Had to share. Found a local advertising wood. He had a bunch of Locust. I don't really buy wood but thought it might be neat to grab a load of this stuff as I don't get it often. After 2 phone chats where I was assured it was very dry I decided to swing by for a peak. This gent was very familiar with the requirements of a EPA tube or Cat stove...…. He claimed to have been catering to us folks for a long time. Soooo. It took 2 seconds of visual inspection to guess that his pile was nowhere close to dry. I asked what it was testing with his meter? 22% or less was the answer. Sure enough it was! When stuck in the end or side of a existing unsplit piece I then pulled out the Fiskers and my meter. Imagine what I found? 34%/36%/O.L. The seller was astonished! Said he had never even heard of re-splitting and testing internally on a freshly exposed face I politely explained it was the way I had learned to do it. I also politely recommended he do a tad bit of research to verify my procedure. We both had a good visit and I believe he felt like he learned a bit. Makes ya wonder what folks are pushing through there stoves eh!
I passed. I've got mucho large quantities of wood that's just as wet. I may grab some from him down the road. To much Ash needing CSS on the ground at home to justify bringing home wet stuff!
I really don't believe most sellers I've talked to when they claim it's seasoned. I just ask how long it's been split or when it was split rather.
If he had a meter he had to of known....sounds like a cop out. That's most of firewood sellers here. Can't beat the seasoned wood ads that are whole logs though.
There are an awful lot of people who are clueless when it comes to defining "seasoned". For some it's intentional ignorance and for some it's just plain old nescience. It's not easy to modify some belief systems.
Pretty common really. I don't know anybody in my area that knows how to use the moisture meter properly. I sell mostly oak so even if it's been split prior to the hot weather it still may be 25%. that works fine for fireplaces and fire pits but for EPA stoves I won't sell it to them. As it sits I'll bust a few splits to see how well it's drying and then again when it's ready for sale. I give then a range +/- 5% usually and if they want it great, if not that's ok too. I would rather dry the oak through two seasons but the way I'm setup one season is really all I can afford to keep it. I buy from guys as well and taught them how to measure the MC properly and talked to them about storage while seasoning, some do better than others and I have to sample test some splits on each delivery. I have ramped up my own splitting production this year to eventually buy less and have better control over the final product. Most of my competitors leave the logs stacked up for a year then split and sell it and call it seasoned. Typically they will be right at about 40%.
Around these parts, it's seasoned if it's been cut 1 season, doesn't matter the season, spring, winter, fall.. Which is why I do my own, no one sells cured wood which I believe is the correct terminology.
I saw an ad the other day, "seasoned" in rounds, and then split to order and delivered. So you're paying seasoned prices for green wood....great deal!
You want to hear something funny? I was in the city making deliveries and this young couple just got their place and it had a fireplace. As I was unloading the truck, The guy asked me "What Do You Put On It To Season It ?" He thought that we spray or sprinkle something on the wood to make it burn better and make it smell good...lol....never forget that one. Maybe I should start sprinkling Italian Seasoning on the firewood and it will be seasoned !!!
Lol. Awhile back, I was getting ready to fire up the smoker. The wife and I were at Walmart and I told her I needed to go into the gardening section to get some apple and cherry wood chips. She asked me what they flavored it with
My take on buying/accepting wood from someone else is: if I haven't personally been involved in or witnessed the C/S/S process for that particular quantity of wood - it's still green. Only way to verify is re-split and check with MM.
I don't know. You can get a pretty good idea how dry it is by just hefting it, looking at appearance for checking, color and bang a couple pieces together. If it make a dull thud it's green, if it has a ring, it's well on the way. I find the way the wood is split also make a big difference. Splits that resemble boards and are not thick dry much quicker than pie shaped that are thicker due to not having as much surface area. This wood was split in Jan & Feb of this year. The location gets full sun all day, and plenty of wind hits it along with being off the ground.
Best I've found in my area is a guy who leaves it in log form for a year before splitting then another year once split, under a huge cover but just in piles not stacks. I buy from him if I'm in a pinch.
I'd bet for only one full summer, that wood would perform pretty well. I fully agree with the weight & sound method. It will tell you a whole lot real fast.
I just had 2 face cords delivered. I know a fair amount of it has a high amount of moisture in it just by the look and weight, but there are a some that are very light/grey/ and smack like baseball bats. The splits I have delivered are pretty large, this is the reason I brought my 7 ton Boss electric to resplit the splits and get them drying out asap. I know I will have to let some of this delivery season until next year. I have a solid face cord from last years delivery ready to burn in my fireplace this year. It is very common to see guys selling "seasoned firewood" that is only seasoned for one year, never see adds for seasoned firewood that has been seasoned for more than one year.
