Hey Guys..............I have about 4 face cords of bucked up Ash at about 18" long by an average of 9" in diameter. If I split this load in May of 17' will it be ready in 6-7 months?....Mind you I will be putting in my woodshed that is enclosed with a metal roof. 85F outside and its about 105-110F on the inside of the shed. Just experimenting because I'm sitting on about 5yrs worth of already c/s/s wood... What do you think? Thanks as always...
Maybe, maybe not, hard to say. It really doesn't dry in the round very quick at all, and even though your woodshed is hot, there is no airflow, which is needed to carry away the moisture...IMO 6-7 mo is not gonna be enough in this situation. If you were to split it now it should be good to go though...
Yeah I meant it will not dry much in the round...until you split it...if you can split it and then give it until next May to sit out in the wind and sun before moving it in, it should be good and dry by the time you burn it. I split everything and stack it in the backyard with only a top cover on it for 3-4 years...then 6-8 months before I plan to use it, it gets racked up in 1/3 cord racks that I built. I leave them out in the sun/wind until Octoberish, then they get hauled into the woodshed using a small forklift...good and dry! It always amazes me that even with the wood being CSS for 3-4 years, when I rack it up in the spring, it must dry a good bit more during the summer because the wood will shrink down an inch or two from the previously full-to-the-top 5.5' tall rack by the time I move it inside
Oh, I thought you wanted to burn it winter 2017/2018...guess I misunderstood the question...or the situation...something
Whoops. I too thought you wanted to burn it in 2017-2018. But if not until 21-22, then you will be fine. Yet, it is still best to split ASAP. Then a year on ash does wonders. 2 years does terrific wonders.
Ash seasons fast once split up. I'm burning an EAB ash that I just cut down and split a month ago in the firepit as we speak....and it's seasoned nicely already. 6-7 months is very possible. Depending on how big you split it.
Ash actually dries very well in the round if it's cut to length. If they're stacked off the ground and not getting wet, I think you'd be OK. A year or two ago, I was helping my my BIL with some firewood. He had a few piles of rounds that he said had been sitting for a year or two. I brought over my moisture meter, thinking I was going to show him the error of his ways. Some of it was still very wet, but his pile of ash rounds (the ones that weren't touching the ground) were ready to burn - 15-17% on fresh splits. That said, if you have the room to store it, why not get it split? Ash is usually a breeze. There's no such thing as being too far ahead.
Wow! Being that I was born in " 59", talking about 2021 / 2022 makes me feel old, and yet, futuristic.
In my experience, no matter how low the MC gets outdoors in the stacks, like down in the low teens %, a few weeks indoors later alongside the woodstove does great things, taking the MC down where it doesn't move the meter. Lets me burn bigger splits too. I love K.I.S.S., saving small splits only for kindling.
I have some ash that was cut from a live tree 5 years ago and cut into 2 foot lengths, yeh I had no idea back then. When I brought a few branch pieces of it un-split for my daughter to burn in her fire pit, it was still bubbling out the ends. It burned well with little smoke but was not really dry either. It might have been OK in a stove but it was far from ideal.
Dead standing ash makes a big difference . This one fresh cut could be burned in a stove, you will not always find em this low at the bottom of the tree though
