This is discouraging for a new wood stove owner. I’ve only been burning in a wood stove for a little over a month now. I was able to get some 3 year seasoned wood from a friend for this burning season, but I can’t keep tapping that well for next year. I have a cord of oak and a cord of medium to poor BTU wood stacked, but neither will be ready for winter 2018/19. I need to find some fast drying wood soon!
Look for pine, spruce, soft maple, poplar.. split small and stack off the ground in single rows in the sun on the highest ground you have (for wind/airflow) - top cover and build your stacks "loose" or cross stacked. You'll have to reload more often burning lower btu wood, but it'll be dry enough to get by and buy you time to get some more heavy duty species stacked for coming years. Building a stash of known dry wood to cut in with your less seasoned wood can help as well. Pallet scraps, lumber cut offs (no pt) etc.
I’m going to retest tomorrow and try using more pressure when probing my wood..... The tree was def not standing dead. Seemed very healthy, good bark and heart was stable. My stache for next year is likely not enough for entire season either. Time permitting I have other wood felled a couple years back that needs to be css....however the operator behind the excavator didn’t do me favors with the way he jammed/stacked all the logs together and it’ll be some work to get at. Worst case scenario I may splurge for a cord of kiln dried to give it a whirl
Welcome to the forum alutz11. I'm thinking for sure you should have some white ash in that area and it would be ideal. Also soft maple will dry decently in 6 months after it is split and stacked in the wind. Popple can do this too and I'm sure you have some of that down there. Good luck. Please read this: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage
tested again this morning, had one reading of 36%, but all rest were in mid twenties temp was at 32, perhaps ill wait and try this weekend if/when it stops raining and warms up. i hope to get last weekends haul css so that would be a good time for a reading after freshly splitting
Welcome to the Forum alutz11 !! IMHO dead standing and dead down wood are your best bet for next year. My first year burning here, I was woefully behind and was able to make it through the winter on dead and down ash as well as dead standing black birch. If you can top cover your wood, punky stuff will dry just fine over the summer. Just keep it under cover and it won't soak up the summer rains. Save your good stuff for down the road. Good luck. You are in a position that many of us were in before. You will get through it and eventually have the problem of a house that is too warm thus requiring you to open windows or doors in the middle of winter....
Thanks and yes I’m definitely looking forward to a few years down the road. I’ll still enjoy next winter too, but I’m sure it will mean a closer watch on the chimney. A friend has a woodlot with about 10 trees that look dead on the outside he wants me to cut. Hopefully there is some dry wood in there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED! As above, several species of wood can be plenty dry in 6-12 months (around here its tulip poplar, red maple, cherry and sometimes black birch). I don't know what you have locally, but most soft wood will dry fast. For me, this is my third season burning. I have done jsut fine with "low BTU" fast-drying woods so far - modern stoves are really efficient. As far as oak goes, it depends a lot on what species. True white oak has a high content of tyloses and tends to dry especially slowly; whereas, red oaks and some species of white oak (like chestnut oak around here) do not have the tyloses and dry much faster. Since you live in the South, and said your wood is split pretty small, I'm guessing it will be ready after two full summers on the stack. In the end, the moisture meter is the ultimate measure of dryness.
I have a moisture meter already. I have a large supply of willow which is not a great wood to burn, but hopefully it will dry fast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Welcome alutz11, don't get discouraged, I am still burning lower BTU stuff in newer epa stove and staying warm. I'm sure I get a little colder than you. Oak is great but ash and popular kept my house at 80 at 30 below in December.
Willow. No it’s not but if you got hopes in getting it dry, stack that pile in the sunniest, windiest place on your property. I don’t personally burn Box elder but if I’m reading correctly if you can find it, sounds like a good choice to burn for beginning of the burning season if you can try finding it soon.
I had squirts of water shoot out of the rounds of Willow while splitting with a mechanics splitter. The moisture meter read 50% on the wood freshly split. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah it’s pretty dismal wood thats for sure. Definitely not a favorite around here because of how fast it burns and weighs a metric ton by the round. but I had read about a guy who burned willow because that’s all he had and don’t want you to think you can’t burn it. But do your best to get that stuff split and Stacked Up. Cover it topcover only. When the summer sun hits,get that cover off if you can. I’m unsure about your yard and sun exposure. Wind helps a lot too
I was planning on stacking it under an overhang that’s on the north side of a shed. Maybe I should consider south side so it will be in the sun more and in the south winds. I can move it once it gets dry to a permanent position under the overhang. Here’s what it looks like right now. All of it is split at this point. I can stack it right next to that fence off the ground and cover it through summer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes sun and wind is your friend. I am pretty sure that willow and oak are pushing the upper limits of your meter! Soft maple, popular, cherry etc etc woods will be your first choice. Oak etc just separate out with longer drying species.
Looks like you’re going to be good to go for the south side. I park my wood on the North but wind comes from South, South West. Redoing my stacks since they were too close together and the rain hit as the stacks were facing East West, Better if its North South because if you can stack one in front of the other as a rain block. Least for here that works.
