Do you think blowing air on a stack of firewood with a fan would dry it out pretty quickly? I retrieved a stack of oak and hickory and parts of it had fallen over and had touched the ground for maybe a year. Where it touched ground, it's partly rotted and ugly such that I won't sell it, will just use it myself. But quite a bit of it is damp or even soggy. I've got it stacked against the wall of my carport. Reason I ask is I have no idea if overnight would help or it would take days or weeks, lol. At least the weather will now cooperate from several days of rain, no rain in forecast for next ten days, yippee! Anyone with experience on this? I also ask for a customer who is buying a trailer load stacked full of good, seasoned firewood from me and it has gotten rain wet over the past several days just sitting here at my place and she expressed concern about that.
From what you describe, I would just write it off. I've not even had good luck trying to burn it in a brush pile. However, you are out nothing by trying. CAUTION: DO NOT TRY BURNING THAT SORT OF WOOD IN ANY STOVE WITH A CATALYST. It is a great way to ruin a catalyst.
Been my experience water logged wood will dry pretty quick once removed from the wetness. Still warm enough in your area to dry it on the quick side. Air movement is one of the three things needed for drying wood besides sun exposure and time. Ive contemplated a fan to dry my bundle wood stacks faster. Even getting some type of solar generator set up for power as its a distance from a power source. Im interested to hear Jeff's input as I thought the fans were for them when they worked in the heat.
The few rain day trailer stuff will dry out quicker with a fan. (But just stacking it off the ground and covered by the customer will be fine in a week or so too...) The year on the ground stuff will need months at least (to be below 20%). A fan for two weeks or so may cut 25% off of that by helping the initial outside moisture dry out, but after that you're limited by how quickly water moves through the bulk of the wood to the surface. The problem is the inside is soaked.
I personally wouldn't use a fan on this stuff that is going to be less than prime even after dry. It will be marginal at best I'm guessing.
I had to read this several times to understand what you're really asking. If it was me I'd take the salvageable stuff and stack it correctly outside, top covered, and sell it next year. Unless you've got an indoor space like a garage to store it, plus a wood stove in there to keep the temperatures up and suck out the excess moisture, and a fan blowing on it to boot. IME storing damp (but NOT green) wood indoors, near a wood stove, will dry it in a few days.
Here's my thoughts, for what it's worth... From my experience, the hickory will have more rot than the oak. If you going to burn it yourself...move it away from the wall so air can circulate around it, put a big fan (36-48") on it and let it run. Even cooler air will help dry it. Yes, it sucked up some moisture from the ground, but it's not like green wood. Also after a few days, bring in a few pieces at a time, store close to your stove and mix in woth the dry wood you're burning. The wood on your trailer will be fine, the customer can stack and top cover for a week or so.
I've had a fan on it 24/7 for about 36 hours. I am burning the wood. Doesn't burn great but it burns. It's still drying, it'll take awhile. Some of the problem comes from the fact that some of it is punky, rotten now. It'll never be a great burn but it'll burn. I am not in a cold climate, fires for me are a little heating but mostly for ambience. As for comprehending what was asked, beats me as to why it's so terribly confusing, the title indicates the subject and the first sentence asks the question. No need for a response, just expressing a bit of frustration as to what is so confusing, lol.
It depends......we have that interstate drying thang down here, ya know... We haven't had any complaints about it not burning.
It will dry. How fast I’m not sure. Having spent a bit of time in Mississippi I’m still confused on how the southerners dry wood at all LOL. Seriously punky wood I usually burn in the pit. This year, for the first time I had some Nerf/toilet paper wood in the pen I unloaded. Featherlight punk, certainly couldn’t sell it. The pen had only been covered since spring but it was totally dry. I decided to burn it for the first few fires of the year. Worked just fine for what it was. As Eric said I don’t think I’d bother running a fan for punk tho. Stack it loose and burn when dry.
