Hackberry Seasoning Time Moisture Content Question,

Yep,, flat farm country around here (high plains of northeast Colorado) not a tree in sight for miles. Only trees around here are the ones the farmers planted back in the 30-40's after the dust bowl days. They were planted as wind breaks, mainly around homesteads. I usually find myself cutting wood this time of year in some tree row of dead or dying Elm's.

That's why when I saw the two hackberry's down in the city park back in July, I thought score!! The city was going to cut them up and haul them to the local landfill. After a little red tape, they were all mine. They arranged for a loader and I hauled them home on my trailer, where I happily cut them up

 

Wow
Good story, with a
happy ending.

 

Yep, White Ash might be in the lower 30s when cut green, so has a head start in drying over some other woods. Not sure about green Hackberry but as far as burning, it should do as well as Elm, maybe a bit better. But with the old smoke-blower, you can get away with wood that isn't as dry as it should be (don't ask how I know.) You just need to load on a bigger coal bed so you can burn the moisture off the new load. Sure you rip through the wood, but you gotta keep warm... A newer stove will really pay off in heat production, especially if wood is harder to get out there. You might have to drive a ways but a used stove from craigslist or somewhere can really be a deal (like the Buck 91 I scored.) BTW, what specie are the trees in your yard?

 

Thanks to savage and FHC I am burning wood that is so clean burning and hot it is unbelievable. My worst case from now on will be nothing under 2 years old and 3 to 4 at best.

 

It's possible but bear in mind that it's a drying curve which really flattens out as your wood gets closer to the EMC (equilibrium moisture content) for wood in your particular climate. Once you get to the low 20s, drying slows to a crawl. That said, low 20s is good enough to get you through.

Yeah, the hell of it is you have to burn the old stoves hot to burn 'em clean, and you really eat through the wood. The newer (post 1990) EPA stoves can burn clean on less air, hence 1/3 to 1/2 less wood burned. As mention by Chvymn99, keep a close eye on your flue if you're burning marginal stuff and brush as necessary.

 

Hack dries quickly..bout the same as cherry..

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will revisit the stacks after the first of the year (and post a follow up) and see what the MC of the wood is. I'm optimistic that they will have dropped another 8-10% by then. We get quite a few breezing days this time of year. We have had two days in the last week of sustained breeze of 20-25+ MPH out of the west. The faces of the stacks are facing west, so that should help the drying process. It is fairly common around here this time of year to have 50-60 MPH winds and higher on some days. This is also our dry season, we will not have much, if any moisture until after the 1st of year.

Woody Stover, those two trees in my front yard are Elms, not sure if they are Chinese or Siberian though.

 

Weather here today, Sunny 73 degrees, Wind out of the West at 26 mph with gusts up to 30+ mph, 22% Humidity. Same forecast for the next 4 days.

That ought to help zap more moisture out my stacks.

 

Warm the wood up before re-splitting and testing to get an accurate reading.