Hey fellow hoarders! My neighbor has a large stack of black locust splits that have been seasoning for about 2 years or so. The outside face of a split read about 17% on the meter, but we split one open and the inside was in the mid 20s. I've read between 15% and 20% moisture content is about right to be considered seasoned, but does that hold true for all species? Wondering if he needs to wait another year before burning his locust, or if he is okay burning it this fall.
Moisture content will also depend on your climate. Another year will never hurt but if you live in a humid area it may not drop much more. My $0.02.
Inside moisture content is what matters. I'd let it season until <20%. I think locust is slow to season but throws great heat once it's g2g.
I'm sure it will burn fine, but if it were me I would wait another year. Good luck with whatever he decides.
I'd say he would be fine.....locust burns better on a good deep coal bed so it probably would cook out what little bit of moisture pretty quickly. BUT 1 more year sure would be fine if he has that luxury.
Go another year. It's a shame to waste primo btu wood by trying to burn it too early. BTW, what kind of stove does he have? That may have some bearing on how much he will lose trying to burn it this year.
If he can, wait until next year. He could also let it season for 3-4 more months and burn it in the middle of winter - that's the time to burn locust anyway.
Thanks for all the input. He has other wood he can burn this year, but not enough to last the whole winter, so good to hear it would do all right, especially if aged another few months. His stove is a Lopi Republic 1750.
If he gets in a pinch and doesn't mind the work, he could re-split and help the drying process along in order to use it this year.
25% on a meter is probably fine. Remember it's the overall moisture content you're after not the dead center of the split. I've burned wood from the mid teens to mid 20's on a meter reading and can tell very little if any difference. Some people swear there is a "huge" difference but I've never seen it so your mileage may vary.
He has other wood so if he saves this for January-February it will probably be okay. What about the bark? Is it loose? For sure if the bark comes off it will dry faster and then he'll also end up with fewer ashes to tend to when cleaning out the stove.
Bark is gone. It sluffed off earlier this year. He let the rounds sit for a year and a half or so, then when it was time to split them the bark fell right off. I suspect the wood didn't season much in the round, which is probably why it is still up there on water content.
Ah ha. There is the problem. I wonder why he did not split the wood earlier? For sure wood that hard in the round dries pretty darned slow.
