It's probably ready to go. Dead standing barkless elm can literally go from the woods to the stove as soon as it's cut and split. Just watch the bottom 8-10 feet. It can wick water/ moisture up fern the ground. A mm will confirm how ready it is. I take the bottom few feet of elm and let it sit a year before burning after splitting that stuff. But yeah, you pretty much won't have dry enough wood if just freshly split. There's a few exceptions, but they are rather limited. Most types of wood won't be under 20% MC of this method is used. I can guarantee that it won't be dry of it's oak. If wood is seasoned properly, it will be dry
White birch applies here. It'll turn punk so fast if you leave it in rounds, it becomes salted,...err spalted... hah my phone autocorrected and tricked me at this hour. Interesting stuff though.
Two years ago i felled a 15-20' oak spar where the top had broken off in a storm in 2012. Here's the thread Are You Feeling Lucky, Punk? Sapwood was completely punk. Most of the heartwood was good, but way to wet for burning. I CSS right away and last year it was still over 20% as JimBear's too. Under ideal conditions some rounds will dry, but IME they dont especially oak. IMO wood buyers accept under "seasoned" wood as the norm, and when they burn "properly seasoned" wood they complain "its too dry"!
I became a hoarder because of stuff like this. When buying a cord of seasoned wood it's either not a full cord, not seasoned and usually both. Instead of being mad or over thinking who to get from or when to order and if I'm paying the going rate, I bought a saw and a maul and started from there. Now I'm one of you guys. Firewood Hoarder, not a Firewood Hobbyist.
Couple years ago when I had access to my grandmothers property, I was hoarding in rounds form. It was a get it while you can situation. Those rounds, as mentioned previously, do start to dry/season (Dave, are they rakers or depth gauges. lol). Anyone "seasoning" wood in log form is deluded.
I cut and stack wood rounds to be split the next spring/summer. I am over 5 years ahead with firewood so having a few rounds stacked over the winter is no big deal. It will be stacked outside for a couple years after it is split before being moved into the wood shed for a few years before being burned. I agree with Backwoods Savage about a calendar being the best MM.
I think what most think is that if it is cut in one season of the year but not sold until the next season, well, it is seasoned. You also have to consider a wood seller's interest is in bringing in dollars for the least amount of effort. No thought toward the customer except wondering how he will get paid.
Yes, the ends begin drying as soon as the wood is cut, but we are interested in the log and not just the ends. I laugh every time I see or hear of someone getting excited when they see the ends are cracking. That only shows that the very end is drying but not further in the log.
Indeed you can get wood to burn immediately after you cut it. We did that when we had a portable sawmill and in the woods. We cut the logs, milled them and burned the slab wood all in the same day. But just because it will burn means nothing. Burning like that takes a lot of air and therefore most of the heat simply goes right up the chimney. If it goes fast enough then not quite as much creosote will form, but it will form. How often do you wish to clean your chimney is something people should ask?
One other thing that always bothers me is when people see bark falling off they think all that wood is dry and ready to burn. This is a partially true statement. Case in point is the elm we cut. As most know, we wait for the bark to be off or maybe at least 75% of it. Bingo; dry wood! But wait! The top 1/3 to at most 1/2 of the tree is indeed dry enough to burn right away but that bottom part, even if no bark will have lots of moisture.
Around here you can leave it in the round for quite some time but it is still best to split asap. I usually will not leave it in the round more than 6 months.
Yes, we typically always cut in winter then rather than fighting starting the log splitter and getting it out then putting it away, I usually get the splitter out in March or April (depending on snow and/or ice) to do all the splitting and then all the stacking. Our GTG's have made me do some changing because the guys do like to cut wood at the GTG.
I think I've answered all the posts except for one factor in the equation. That is the punk people will find right under the bark. Simply put, that is just one of the traits of oak but it will burn very nicely.
I've cut down lots and lots of dead standing red oak that was dry as a bone, with the bottom of the trunks "water wet". Water wet meaning the wood is seasoned with the damaged cell structure common to seasoned wood but full of rain water. Cut it, split it, and it dries out in weeks compared to green wood that takes months and months and months to actually "season" the wood. Seasoned wood is more than just moisture content, the cell structure become altered as well and no longer hold moisture as well as when the wood was green. Dead leaners aren't too bad either, but on the ground all bets are off. Bark isn't as much protection as you might think and wood doesn't season only from the ends. If it did there would be no advantage to splitting it and increasing seasoning rates. Seasoning in log form is still seasoning, just at a (much) slower rate than cut and split. It's not black and white, one is and one isn't.
Sellers like that guy are why so many people think burning wood is just such a hassle, because yes it is in fact a hassle to efficiently burn water inside your stove or fireplace! So yes I think this is a typical firewood dealer attitude since there is no actual definition of "seasoned" firewood coupled with the fact that the average non FHC'er would think you're out of your mind for even suggesting oak should be split and stacked for 3 years before burning.
Perhaps down here in the deep south where temps are not frigid, it really doesn't matter that much? I am not being flippant. I suspect that it must not matter all that much because nobody around here except me is concerned about truly seasoned wood! Most people around here are NOT heating their homes; they have fireplaces for ambiance. Or burn it in the fire pit! But I do know that truly seasoned wood sure is a pleasure to burn!
I won't get into the argument about the difference between 'seasoned' and 'dry' however I would think that the average firewood consumer considers the two to be the same thing and when they purchase 'seasoned' wood, they expect 'dry' wood. For the seller to be claiming that his freshly cut logs are 'seasoned' is ridiculous, but unfortunately common (many firewood sellers around here consider wood 'seasoned' as soon as it is split). I try to do the bulk of my scrounging in late spring once the snow melts and I have access to the forest service roads. Similar to what The Wood Wolverine mentioned, I hoard in rounds during that time frame and then split during the rest of the year until the snow flies again. However, I do not consider any of those rounds to be 'seasoned' and the splits are usually for at least two-years out (except for oak of course). Any rounds/logs I have in the wood lot are what I consider money in the bank, but I would never split any and sell as 'seasoned'.
I'm not gonna get into the argument about seasoned but seasoned for 1 day is 1 day seasoned. Unless you definitively qualify the term "seasoned" in some way the term is relatively meaningless because it can mean anything. Same with the term dry. Dry to what standard. Mine ? yours ? Joe Blow's ?
