I'm still a novice, this is my 2nd full season with the stove. I'm burning wood that's about 1.5 years split but been through two summers split/stacked. Its adequate for a lot of the maple I have but the locust leaves a bit to be desired. It's tough when you start out because you need to hoard as much as possible and just wait for it to season. That being said I'm on a good route right now being about 2.5-3 years ahead.
Dead white oak CSS last February. Stacked on pallets and top covered on a southern exposure against my metal pole barn. Last pic is a piece of silver maple that was in the pile.
That's what I figured. Honey is a slow one, black locust will season pretty quickly. I'll link a cool article when I get back home as to why Honey Locust takes a while to dry.
Gotta agree with WeldrDave on this one. Boiler's probably got an air leak or other issue. As far as seasoned, I don't have a MM. Most of what I'm burning now is Silver Maple that was SS last Winter. I'll take two splits & knock them together, If I get a sharp crack like a ball bat it burns. Oak I really like 3yrs on to get the best heat for the least wood used. Other species 2-3 yrs depending on when I may need them, dead cut or green cut etc. If it doesn't sizzle & lights fast it's seasoned.
Am greener than you woody5506 (no pun intended, lol) its my 1st year burning with a stove. Agreed it is tough starting out, you need to hoard as much as you can. Luckily before the stove we burned in the traditional FP so I started cutting and hoarding wood about 2yrs ago. Its not much but it's a start, in much better shape going forward. MM is good to have especially for someone new to the game and learning the ropes. As the stacks grow and I get ahead it will be used much less as time will be the determining factor. I mark all my racks. I lucked out few weeks back, had an oak tree with 3 trucks coming from it. 2 pretty big and tall, the 3rd was shorter and smaller in diameter and very dead. Was in pretty good shape so I took it down. Bucked up a few pieces and noticed it was very hard and hard on the chain to cut. Checked half dozen pieces with the MM, 17%, 19%, 18%......bucked, split, stacked. I burned a few pieces and man it was primo stuff.
I prefer dry seasoned wood in My OWB it burns much hotter and leaves a nice bed of coals. I just replaced my door gasket and am getting better burn time on less wood. Most of my is left log length for a year then , , for a year. I have cut on Weekends to have enough wood to burn for the week makes it not so much fun.
X2, always have mouse nests and snakeskins in the stacks. In the winter when the snowgets deep I see the coyote and bobcat tracks going around the stacks looking forward to a tasty morsel. But is the occassinal weasel that gets em. The long snakeskins I hang on a beam in the barn with a tack.
I have a pole barn that I store my wood in. In the space I have available, I can fit about 8 cords, plus some rounds neatly stacked until I can split them- say another 1 cord. I have 2 bins on my front porch that hold the wood I’m going to burn that season. More or less 11 cords. Depending on how cold the weather is and the BTU content of the wood I am burning, I go through 1-3 cords in a year. Seasoned for me is however old the oldest wood I have is.
