My goal is to get on the 3 year plan and am getting very close depending how you count the years. When discussing a 3 year plan, is this season's wood counted as year 1 or would next season's wood be considered year 1? If this season's wood is counted as year 1, I am very close to my goal if not there. May be a little trivial, but could count it both ways. Have always wondered.
Each winter is a year is how I've always counted it. So if you have this winter and two more then you'd have three years. Well that's my thought any ways.
As sore as cutting wood makes me lately (getting old) I think I need to go to a 15 year plan and be done with it.
I think you could comfortably say that you are on a 3 year plan if the split you are burning today was placed in the stack 3 or more years ago. If, at any time during the heating season you need to burn something that has been seasoned for less than 3 years, you may not be on a three year plan. The caveat is that some wood needs less than 3 years to dry and you could be overly stocked on oak and hickory while burning 1-2 year soft maple to allow proper seasoning of those species that need it. As has been discussed, the definition of the three year plan could be subjective depending on ones individual situation.
This years dosent count. 2018/2019 1 year 2019/2020 2 years 2020/2021 3 years That's my way of looking at the 3 year plan always three years ahead.
To be one year ahead, I would have to have this winter's wood all stacked right now, and also have next winter's wood all stacked now. I'd have to be working on wood for the winter of 2019/2020 (assuming I am always working on the firewood stacks). If wood I were stacking now were for next winter, I wouldn't be a year ahead. I burn about 3 cords each winter. To be a year ahead I'd have to have 3 for this winter, plus 3 for next winter, which would be 6 cords. to be two years ahead I'd need 9 cords, and to be three years ahead I'd need 12 cords. I guess I am not three years ahead. I have about 8 cords stacked.
That is kind of like I was thinking. With that said, I have to work up another 3 cords. What the heck, If stored correctly it doesn't rot and I enjoy doing it. I'll have to call "Wood Fairy" and have him drop off some more logs. Maybe only a tri-axle dump instead of a semi worth this time. Using this logic, I am done with year 2 and just starting on year 3. I too burn about 3 cords a year. I have a cord of a 75/25 mixture of oak and honey locus in the barn. About 6 cords of mainly ash stacked and another 3 cord stack up at the house for this season. Regardless it feels great to be a little ahead. I had major surgery last Jan. With the new stove, that had installation problems, we had burnt through 2/3 of our supply last year before I called and complained about the stove in early Jan. . We were burning what would be considered shoulder wood from mid January on last year. At least I can rest comfortably knowing I have this season and next season covered.
Simply put, when I look at how far ahead we are, I just see how much wood there is on hand and divide that by how much is burned in an average winter. That is how far ahead we are. Like now I think (without having to go out to count) we have at least 15 cord of wood on hand and burning 3 cord per winter gets us 5 years ahead. One of these days I'll take an inventory to be sure.
I don't think I've ever been on a three-year plan. The closest I came was last year. Right now I have all of this winter's wood (2017-18) stacked and being used; I have about two cords left to split and stack for next winter (2018-19); and wood for (2019-20) is still in the woods, some of it on the ground and some still in tree form. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm going to be forced into a three-year plan soon, as starting next week our land is going to be logged for red oak. The logger will be leaving all of the low-grade logs and tops and taking only #2 and better. That means I will be sitting on many cords of wood that I won't be able to burn until the winter of (2020-21) if it needs three years to dry. I'm hoping I can get a lot of the smaller stuff in the woodshed for two years out, it will help a lot. Last year at this time I had already gone through three cords of wood and this year I'm not even into the second cord yet. I really hope that this new wood boiler will allow me to reduce my wood consumption significantly. The old one was over ten cords a year and that is a damm lot of work for a three-year plan.
Counting this season as a year, I'm working on year 4. Aroundabout January sometime I'll stop including this season's stash unless we burn oil instead and then it becomes another season ahead again. Kinda like changing the clocks for daylights savings, just not. And no, I've never worked in Washington DC.
Three years ahead is the best thing you can do for yourself. Just having the pressure off is huge, but the best benefit is how much better your firewood burns at three years.
Some woods get to a certain percent and don't dry any more, here in NW Iowa it seems to be about 15 %, so I dont care how old the wood is as long as it's 15% or so.
"Perhaps the most important aspect of woodworking deals with the relationship between wood and moisture. A fundamental fact is that wood is hygroscopic. This means that wood, almost like a sponge, will gain or lose moisture from the air based upon the conditions of the surrounding environment. But not only does wood gain or lose moisture, but it will also expand or contract according to the magnitude of such changes; and it is this swelling and shrinking in finished wood products—often referred to as the wood’s movement in service—that is responsible for so much mischief and so many malfunctions in woodworking. When a tree is first felled, it is considered to be in the green state, and contains a very large amount of moisture. This moisture exists in two different forms: as free water that is contained as liquid in the pores or vessels of the wood itself, and as bound water that is trapped within the cell walls. Once a fresh log or piece of lumber is cut and exposed to the air, it will immediately begin losing free water. At this point, the wood does not contract or otherwise change in dimension since the fibers are still completely saturated with bound water. It is only once all the free water has been lost that the wood will reach what is called the fiber saturation point, or simply FSP. Below the FSP, the wood will then begin to lose moisture in the form of bound water, and an accompanying reduction in the wood’s volume will occur. At this point, the wood is no longer considered to be in the green state, but is now in a state of drying. As the MC of wood drops below the FSP, it will continue to lose moisture until it eventually stabilizes at a value that is commensurate with the surrounding moisture in the air. This is known as the point of equilibrium moisture content, or simply EMC. The EMC will change based upon the fluctuating temperature and relative humidity of the surrounding air."
The chart on the site seems to support the benefits of storing wood indoors for a period of time in the winter prior to burning. Where I am, the outside humidity this morning is 67% while inside the house it is 30%. Of course that is probably going to be the maximum difference today, according to the chart it could lead to up to a 6% difference in equilibrium moisture content. "Although the values given in the preceding chart are for rh at 70° F, changes in temperature—assuming the same humidity level—only have a moderate effect on EMC, typically amounting to ±1% MC within a normal climatic range of 30° F to 110° F." Also from that site. Thanks for the info oldspark
