I had an oak tree that fell over back in January so I css'd it about 3 weeks after it was down. This was a live tree and not dead. I went out this morning to check the moisture content of it and to my suprise the mc was 10-14%. Now I know they say the optimal seasoning time for oak is 2 to 3 years but it seems that this is ready to burn now. Also to note that it has been under a tarp since I stacked it back in January. Any thoughts on this ?
My first thought-- is it really oak? Second thought-- did you inadvertently build a solar kiln with that tarp and bake it?
Did you re-split a piece before taking the reading? If not, you got a false positive or something. Welcome to the forum.
Boy you’re gonna have your guts for garters if you found a way to season oak in no time flat. Haha good luck to you here...oh and pics help you here.
Uh.....EWW. I have NEVER heard that one, and I've been around for a couple minutes. May have to steal it if I can figgur out what it means.
Really what it originated was a saying back in UK during medival times that a man was “drawn and quartered” the rest of what was left over was the guts. Often these were hung in display. So if you transfer that to today’s terms, most likely you’re get a lot of disagreements However here at FHC .... “leave the oak for later!” By that its at least 2-3 years later and even sometimes that brings it to subpar for some folks! I have yet to see a post here that oak was ready for burning the same year it was cut down. Not pointing fingers at you Scooter.D, if you actually have found a way to have oak be dry and ready by all means enjoy it. It’s best we get our experienced fellas on here for second opinions. Best advice is found here.
Nice pics, but did you resplit a piece to get that reading? It doesn't look anywhere near "seasoned/dry" to me. Take one of the larger splits you have and split it again, then take a reading from one of the freshly split "faces" of the wood. I've css a lot of Oak, and even in MD, I doubt it's at 10%.
this seems weird too me as well but i guess the numbers don't lie. I just brought some in and will let it come to room temp and then cut a piece and try again although i don't think that will make any difference.
How far from the end? Splitting the wood length wise is the best way to get an accurate reading. I'm wondering (as Adam mentioned) if your tarping method created a little wood kiln. Was the wood out in the sun and wind all year?
It is stacked and covered behind my house which does not get much sun because of all the trees I have but it does get a good bit of wind back there. Maybe that helped.
Those look like very small splits. I remember something about the rate of drying by the square of the thickness. As in double the size takes 4 times as long.
