Has anyone found a technique to dry Oak in a year ?

I'm looking for a way to dry oak in a year.Anyone know of a way to do it ?

 

Kiln or an oven

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split it small real small

 

Split into toothpicks and lay them out single layer in the driveway? For the summer.
Honestly not sure if it would be doable without some sort of kiln.

I just take it knowing it is not going to get burned for a while.

 

Hillbilly solar kiln.

 

Nice hot fire drys them in a day, that's about the only way I know

 

I agree with a DIY kiln of some type. Split small, cover in black wrap w/ a fan to pull air through and place it in full sun.

 

Stack It in Death Valley?

 

Hmm...I like it...I think I'd wrap it up tight for max heat in the daytime, then open up and turn on a box fan to push the condensation out over night. (at least the first few weeks/month when there is a lot of moisture to get rid of)

 

I’ve heard the shelterlogic firewood seasoning sheds work pretty well.


I don’t know if they are discontinuing them they are in sale on their website

 

I feel your pain. My main reason for not liking oak. Split it small and give it full sun helps. May not be under 20%. I see so many sellers trying to pass off oak as seasoned. Fresh split from 1-2 year old logs.

 

Split it into thin board-like splits, top covered, good airflow and as much sun as possible. According to some, it takes a year per inch to dry, so technically a 2” thick board without bark could reach that threshold….
Or…. Try what I did here. This was less than a year CSS’d and it dried to under 20% no problem.
Sub-Optimal Oak Experiment

 

I cut my oak in Sept. then the following August it's put in the basement and the dehumidifier goes on and by burning time it's pretty darn good. I have the hose from the dehumidifier going into the sump hole and when I first start it there's a drip every second. By the second week that's gone down considerably. I also split them a bit smaller because of the fact oak is slow to dry.
Works for me.

 

This is what I did for many years. My nephews would cut me a few ricks of standing dead Red Oak every late summer or early fall. I would stack it on the porch, and burn it the same year. This is before I became more educated as to what seasoned wood really was. I don't know what the moisture content was, but it burned good enough. I was using a Pacific Energy Super 27 stove and I burnt hot fires. I did this for literally 20 years, and I had no build up in my flue. Granted some of the wood was carried over to the following year, at times. So, some of it was seasoned at least a year.

Now, that I am retired, I cut all of my own wood and I am on a 3 to 4 year rotation now. So I will be burning more seasoned wood from now on, and it is better. But standing dead Red was my go to wood for many years. All I am saying is; if it's standing and dead, it's doable but I think my secret was to burn a hot fire, at least once daily.

But green oak, No!

 

3 years ago in spring I had nothing but semi green oak and ash that was slated to burn that following winter
I built a makeshift solar kiln with just cheap poly and pallets, dehumidifier, and an old furnace fan
During the day, it would get about 120° on a sunny day,kept the fan going on low with a vent that funneled moist air at the top
At night I turned on the dehumidifier, typically got about 1 5 gal pail per night
This was about 6 cords total

Fast forward to fall and the ash was good to go, but oak was not quite there, thankfully it wasn't a super cold winter and was able to hold off on the oak till the following winter
Supplemented the ash with lumber cutoffs from a pallet making business close by

Never measured moisture content of anything, so not a very scientific experiment
Would i do it again? Probably if I had too, but not the most ideal

Second year the oak was good to go, pretty much lit with a match

This wood was all for an owb, split a bit on the larger side

 

Makes a difference if it’s dead oak or fresh cut living tree IMO. Dead oak the sugars in the sap have broken down and you’re dealing with mostly water. Fresh cut you’re drying sap. It’s a little harder to dry sap.
Either way it’s still not easy. The smaller you split the more area exposed to dry, less area hidden deep unexposed.

 

Once i got a bunch of oak from a huge trunk that was still alive…it took 3-4 years to dry out in splits…the way to burn oak is bury it behind other wood like ash and poplar and forget about it

 

Move to the desert or way down south, stack in a metal shipping container and add a couple fans with vents on other end...