most of the wood I CSS has a drying time of 12 months. With that being said will the moisture content continue to decrease after 12 months assuming good drying conditions. If 12 months is good is 24 months even better?
24 months are better and 36 are better still. The wood will hit a point where it’s moisture content settles if it is outside and top-covered. What it settles at depends on your local climate, stacking conditions, etc.
I tested a 2x4 that had been in the barn for a few years, off the ground of course-14% MC. That has to be moisture equilibrium here, and not too dry.
Usually, but it depends on how you qualify 'better'. Significantly better ? Probably not. Marginally better ? Likely. Pine ? I doubt it. Maybe big abnormally fat splits. Oak ? an extra year ? Absolutely.
I used to burn wood that was 12 months dry or a little less. Now that I have gotten years ahead, all my wood will have 36 months of drying time, or more.
There’s always an equilibrium point to which the wood dries out but will stay a certain percentage for the rest of time if it stays covered and in the wind. This all depends on where in the world it is and where as far as immediate location as a whole. Some gets to be drier than a popcorn fart. Others, hardly seem to level off from when they were cut but that’s a rare thing. As long as you have followed the top cover regimen, it should dry out at some point and time isn’t always an indicator that it’s ready to burn but helps make a gradual timeline. Here where I’m at, 12 months is a norm 24 months will be great after that it just stays the same.
It all depends.... Climate has a lot to do with it but one can never go wrong by letting it dry longer before burning. We had some wood that I gave to a bil that was white ash and it had been in a shed since it was cut 10 years or more. He was afraid of it and I told him that I'd take it then but he needed it so he took it. Said it was the best wood he'd ever burned.
