Are there woods that will season in less then a year

I have a buddy that wants to cut now and be able to burn next winter. Is it possible? Obviously this puts the premium hard woods out of the question. Are there any options that would season by say November if CSS now?

 

I’m by no means an expert. They’ll be along soon I’m sure.

Cut & split standing dead and split smaller pieces. Like 4”.

Pine, spruce, and fir seems to dry faster than hardwoods.

Stack loose in single rows in sun to dry. Don’t pile it.

Try to have the majority of it CSS by end of April.


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Ash and maple James. After that maybe some walnut and cherry.

 

And open to breezes.

 

Everything will get stacked single row and catching the wind and sun as much as possible. These are my racks but his will be basically the same.

 

Pine/spruce/hemlock, Tulip poplar, red maple, silver maple (sugar needs longer), aspen, black cherry, and in the right conditions dead ash can be dry enough but not always. I’ve burned 4-5 year dead red oak within that same time frame but it was off the ground when I found it, I kept it top covered all summer, and I split it on the thin side.

 

I've had good luck with poplar drying in 9 months just split and laying in a pile.
It makes good heat, just doesn't last long.
Pine does ok. Last year i got an aspen and struggled with it but worked.
You should have lots of dead ash there and red maple for next year.

 

Maybe offer to help/organize a CSS gathering for your friend to put up a large amount of PIF right now (I've had some luck with E. White Pine in that timeframe) and store as recommended, off the ground, full prevailing breeze, full sun, max two splits wide rows, top cover in this case etc.
Otherwise think about building a solar kiln.

After putting up all the required softwood tell him to plow on through a few years of hardwoods right now for the future. We all do it. He may as well get used to the routine if he wants to burn serious and safe. Good luck.
He could also do a bit of praying!

PIF=Pine is fine

 

Finding dead standing trees is also a good option and helps with the drying time.
When I first started out I made it through a few winters cutting dead standing elm.

 

I got some slabs from red oak and hard maple. I figured they would be good in a year.



Not even close! 2 years was better, three was starting to get real good...4/5 they would be right at where you wanted them.

But remember, the stacks of those slabs were so tight that not much air got through.

 

I'm an outlier with this, but I use compressed wood bricks with my cordwood.
I'll add 1 or 2 single bricks with a reload and I'm a fan of them enough that I keep buying. A pallet (a ton) is lasting me 2 years currently.

 

In addition to maples, spruce, pine I would say black locust seasons rather quickly for me too. I've definitely burned some within a year......if you can find some logs that have been down a while that will certainly help a little but I would c/s/s asap and leave uncovered so you maximize the wind exposure.

 

As other have mentioned, standing dead is a good start and standing dead bark less is even better. I have cut standing dead bark less oak and elm, and had less than 20% MC on inside splits. Can be felled, bucked, split and burnt in the same day.

 

With what I’ve learned here and the trees I have readily available my plan would be …. Cottonwood and the top 2/3rds of barkless standing dead elm. Use the storage methods already suggested. Standing dead ash also.
But I’m pretty much set up on the 3 year plan now and it is nice to not have to worry about that.

 

I see you

I see you are from Hanover PA. Dead white ash, and red maple should be able to be found in your area. Single rank, top covered exposed to sun with air flow should be good to burn next year.

 

Dead ash, silver maple, pine and poplar would be my choice. Also the top half of standing dead trees with preferably no bark. Stack single row in sun and wind, top-covered and off the ground.

 

Well theres a ton of popular, silver maple, and dead standing ash around so I'll start there. I don't care if he has to chase wood every couple hours. Been offering to help him get started for a couple years now and he finally decided to get serious. He will have to work with what we find this year and maybe put some better wood up for 2 years from now.

 

Not going to say it will always work this well but a friend called me because some trees fell on his fence in a storm. Got out there and it was all poplar. Got to work and was concerned because the wood smelled of manure awful and the wood all but dripped moisture. I got it home and immediately split it, single row stack, in full wind and sun. 2 months later... I thought I'd just for curiosity try a fire in my fire pit only using this stuff, expecting a tough start, smoke, sizzling, you know typical wet wood stuff. Remember this was a living tree the first part of June and it is now only mid August. I was amazed how much weight was lost, this stuff weighed about 1/3 what it did when I split it. Knocked it together and it sounded dry. Made my set, put in a fire starter, and lit right up. No smoke, no sizzle, no smell, awesome good to go. I realize this was a perfect drying condition set up and may not always hold true but it can happen. I have had good luck drying down lots of campfire wood quickly if it is all in the poplar family, poplar-cottonwood-aspen-willow.