I haven't been home for a month. My 4 cords of super dry fir and pine is left uncovered and it's going to rain lightly all week. October is usually warm and dry. Will my wood dry out. I'm worried. Called my wood cutting neighbor and he doesn't want to cover it. Says it's all ready wet. Better to just leave it. Thoughts.
It'll be fine, it's only surface moisture. Just a couple dry days is enough (in my area anyway) to dry wood that got doused.
I agree with Eric. When wood seasons the cells shrink and close. While it’s possible to soak seasoned wood all the way through rain usually won’t accomplish that. And if it does it still drys faster than with open pores. I hate to see dry wood get wet myself but it happens.
I would cover it and then after the rains move through take the cover off or roll it back. We have over two inches of rain coming in so even though our shoulder season and hardwood are covered, we have a bunch inside even though the temps won't be bad.
I wouldn't worry about it. Like you say October for you is typically warm and dry. Im in south eastern BC in the mountains where we will see diminished sunshine and lots of damp cool fall weather so I keep my doug fir and western larch stacks top covered.
It'll probably dry right back out again, plus it's usually just the stuff on top that gets wet and being on top is usually first to dry back out. I usually only cover what I'm going to use in the Winter to keep Winter off of it. I have in the past top covered everything because it does help a little bit, but where I have a several year stash of wood I'm not all that worried about that help a little bit.
IDK but Backwoods Savage has said many times wood is not a sponge.. He also said top cover for winter for best wood
Im curious about those of us in the south. Lots of members say to top cover which makes sense if you have snowfall that sits all winter.....but in many places south we don't have any snow all winter unless it's just a light dusting. Would anyone that currently top covers not bother if you didn't have snow?
I’d have everything covered if I could, but I can’t afford to cover it all. Moisture is woods enemy. Multiple stacks together and there is going to be fungus and degradation on inner stacks that are uncovered for several years. Add sticks and leaves from surrounding trees and you have mulch holding moisture on your firewood. I’m selling wood, so I don’t want fungus or punky ends on the splits. I’m sure it’s different for stacks that are in full sun all day, but I’m in the woods, so I cover as soon as I can.
I didn't when I was in South Carolina burning mostly hardwoods, but I wouldn't burn what I cut for three years. I did try in the nineties one year and I got a bunch white fungas even though I didn't cover but the top, and maybe a couple feet down the sides.
We had about .80” of rain last night & it was overcast until noon. These Swedish candles aren’t having any problems burning tonight, they are White Pine. I wouldn’t worry about it.
You must top cover. I live in the south. If you don't cover it enough it's rotted by the time it's ready. Not rotted through but if I don't cover it enough and the ends get wet on a pile it's punky and rotted already by the time I go to use it. If you don't cover it will be rotted everywhere the wood touched each other. I'm in upstate SC if your wondering...the "south" is a huge area.
And like said. A few days of sun and wind that wood will be mostly dry a week of sun and rain it will be like it never was wet
I recall some time ago on a BBQ forum that I dabble on, a fella did a test with wood and moisture. Posing the same question, he soaked smaller pieces (about 4'X4" if I recall) of hickory, oak, apple, and cherry in water for a different stages in time. Even the ones soaked in the buckets for a month were only wet about a 1/4". I personally would worry more about allowing it to air dry to keep from getting mold or fungus, but that's just my .02$
Full sun vs out in a field makes a huge difference....I once found out the hard way with a pile that was about 10 cords or so.
If you're a civil engineer, you might be quite aware of just how hygroscopic wood is. If you're a carpenter, you should be quite aware of the effects of humidity on the dimensional stability of wood. If you've read about Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake, you might be aware that millions and millions of trees ended up in the lake. 40 years later some are still floating, the majority are on the lake bottom. The ones on the lake bottom are on the bottom because trees are like sponges and can suck up and lose water content dependent on the environment they are in. One thing all the trees on the bottom have in common are small pores. One thing all the trees still floating have in common are large pores. The large pore tees all had relatively high buoyancy on day one and had (and still have) a cross reference of tree above water - they float high. The small pore trees all had relatively low buoyancy, a much small cross reference of tree above water - they floated low. They sank. Probably forever, maybe even becoming coal or oil or gas some day. Given that all trees have pores like a sponge - they act just like sponges - to an extent. Luckily for trees, the pores exist to move sap while the tree is alive. Pretty much longitudinally, or vertical if you're looking at a standing tree. Genetically, all the trees with thick sap have large pores, all the trees with thin sap have small pores. Pore size is relative to necessary capillary action. To survive. My point is, unless your firewood is subject to drowning in a pool, they're gonna have a chance to dry back out. Depending on how much they absorbed in the first place, it's usually very, very, very little. Most places have more dry days than wet.
Spent a September in Mississippi once. I’m not sure how they dry wood at all down there. You have to push the humidity aside just to walk
