Other species don’t seem to do that. Oak works great in the pizza oven, particularly when I use residual heat to bake it bone dry. Burns at a perfect rate to cook pizza and doesn’t produce a noxious smoke. For wood stove use, it honestly isn’t a preferred species for me. It works fine, but pine lights easier and is better for a quick fire or to get things going. Elm holds coals way longer so I prefer it for times when Like this year when I needed one fire a day since it reliably gives a start-up coal at least 24 hours later. I think of oak as a cooking wood or a two-fire-a-day kind of wood. Great for a fairly large amount of constant heat. I just rarely need that.
Splitting prior to stacking: Red and white oak, 6-8" rounds to halves, larger to quarters Everything else other than red elm, 7-8" rounds to halves, larger to quarters Bark free red/slippery elm, 8" rounds to halves, larger to quarters My furnace has a large grate and 6" round quarter splits are kindling. The LARGEST pieces are split as they are unloaded. I cut and stack all year, April/May to November/December. All wood with three years of drying are stacked inside by October 1, i.e. Nov./Dec. cutting replaces wood just burned. The main rows are inside across an unheated metal shed. One window in back and two overhead doors at the front, 30' wide by 40' deep. Six rows on pallets 25' long and 6'+ tall in the building rear near the window. 48" pallets and 20" firewood allows air rows between all six rows. Window and doors are open when the weather is nice. The row being burned is an interior row, #3, 95% sugar maple and a little oak, finished in the summer of 2016. All rows are densely packed for stability since they are over 6' tall. The floor under the pallets is concrete. Quick drying wood like bark free red elm/ash... goes into row #1 on the exterior and is burned after one year inside. Originally all my firewood was oak and outside but I was never happy with the results since my lot is a shaded northeast facing hill. Switching to other wood types and storing inside for 3 years works well for every wood except oak. I am always researching my options to dry oak since red oak is the most available wood.
Red oak is ready in two-White oak needs three...can’t break it down any more simply than that-I’m currently burning red oak from 2015...its’s blissful...smell, heat, smack two splits together sounds like a crisp base hit to center...
