I did a similar test with this one...the round it came out of was almost 1000 pounds (using geometry and the weight of this one to calculate as opposed to a bathroom scale). My results: 9/19 58.0 lbs 11/16 51.0 12/20 48.2 1/21 47 2/23 44.8 Last time I checked (2 years later) it was in the mid 30s. It was a live healthy straight 48" dbh Black Oak on 8/26. As I recall, the round it came out of was 42" in diameter. I hauled home a lot of water that day.
It took some restraint to not stand up and start asking questions! I wanted so much to grab that microphone and start talking about this subject myself. But, I held back...
Up to one liter, good enough excuse for me to go get a bottle of Jim Bean. 37 days by the fire, not burning every day. It still loses a little less than an ounce a day when the fire is going. It has a some heft to it still, not dry enough yet. Probably have 8 oz to go. The complicated math says that if it started at 70% it is now at 25%. Cheers!
This piece of oak has now lost 48 ounces or 4 beers worth of water since last November. It lost only 1/3 oz in the past month and nothing for the past 10 days (no fire next to it either) so it pretty much is as dry as it is going to get. If it was 70% when split and first weighed it is now 10%. (3775 gm original, 2433 gm now)
Wish I could dry all my wood inside by the wood stove for a year. 7 cords would keep the humidity level up in the house too!
I was splitting some pine over the winter (before it got ugly cold), and water was literally splashing out of the rounds when I was taking an ax to them.
Well, ya can't. But if you want it dry in a year, you can split to the size of your little finger....
My folks heated with wood for almost 30 years. The winter's wood would go in the basement in fall. Generally wood that was seasoned for several years outside. Couple years ago they retired and switched to coal. They always had fairly high humidity, and since the wood is gone it's been normal. Also less bugs and dust. My place stays around 30% humidity in the winter which is fine for all but the coldest temps.
Maple I cut last year and didn't split is very dry. The wood is very light and has big cracks. I'm going to split it this weekend. Should be good shoulder season wood before it gets too warm to burn.
I do, but He also had some pine. I got several cords of dry pine split form him last fall, but he had two cords of pine in rounds, also. He mentioned that those two cords of pine were blocking the split pine and that he wouldn't be able to move the pine round for another week or two since he had no room on his small property at the time. So, I just told him I'd by the pine rounds also if he started delivering the pine that weekend. The rounds have been sitting by the wood stacks since November.
Amazing when you look at it this way.... Most of my wood seasons just fine in 1 year. Some a lot quicker, I have some Cedar I just split less than a month ago, it's already bone dry. I find Red oak takes 2 years though...
I'll dredge this thread back up for a little update. I think my original specimen was incinerated but I did pull out a sister piece today. It's Oak and I think the white variety as it has the hollow pores and I did have some of that kicking around last fall. It started at 4133 gm. last December. It spent the winter near my stove and the summer under plastic in the sun outside. Now it is at 2423 gm., 58.6% of its original weight. Loss of 1710 gm. or 3 lb. 10 oz. for those who are metrically challenged. The visual is a liquor bottle next to the split. The split is basically a rough hewn 2x6. Next to it is a 1.75 vodka bottle. The amount of water that I squeezed out of the split is about a shot glass less than the bottle. If you figure my split is now at 10% moisture it would have started at about 88%. Green oak has a buttload of water in it.
