How long do you season and where are you ?

Good thread blacksmithden. You and I live not that far from each other although Im a bit milder in South East BC Rockies. I may have a bit more humidity than you as well. I dont get involved much with green wood although if its easy pickins I cut, split, stack in single row top covered lodgepole pine aiming for below 20% mc at a full season of drying. I rarely have to deal with green pine though. Doug fir at 17 mbtus per cord takes a good full season if not more of sun loosely stacked and split kind of small for it to be below 20% mc. Larch at 19 mbtus per cord takes 2 summers or maybe one and a half depending on location and tightness of stacks. Its been a few years since Ive had any measurable birch but at 19.5 mbtus per cord it takes as long as my larch but isnt very resistant to rot as many know. We had a heavy snow fall that landed on our trees October 1st that caused many Larch to snap since the needles were still firmly attached (although yellow). Ive been cutting a bunch of it since many of them you can drive your bumper up to. For this easy to get high btu wood Ill play the waiting game. As much as I would like to try some oak or ironwood I lack the space and patience. Like you Ive had many pine and spruce over the years that have barely registered on a moisture meter using proper testing practices. The reality for me is Im often able to find the majority of my firewood that is standing dead and is stump to stove wood.

 

Eastern Washington, burning Douglas Fir, Larch, and Lodgepole Pine. I shoot for 3 years. If standing dead, the Lodgepole is likely OK in one year, Douglas Fir in 2 years, and Larch (aka Tamarac) usually takes the full 3.

 

I do the same, but with either plywood or those woven poly tarps.

 

We get a lot less rain than you guys do. If I find standing dead lodge pole, it's fine to burn right away.

 

The southern part of Alberta is considered semi arid, those chinook winds must help dry firewood too.

It's rather wet and humid here. eastern white pine takes 6 months to a year, red maple takes at least a year ( I have some that's been in a covered stack for three years and it is burning nice ). Oak is somewhat burnable in two but three and even four is much better. I keep oak and pine stacked in their own stacks and red maple will get the little bit of cherry, grey or yellow birch mixed in.
Mold grows on everything. I have to bleach the north side of my house to get the mold off every couple of years or it looks like crap. White house, the north side slowly turns green, LOL.
Even inside the house without the A/C or a dehumidifier running in the Summer the mold will start on things.

 

We are 30 miles NW of Minneapolis, I let my Oak(s) sit for 2-3 years, depending if its cut green or was "dead". My Ash will sit for 1 year. Only hardwoods get brought into the house for the fireplace and stove.

 

I'm going to be leaning pretty heavily on 2 summer's seasoned red maple this winter. I hope it's ready. I tried some of it last spring (so only one summer then) and it hissed at me.

 

Red Maple dried for 2 summers should be very nice. I find it coals pretty well, and is fairly close to Oak in burn times too.
Probably my new favorite firewood after Oak for the dead of winter.

 

I doubt this.

Maybe the tops ....

 

Hardly. Last year was the first year I cut birch here in Alberta. My main wood has been spruce and pine. I read here more than a few times that birch typically requires 2 years to dry.

A couple of days ago, as explained earlier, I split a piece and checked it with a moisture meter and found it at 8%....dry as a bone, bark comong off....cracked ends. That aroused my curiosity...why is the stuff in my yard drying so much faster than what everyone else is experiencing. This is the same as I've experience when living 3000km from here (no mosisture meter to go by there, but everything burnt perfectly with no chimney depositing.) There, I lived on the edge of the great lakes. The humidity is nowhere near what it is on ocean front property, but it was a lot higher than where I am now.

The only thing I could think of was regional differences, and was curious to see if perhaps people living on a coastline or areas of higher/lower elevations were experiencing different drying times.....thus this thread.

Currently, I live in central Alberta, Canada. We dont get the humidity that coast dwellers get, but it's not an arid desert here by any means...especially this past summer. Perhaps my idea of "cured" wood is different from what other people think ? To me, dry and cracking with the bark coming off easily has always meant that it's fine for the stove and ready to go.

 

Sorry....I saw Washingon (have relatives just outside Olympia) and immediately thought of rain rain rain. Lol. I'm not familiar with the eastern part of the state.

As far as standing dead wood goes, up until this year, I've been cutting dead lodgepole pine in a spot where a fire went through at some point. It was enough to kill a bunch of trees but didn't burn much other than the tops and bark. There were a few black spots here and there, but most of it was just bare wood where the bark had fallen away. Every bit of it was dry as a bone after cooking in the sun for x number of years. We cleaned the last of it out last fall, and so far, I haven't found another stand like it. Here's hoping that cruising the oil lease roads pays off again someday.

 

West Michigan here. 1 yr for soft Maple & dead Ash. 2 yrs in the wind & Hard Maple, Locust, Elm & Hedge do pretty well. 3-r yrs for Oak. I've gotten away with 2 Summers on White Oak that was Winter cut, but it wasn't Ideal. Oh & a Winter cut Cherry will burn well with one Summer's dry time too. Keep in mind this is/was in a non EPA stove. My boiler likely won't care much, but I don't like to make smoke or waste btu's. Our climate is fairly humid at times & not always sunny, but I get good wind. I've got room, saws, & wood so 3yrs. makes it easy. It's ready when I load it.

 

I use this research. https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr121.pdf
I try and stack and split accordingly. I also get my wood under cover in a covered porch by early summer.
Using the chart and going by 8/4 or two inches is pretty close to what I've seen in splits. Splits are shorter obviously than lumber and dry from the ends.
Ive noticed 12-15 inches drys faster than 20.(for different stoves)
This year has been a slower dry, it's been wet or humid all year.my "dry wood" has actually taken on moisture.

 

We live in a dry climate and burn a lot of softwood (Pine, Fir, Cedar) but we also burn Oak. I would say standing dead Pine/Cedar is about 8-10 months bucked in rounds, Fir 10-12 months (20% MC or less). We don't generally cut green, but from what I understand it depends on when it's felled. If it was harvested during the winter then the drying times are apparently faster.

I would say that my seasoning times vary greatly to those back east. We have nowhere near the humidity they do and we have long summers and falls out here. Even if you split and stacked it properly, I would guess that you pay a 50%-60% penalty for the humidity back east.

 

I live in Maine and cut wood in winter, and burn the next winter. I feel that is the ideal time to dry and yet give me some extended burn times in my non-EPA stove. I have burned wood that was dried for over 20 years and it was honestly too dry, going up with a poof, but it was undercover the whole time.

However one caveat: I do not burn oak, nor do I sell oak as firewood. I have had people ask specifically for it, but they never ask again the next year!

The worst firewood request I ever had was from a woman who blew in from out of state and wanted "Rock maple, between 8 and 10 inches in diameter only." I told her, "Honey, you don't have enough money to buy a load of that!"