Have about and cord and a half of C.S.S. Scarlet oak that's been seasoning since July 2011. I split a bigger piece and it was at 20%. Checked a couple more and had the same results. I was hoping it would be lower by now. Checked some tulip that was a year old and it was still at 19%.
Was your Oak cut fresh? I'd better check my Oak. I might be in trouble on next year's wood. It'll have three summers on it but some of the splits are bigger than 'medium.' It was down for a year, but live storm-damage wood. I like dry wood for these cat stoves I'm feeding. I'm gonna call that neighbor right away to see if I can stack in a windy spot on his land. Then I can get some dead-standing White Ash stacked over there as a backup plan....
Yes, mine was live storm damage also. I stacked it off the ground single row with a piece of plastic over the top only. It's not in the full sun, but gets partial sun and plenty of air movement. You could tell after I split one open it was still wet just by the smell you get off freshly cut wet red oak. It still smelled and looked wet.
What do the edges measure at? Your wood is nearing the equalibrium point so they are probably getting close. The difference will be the least amount of additional drying that you can expect. You still do have a summer left, sun supplied BTUs count quite a bit in drying wood. I don't think you should panic. It takes the same amount of energy to evaporate water out of a log as it does to boil it in a pot. The sun has to provide that energy and there is a lot more of it to be had in the summer. Wind is only part of the equation.
I checked some oak in my stack that was fresh cut about a year, 16%. I don't know for fact, but I would guess not having freezing temps for several months greatly enhances firewood seasoning.
Oak takes its sweet time to dry. It's good now and another summer will only help. Besides, there would be no harm in using 20% fatties in the stove for overnight burns.
Sounds like your right on par 20% at 2 3/4 year. Oak takes typically about 3 to 4 years, dependant on a lot of factors. But you should be fine by the fall.
I have had good luck with 2 yr old dried oak here. Primarily white and red, but from the beginning I split the oak rounds much smaller in order to get a quicker turn around. Also, it seems as if red oak has a higher mc from green to dry than white.
If your summer of 2013 was as rainy as ours, that would explain somewhat the slowness of your oak drying. Even if top-covered, frequent sideways rains keep the ends wetted which slows down "inner water" migration out of the wood. I totally just made that bs up on-the-fly, but it sounds logical (in my mind anyway). Heheh.
Update.... I was incorrect about when I cut up that oak It was July 2012, not July 2011. Now it makes more sense to me... I don't need this wood to burn anyway this fall/winter, but I was just caught off guard as to how wet it was.
Yea The 3 year plan seems to be a standard for most wood types. ( Top covered or in a wood shed ) Burning dry wood is priceless
