I've been a little short of firewood this year with the new stove and have been looking to buy a little wood here or there. Cannot tell you how difficult and now seemingly impossible it is to find dry firewood. I came across an add for some really cheap pine, yes pine I know not the best but it was cheap and ad claimed it was 3yrs plus seasoned. It was for a stacked full pallet close to half cord I suppose. I wanted it to mix a little with my oak and for shoulder season to take little chill out of the house, hot fast fire!!!! Noob me goes and purchases it, does not test it with MM, I figured hec it's pine that drys fast, 3yrs old should be nice and seasoned. He loads it on my truck with a bobcat and its shrinked wrapped. We made small talk, really nice guy has a little farm and sells wood, has bees, etc... I get home, start sorting the wood and notice its really wet! Ok I figure maybe just the tops pieces are wet from rain. So I dig and dig to the middle and bottom, wood is wet. I check a few pieces outside 40% plus, I re split about 7 or 8 different pieces and all were in the mid to upper 30's% in moisture. I immediately contact the guy and thankfully he gets back to me, swears up and down it's 3+ years old, etc...long story short I can bring the wood back and get a refund but not till Saturday!!! Meanwhile I got a pallet load of wood in my truck. So my ultimate question is could that pine start to absorb water like that after so long? It is moldy a little on some pieces but it's not punky looking like the pine I have behind the house. Even if I kept it would it dry back out? Happiness to add some dry wood to the collection turned to utter frustration....!!
Wondering if I should offer to keep but get half my money back? Think will dry out? Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Where's it stored? 3 to 6 months for me here on my covered wood deck. Get Sun and plenty of wind.. Can't help on price here pine is not sold as firewood. Wet pine is 30 a truckload called camp fire wood.
Any members near you that can trade?? I mean if somebody asked me for cord and a half of dry and offered me a cord of wet oak.. I'd tell them to come on up..
Usually eastern white pine sapwood is sappy and has bark if it is fresh cut. If it has been outside getting rained on wrapped in plastic to hold the stack together with no roof then it has been in a high moisture environment and the free moisture content is high. If the bound water is gone the free moisture content should dry right out if you get a roof on it somehow. If there are no splits with bark attached, I'd cross stack it all and wager the plastic wrap has been the problem. I bet it dries right out. Might be good to burn in a month.
ReelFaster ... Backwoods Savage would tell you wood is not a sponge and therefore that was never really dry.
Shrink wrap may have held moisture. You might be better off buying the sawdust logs from tractor supply.
40% ?!?!?!?! I cut down a perfectly growing pine this summer.....the wettest summer since I moved here 12 years ago. It measured in the low 30% range the very next day. Was he storing it in his pond !?!??!
Of course he is a nice guy. But perhaps you haven't yet seen the other side of him. 3 years seasoned means absolutely nothing except perhaps that the tree was cut down 3 years ago. But the absolutely worst thing is that the wood was shrink wrapped. Just imagine if you took a wet shirt or any cloth and wrapped it in shrink wrap. What do you suppose would happen? Would it dry? Where can the moisture go? But what to do now? Perhaps he would give your money back but perhaps not. Plus you have the wood on your truck and want it off. Or should you keep the wood and get it dry or at least dryer. It will dry, but not the way he sold it. I guess if it were me I would keep it (if it was cheap). Stack it in the windiest spot you have. I am not a fan of cribbing for drying as I think just stacking it in rows will do what needs to be done as the air can move in one direction rather than through the cribs. But stack it rather loose; don't try to have a stack that would win a prize for looks. You want air circulation and you might be surprised at how fast it will dry. btw, if you can get both wind and sun it is a plus but especially this time of the year, wind is much more important than sun (ever notice how long the dew can stay on the grass at this time of they year?). The sun is at an extreme angle and the days are short but wind is usually with us no matter what. You asked if the pine could start to absorb water like that. No. Unless it is punky. If it is punky, yes, it will absorb lots. I hope this helps Chuck.
You didn’t state the price tag, but like some said above, restack & top cover where you get some air movement and recheck in a month, 2 months, etc.... It will dry, that much is certain. Chalk it up to lesson learned.... next time bring an ax and MM.
Thanks so much fella's........... I mean it..... every single one of ya's. I can always count on this place for great advice and suggestions!! I feel terrible about the whole dang thing, last thing I want to do is be difficult, but hec I can't use it right now and its soaked, so that's why I contacted him. He did respond again and said he could meet sooner as I really don't want to drive around with it in my truck bed. You guys hit the nail on the head, probably in his mind its aged 3+ yrs before splitting. Not sure how long he had shrinked wrapped but even if it was a month or two, we've just had the wettest summer and past few months around hear I can recall. Its definitely not punky because I've had some punky pine I posted on here few months ago, it was really bad punky this is not, just wet to the core, little mold on some pieces. So with that said maybe I'll just ask half the $$ back and save us both the trip and hassle of it all. Yep lesson learned, axe and MM at all times!!! I figured shoot 3yrs and pine but a great lesson learned!!! Hopefully am not buying wood ever again after this winter!!!
Dennis pretty much summed it all up very nicely. Lots of ifs and maybes in all this. I'd ask him when he actually split it. Don't accept his "it's seasoned" for X number of years.
That right there is probably biggest lesson learned I went on age and type of wood and thought hec it's dummy proof dry....aww but not so fast....!
If the price wasn't too bad, I'd keep it and consider it a lesson learned. If he'll refund some, for sure just keep it.
