My wood stacks and moisture levels

As others have mentioned I’ve dried wood by the stove before. Two piles. One to use one to dry. It may not get the center perfect but even moisture from the outer layers is a plus. Helps it light up faster. It’s the fastest way.

 

I agree with what everybody has already said...top cover, more airflow, more sun, bring the wood inside for a few weeks prior to burning, and even so it will still not burn as well or as cleanly as it will if given another year.

 

I am still pretty darn new to burning but I have to agree with this from my limited experience and will be changing my method. I had racked up about a cord of oak (mix of white and red, mostly white) uncovered. It's just about 2 1/2yrs old and I moved it to burn this winter (I need to move the rest) under some cover to dry out for good. I noticed a decent amount of it is starting to break down. Plenty of it is in good shape. I noticed the top row is really sun dried but also much of it had area's what looked like pooled water that sat breaking down the wood fibers. I also noticed that some water pooled and sat in other levels of the stack as well. Still all completely burnable and it's not that much but enough to convince me it should have been top covered much sooner. Like Dennis said I think after a year with that oak I should have top covered it and I would have had a bit better result I feel for my particular area. Seems oak gets really punky quick, I know me and buZZsaw BRAD shared some science projects growing off some of our oak stacks.

 

Really no reason to not top cover it right away...unless its just that you don't have enough covers to do so...

 

Agreed! And that's usually my problem not enough top covers. I love the roofing panels my bro in law gave me. Not ideal but I've been using the one bay in my pole barn. Very open and airy so there is pretty good airflow.

 

I thought about doing that for air flow and also was thinking it would allow me better access to the wood. If I stacked that all the way out, lord knows when I'll get to that back row which will be driest 1st. That bay is 16' deep by 8' wide.

 

Can back wall come out??

 

Thank u all very much. I burn my wood in an Osborn 2400 Wood Stove Insert. I’m gonna start storing some wood down in my cellar via the bilko doors. It’s very dry down there and I have a dehumidifier running. I can prob get two cords down there. I’m also gonna bring a nice load inside my house next to my stove and cover as much as possible.

 

In my setup Canadian border VT ? Yes, I just used decking boards screwed down. I think I see where you are going, not a bad idea.......

 

That's a nice stove with a nice sized firebox, I recall looking at them.

I'll just mention always be careful with wood inside. I've got tons of termites out back that eat my wood pallets for breakfast. Ton's of folks here do it all the time with no problems, depends on your area.

 

Yeah ReelFaster that was for you! Remove wall to get to dry stuff.

 

Gotcha Thought you were suggesting remove the wall to pull the driest wood in the back out 1st as well