The guy down the road decided he didn't want to sell any of the hard maple he has left so I ended up buying from the same person as the last 2 years. A lot of it is soft maple but $600 for a 10 face cord truck load delivered will get me through most of the winter. Got about 4 face cord split down to the size I prefer to work with yesterday and every piece I checked was under 15% moisture. Tested a piece of the red oak as well. Still at 49% moisture. Going to top cover the pile before the snow flies here and leave it covered until it's ready to burn.
It's truly amazing how sopping wet oak is when cut and split green.......the difference in weight after a couple years seasoning is big.....
It was crazy wet when I was splitting it this spring and I was kinda surprised. I guess I figured since it was cut down in January and February that most of the water would be in the roots. Made a little progress on this winters BTU's.
Definitely a lot of water. It can easily be 80% or more. To get to 20% it needs to lose 1/3 of its weight. I think that the 'sap's down belief' is somewhere between pretty much not true or flat out wrong. If anything it is species and probably more climate dependent. If you consult the worlds cumulative knowledge, AKA Google, and sort out the facts from people's speculation you can find some studies where they have found trees to be much heavier in the winter. And if you look at the pulpwood industry which buys wood by weight you will be hard pressed to find a seasonal adjustment to a price schedule or expected yield/ton differences. Just think about it. There are no leaves on the tree losing water to evaporation or using it for photosynthesis. The log is full of water with no place to go. I speculate that a tree is probably driest on about August 25, when it has been hot for a month and hasn't rained much.
"I think that the 'sap's down belief' is somewhere between pretty much not true or flat out wrong." Yep I agree, read an article where they did some testing and claimed it make little or no difference, best time to cut wood is when you have time.
Picked up the rest of the wood needed for this winter. Just need to get it split and stacked so it can finish drying. I knocked a few of them open before I bought the wood to check moisture level and they were all right at 20% so I'm hoping it will be a bit drier by around February when I get to that part of the pile. Once I get this last bit of wood split and stacked I'll have right around 30 face cord which is just over 2 years of heat for us.
What specifically is is that stuff, Bret? Looks like a bit of ash in that pile. I'd be skeptical to say that oak or hard mapl would be ready to go in several months if it had been left in rounds, but if it's ash or something softer it may be close by Feb. How big are you planning on making the splits?
I was told it's all ash by a few friends that are better at identifying than I am. Seller said the same. The seller said it was all standing dead in May of this year and it's been blocked up since then. Moisture meter and a few of the definitely dead rounds makes me think he's telling the truth. I tend to split things on the small side, baseball to softball size, so my better half and the kids could handle it easier if something were to happen to me. It also makes it easier to fill the stove completely.
I was thinking white ash from the pics too. It starts out pretty dry; the conventional wisdom around here says "you don't need to season it", because it burns really good even when it's green.
If it was dead and you get it split up, I'd say iI'll be pretty good by Feb. Ash is a great wood! Most of what I can see on that like looks like ash to me too!
Which is pure baloney through and through. But people hear that and seem to just latch onto it. Then they don't want to believe the truth even when it is in front of their face. Just think about it: ash will be in the 30-35% range when cut. That is low compared to most wood, but that is not ready to burn by a long shot! In addition, we've cut ash that has been dead standing for 5 years and it was not ready to burn yet.
This holds true to a lot of what I hear and see. Heck I still get people telling me that locust is "good to go the day you cut it down". Wives tales....... At any rate, that ash WILL season quickly if split and stacked loosely. I think it'll be pretty good (maybe not primo but useable) by Feb....
Cut some dead and I mean dead Red Elm (no bark been dead many years) last fall and left some of the pieces fairly big cause one year and it was gonna be dry as a bone, well not all of it is and its next years wood now.
Yep. It's just not possible for living wood to be low enough moisture fresh cut to burn (well) immediately. Even a tree that's been standing dead may hold that water. Standing dead is more likely to be ready off the stump, but the more time you give wood to dry the better your burning experience will be
Thanks but this splitter is so slow it's mind numbing. Got to use a few bigger/better ones 2 weekends ago for a helping hand deal that were amazing compared to this one. I've priced pumps and bigger motors to make it better but I just don't care to spend any more on this one.
Hard to beat a good ol' Fiskars splitting axe on that ash. That's sorta how I got addicted to hand splitting, doing ash. Great core workout too.
