I just put a half of a round in my furnace. Red oak. The full diameter of the round would have been about 8 or 9 inches. The wood was part of a stack and in the cribbed ends. That stack was CSS'ed 3 years ago by me and top covered with old rubber roofing. It has been through 3 summers with good airflow and the sun on it. Its down in the furnace hissing and spitting water like crazy. Has a big wet spot on the end too. You just never know...
I wouldn't be surprised if you said it had been sitting for 10 years and did that. I've seen that on 4 year oak, and I've seen barkless ~18 month oak burn phenomenally with no wood snot. You never know.
This old timer liked his drink a bit much and his old lady getting tired of him coming home late everynight decided to play a trick on him one night. So she dressed up as the devil and waited for him to come home, as he walked into the house she jumped out hissing and spitting and carrying on. The old timer wasn't a bit impressed, so she said aren't you afraid of me? I'm the devil. The old timer looked over at her casually and just said heck no I've been married to your sister for 30 years.
Two rows on pallets with a gap of about 8-10 inches between them. Top covered. The piece referenced was out of the cribbed end so it got plenty of sun and wind.
Probably as it was a larger sized piece and doesnt surprise me. Drying any oak has me scratching my head sometimes. My splits average the size of a 4x4 which is 3.5" square. Random size and shapes. The load of chestnut oak i just processed i split smaller. They will be mostly stacked with good Summer sun exposure. Having limited storage i shy away from oak for that reason.
I have never had a problem getting Bur Oak dry in 3 years (less in some cases) stacking in single rows with no top cover, never have seen any sizzlers.
If you ever look at your stacks in the rain or just after there’s always spots that get soaked more than others from water running off the top cover. My guess is this was one. Seasoned/dry it doesn’t matter. Put enough water on a piece of wood and it will soak it up.
I have red oak that's drying for a year and four months.I don't like that just top cover wood to dry so I draped rubber roofing over it down half way on all sides.I'll leave it till next winter to see how it burns.
Moisture meter time... That's the only way to find out what moisture content is of the wood. Idk if a moisture meter would be the answer here
Every so often go pick it up and see if there’s any condensation on the rubber. The reason for top cover is to allow the moisture to escape. You may be trapping it, you may not be. Interesting to know. My guess would be more prevalent in the summer.
It seems to me that the smaller diameter pieces that are left unsplit never seem to dry like a piece that was larger and split. Maybe it is just my imagination. I try to make it a habit to split anything I can , even if it only once. Smaller splits then used when starting a fire.
I have been burning small (3 inch or so) rounds of ash, mulberry, and oak with no problems whatsoever, wood does most of its drying from the ends. They don't catch fire as quick so it may appear to not be as dry but everytime i split one to check it the moisture content was around 15 percent, they usually are 3 years old though. I love using small rounds.
