My experience is; My Uncle works for Armstrong flooring, they make Bruce among other brands of flooring. I have access to scraps from time to time and the MC of this lumber is about 6-8% Red and White oak. I see that if given the opportunity it can off gass faster than the stove can feed air leading to a very smoky fire. This usually only leads to sooty glass and not creosote formation as the stack temp is usually stupid high in this circumstance.... I have been resigned to using it only as kindling or as a subsidy with marginal wood(Seasons that didnt allow for good drying like this dammed 2018 summer in PA). Good luck and be safe.
Yessiree, I’ve been planning to do that. I’ll do a test soon and post it. I’m really curious as well and I’m hoping it’s still a little above 10% but I doubt it.
No I lugged it an armload at a time so it took awhile but at least it was only 20’ from the door. The plan is not to be buying and moving a cord at a time so this is a one shot deal hopefully. I wanted to get it in quickly so it didn’t get rained on otherwise I would’ve taken my time.
Well no wonder you were tired! I carry my wood in through the bulkhead too, but I do it over 5 months.
It’s only a cord though...just one of the disappointments of aging. I’ll tell you what, arnica Montana works wonders on bruises and sore spots. Way faster than anything else I’ve ever tried. This is the one I’m currently using and it only takes a few drops massaged into a sore spot or bruise. My wife slipped on the ice a couple winters ago and her arm got scraped up pretty badly, inside the wrist area. It hurt so bad she blacked out for a few seconds. We put arnica on it and the pain was gone in 15 minutes and next morning you could hardly tell. She should have had a nasty bruise from her wrist half way to her elbow. We’re big believers ever since.
Have you tested the MC of the wood yet? I'm just curious as to what it is..."kiln dried" doesn't necessarily mean low MC with KD firewood...as I understand it, in many (most?) places the legal definition of KD firewood is that it only has to be heated up hot enough, for long enough, to kill the bugs in it...not to lower the MC to a specific level. What you have there sure is purty...nice and clean...and it would not surprise me if the MC is well below 20%. If it turns out to be above 12-15% I wouldn't worry too much about the stove getting "too hot"...it will burn nicely. 15%-20% is just about perfect IMO.
Ok guys I finally tested several fresh splits of KD today and I was a little surprised but not unhappy. Everything is right about 15% and I found one outlier that’s pretty high but I think/hope it’s a one off. It looked and felt a little suspicious so that’s why I set it aside to begin with. My delivery was with a split bed truck and one or two pieces fell off the load in front and I’m guessing that was a “seasoned” load like is usually sold around here. Anything cut to tree length for a year is fair game for that moniker in my experience. The load looked different than the KD stuff. KD doesn’t have split ends so it’s easy to pick out. Looks like KD lumber on the ends. I’ve burned a few splits of it now and it seems just perfect so I’m happier than I would be at 10% or less I believe. I’ll slowly increase it in a mix at first but I’m thinking I wouldn’t have a problem with a full load of all 15% since that’s what’s considered ideal I think. I’m sure you guys can verify or set me straight on that. It should be great when it’s below zero outside.
Over the last couple days I’ve been working on getting our outside firewood storage back in shape. I built a shed roof on the back of the garage 24 years ago now when we first moved here for firewood but we’ been burning pellets for almost ten years so it got repurposed along the way. I’m glad it’s going back to wood. Double stacked this holds 2.6 cord. With a cord in the house we should make it through the season with a buffer. I’m really thinking 3 will do it but I have more out back if I need it. What’s in the picture was on the other end and I moved it over so I could pull those pallets out and clean under them. There’s railroad ties under the pallets and all but one have been there all these years and are still solid. I need to replace the light too.
Maina I'm not surprised, Maine much like Vermont is used to people who are burning wood. Vermont has a law that if fire wood is to be paid for by the LIHEAT program. It must be kiln dried to be used that year. One of the few laws that actually makes sense.
That definitely makes a lot of sense. Just imagine the chimney fires that prevents not to mention the efficiency.
Nice looking wood and even though I prefer to cut and split all my own wood, kiln dried would have one great advantage. No Bugs! Especially emerald ash borers. I have been able to cut a lot of ash here in PA but I always go over the logs and when I see their entrance holes I debark the wood and make sure they are all dead. It takes a lot of time.
Not to be a stickler for details and terminology but "kiln dried" is not a legal term.....it is like "all natural" in food products, you could run your wood through a kiln for 10 seconds and call it "kiln Dried"....good for marketing but that is about it because there is no standard. "Heat treated" is the USDA legal standard for firewood .....like "organic" You have to get the core temp high enough for long enough (to kill the bugs), have record keeping and get inspected by the USDA to legally call it that and get the USDA stamp. Generally by doing this the moister content of the wood drops below 20% which is the common threshold for "seasoned wood" ......before the whole invasive species issue the kilns were mostly used to get moisture level at or below an industry standard (lumber). So....we can sell our firewood as kiln dried, all natural, gluten free, dolphin safe (unless you hit them in the head with it), seasoned fire wood to Glampers for a premium price.
Woodshax above is true and thanks for pointing it out! The kiln-dried firewood dealers in this area will tell you that the wood is heat treated for bugs. The side benefit of getting the wood to the inside temperature is X number of degrees is that it reduces the moisture content significantly. I am not a thermodynamic expert, but I will tell you that, IMO a dry cord of firewood of any species will give you more heat than a wet cord of a great species. In our area, Vermont the Green Mountain State, because it's normally wet and humidities around 70%. A kiln dried cord is around $375.
I think I saw on Life In Farmland video something similar in that I think it was Sweden you will get fined for selling firewood under 25% moisture content. Not to change the subject but I just found his channel, I very much enjoy his video's and my jaw dropped when he showed the FHC on one of them........!!!
