I have been giving some thought to the word seasoned. While all of us here know what it actually means I think in the wood market that it just leaves a whole lot of room for sellers to rip people off. Lets be honest and say most if not all large firewood suppliers leave their wood in giant piles to “SEASON” and WE all know wood cannot dry that way, yea you can do long wind rows but cmon, most don't. Buyers don’t know what part of the pile their getting or what month it was split. Could be “seasoned “ 8 months or 2-3 months, could be top of the pile or the steamy hot moldy middle. I am pretty much telling people “no my wood isn’t seasoned its dry”. Every single person I sell wood to says the last guy said it was seasoned so thats why i am saying it like that. I figure I should ask the pros for advice on this one because Im pushing dry not seasoned. Every order thats gone out has been 8-18% moisture. I am getting so many replies back about people loving my firewood and posts and saying how much they are learning how to buy, cut, identify good firewood. Thanks Chris
I would go with seasoned and dry Too many uninformed will not understand your subtlety. also may end up getting questions from the customer what all that means. Allows you to explain exactly what you said in your post. Those standing dead you’ve been cutting are seasoned. It is possible for wood to season standing. Seasoned, at least to me, means the original sap has dried and the cellular structure has shrunk or collapsed. That can happen in standing dead and even less so in log form. Problem is percentage wise it usually rots first. I’ve cut some standing red and white oak that was 16%. It happens. It was seasoned, hard as iron. Just doesn’t happen very often. edit. I should add your dealing with ash. I’m not particularly historically skilled with ash. They say sometimes a live tree may be burnable as far as moisture content. So my standing seasoned theory may or may not be applicable to ash.
I cut a red oak down the other day it was 8% i got a grapple load of free red oak in october that was sitting for three years was still 30% and now its still at 24% after a few months split. Im just saying the word seasoned in the market has been used and abused so many different ways people dont know what their getting.
Oh I certainly agree with that I see adds down here where they are custom cutting your length right off the logs. Oak logs were cut during summer so they’re advertised as seasoned. That’s neither seasoned or dry.
Seasoned in the wood market- seasoned for a season or stacked in long rows seasoned or dead standing seasoned or im at the bottom of my pile seasoned or im greedy yup my wood is seasoned. Im just really angry, i had a customer who lost her husband and trying to buy wood on her own was sold seasoned wood. It was 32% after being brought up to ambient temp. No laws protecting buyers from pieces of chit like that.
I have a lot of oak logs, sitting on the ground for two years. They are not seasoned or dry. Have to get them processed soon or they’ll just rot.
Oh man, i joined firewood sellers group on Facebook, why i dont know but a guy told someone to buy seasoned logs if they want goid wood to burn now. I replied sir you can buy seasoned logs that have been laying around for a season but thats not going to be dry. Guy had a chit fit
Someone here, I can't recall, piled wood and let it "season". After a length of time, he took moisture readings from the outside splits and then the inside. You'd not expect the results. I'll try to locate that thread if I get some free time. I wonder where the term seasoned actually came from in reference to farwood. Did someone let the wood sit one season, so fall/summer/winter/spring. and call it good? Inquiring minds
I’ll bet. I won’t begin to guess how many years it would take to season a log. First the bark must be gone. Then the environment would need to be just right. It is possible but it’s rare. Standing dead and nature does it much easier. Even laying dead off the ground does it better. No one is going to successfully duplicate nature. There’s just not that much time. FWIW which isn’t much I’ll throw this out there. My logs that got dropped on the ground. I’ve noticed the ones that were dropped on moss haven’t sunk in the ground and picked up dirt. The ones dropped in the grass have. Totally useless information I figured I’d pass along.
I had never heard the term “seasoned” until I joined FHC but knew exactly what was meant when I read it in context. Don’t have to worry about that stuff ‘round here in the hi-desert. Even if one cuts green pinion or juniper in the spring and does the css thing it is good to go that coming winter.[/QUOTE]
My neighbor had land cleared years ago and had three grapple loads sitting in the landing for 6 years or so. I finally said hey john im having a tough time paying my bills with my wife’s commissions tanking. Can we make a deal if i cut and split all those logs and sell the wood we can share the profits. His words- if you need those logs kid there yours!! So i started right away and got 15 - 18 cords out of it. All of them except the maple were still pushing moisture and had to sit for a while to be sold as seasoned. So when i see a guy down the road processing logs right into the delivery truck and sold as seasoned i cant imagine him getting repeat business
Maybe some situations, long short windrows in a field but no way some of these giant piles. Look at the stuff jrider was looking to buy last year, i think it was a couple years old and I believe the middle was like a steamy mulch pile
I didn't read through every reply.... With that being said, i thought the point of saying "seasoned" was to mean it had set for seasons and therefore was "dry", or some degree thereof. So to me, isnt dry wood the end goal? If it is dry, does it matter if it had set through "seasons" to get there, or if it has gotten to the dry stage by some other means? Hopefully someone can clarify this for me, cause i realize that my thinking and understanding of the subject may be incorrect.
Im learning so much everyday but i think the word means wood that has been left out to dry for a LONG amount of time for all the science behind it to happen and for it to get down to a low efficient burning moisture level. My problem is the word is used in the firewood industry so loosely because a very high percentage of wood being sold as seasoned is in fact a terrible product. Like i said before. Joe sells seasoned firewood, his wood is stored in a pile the size of a mansion therefore you dont know if your getting 8-9 months seasoned wood or bottom of a dirty musty pile seasoned wood or i want to sell more heres 2 month old seasoned wood. Season for a season wood is a crappy product for woodstoves!!! Fireplaces you can get away with a little more.
Yeah i used to sell firewood, so i know what you mean about the words seasoned and dry being thrown around. People would aske me about the wood i was selling, and i was always honest with them, that it had been cut the year before. Almost never did i sell any wood that was as old as what people on here recommend and preach, but i never had anyone complain about any wood i sold, in fact all customers said it was the best wood they'd ever had (haha yeah i know someone's gonna bite on that one...). And i know that i was pretty much the only one that was sellimg wood that had been sitting that long, lot of guys cut, loaded and delivered. Wood can be "seasoned" (css for some seasons) and yet not be dry, correct? As in not 20% or below. But it can be dry, yet not have been css'd for seasons..? Such as the thread on here where wood was wrapped in plastic and sweated till dry. It had not been css'd for the typical amount of "seasons". What about wood that has been some form of kiln dryed? No "seasoned" involved, but dry to burn? I have never dealt with any kiln dried firewood, so someone please educate me. Not trying to argue, trying to learn and understand....
I do the same to my new customers...dry, not seasoned and try to educate them a little. Maybe you can change the name from "Masonhillbilly" to "Firewood 101" or add an "educating fee". LOL!!! Sounds like you will have lots of repeat customers.
I think the term seasoned (cut in spring burn in fall) came about before epa stoves that are more sensitive to moisture.
Kiln dry is amazing and definitely a difference. Advertised as kiln dried because technically it wasnt seasoned for a length of time. You can light kiln dried with a match for $450 of course. Or get dead standing like we do and get the kiln dried results but seasoned by nature. Thats what i push too, Mason Hillbillies Firewood burns like kiln dried without the kiln dried price tag. Lol
