How To Dry Firewood Faster
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Today we’re talking about tips and tricks on how to dry your firewood faster
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I’ve been cutting and splitting my own firewood for the past 20 years and your video accurately describes the best practices for effective wood drying. Thank you for sharing your video.
Thanks Joe! Glad you enjoyed it
@@HometownAcres hey
So since you have the experience of time, if a person's lives in a state with high heat and low humidity, will the wood you split, stack and cover dry even faster?
I've been splitting firewood since 1976. 👍
Criss-cross stack for best air circulation, less critters.
COVER wood in an open roofed shed, pole structure, etc. Or cover top layer only with tarp, or used metal roofing pieces.
I've determined winter is when humidity is lowest. Wind your friend.
Here in Ireland we get a lot of rain. People stack it along walls and cover it with sheets of corrugated iron with rocks/concrete blocks on top to weigh it down. Some people build a small roof on pillars. Or cover it with a waterproof tarp.We don’t get reliable sunshine but we get a lot of wind. Wind dries better than sun because it blows right through the timber.
We're in Wales. Similar to you.
@@johnmainwaring6556 Hello from the U.S! My great grandfather was from Wales! 👍🏼
I’m in Scotland, and we do the same.
Here in Taiwan, and also get lots of rain. When I was renting a room in the mountains, I collected them and just stack it at the balcony, but cause lots of bugs biting it because it is still too wet.
At now, I'm in my original house and gonna plan to make a shelf or sth. for it, also at the balcony.
Maybe I should try your way to let it dry and store it, thank you so much for sharing ! !
humidity is so bad here though
Not sure if its been mentioned but always have a tarp or something under , with air flowing between tarp and wood ofc. Cause water damps up from ground after the sun has set..
Thanks for the advice time wise. Just started cutting pine logs which I hoped would be ready for this winter here in Scotland UK. Had done everything you said except I thought they would dry faster in my woodshed.
I was planning on testing them by sound, ie damp wood has dull thud, dry wood has higher pitched ring. Any advice on how accurate this is?
Very informative video.
Interior 35% is ok with the outer near surface below 20. It's not ideal, but the best here is the unnecessary enemy of fairly ok. If you don't have 12 months, cut your pieces smaller. It's not ideal, but no firewood description is complete without discussing what is often necessary, shorter drying times.
Actually winter is a friend of the drying process as well ! The freeze expels moisture at a high rate as well ! Thanks for the video it was a nice watch !
Yes. It’s called freeze dried. The homesteaders used to still hang laundry in the winter and the dry cold air would dry the clothes like in the summer ,Here in Alberta anyways ! Interesting
I like the tip about facing the sun. Never heard anyone recommend that one yet. You can also cover top with tarps to block rain, cross stack to open up more airflow, and cut smaller pieces.
The real trick is to plan ahead more, let time be your friend, your cost free assistant, instead of your enemy ...
Well said my friend.
Well said indeed.
When I cut and split firewood I always split it in blocks 4 sides to have more sides to dry out. Wood sheds are very ideal. High and dry and stacking them full. Summer is also good for drying out the heat and low moisture really helps. If you are using fire wood then split enough more more than a few years every year is far better. Keeping the rain and snow off of it will allow it to dry down to the normal 10 to 15% after a few years. Everyone wants to only cut and store for a years worth which is what gets them in the end. Plan out and build a wood shed for upwards of 5 seasons of wood. If you need 10 cords per year you should have a shed to stack 50 cords. That would be about 15 by 60 long lean too, make sure you have about 4 feet of over hang so that you can avoid most of the rain and still allow good air flow to pass by. The more wood you have the less work you will have to do each year. I see people on youtube trying to catch up with wood all the time. Spend the time and effort to get enough wood ready. Buy a wood splitter, buy or borrow equipment find locals and share in the work. A group of people with some equipment can process a lot of fire wood in a solid week end. Doing this a more than a few times a year will get every one a stack of fire wood for years to come.
Hey Adam, just a few tips. If you can, you should consider adding a second layer of pallets underneath your stacks when theyre sitting on dirt and grass like that. Air flow is your friend, stack loosely but not so that it tips over. 2 layers of pallets lets more air flow underneath it. Also you should leave a gap between your rows to let air pass between them. Im not familiar with how much rain you get over there, but here in Norway we usually cover our rows with typical tin or aluminium roofing panels and a strap around to secure it from blowing off. With all that rainwater not running down into your stacks, the wood dries really fast. We usually cut and stack before easter, leave the stacks open till mid summer and then we cover them from the rain until mid august. Its usually something between 14-17% moisture by that time, and most people sell it in late july/early august so the customer can fill up their storage. In september/oktober the air gets more damp and the wood will pick this up if left outside.
Covering from the rain also prevents the wood from turning as grey which my customers usually pay extra for ("designer birch wood", yes my friends laugh at me). If I could attach a picture Id show you but Im sure you get the deal.
Anyway, super happy that your wood selling business is blooming, nice stacks and as always thanks for a nice video. Keep up the good work and stay safe. //Finn
Hey Finn love to hear how things are done across the pond. It’s interesting to see how the seasons are different too. I do need to find a way to get my wood covered up here as we start approaching the end of summer. Thanks for the comment buddy. Hope to hear from you again!
I like the corrugated metal sheets, just enough flex and strength in 12’ runs and sheets lap/nest well together for my sloping piles which are normally 30-40’ long... Also agree w elevating w 2x layers of pallets underneath, which I think actually makes the bottom layer stay drier, and last longer as a result... great video, keep up the good work!
I agree with the idea of getting the wood off the ground as much as possible. Rather than 2 layers of pallets, look for scrap building materials and fasten 2X4's or whatever scrap you have to the bottom of your pallets before loading them up with wood. Use the pallets for stacking wood rather than stacking more pallets. They won't collapse unless you really side load the pallets in some way. Like running into them with other pallets. Don't ask me how I know that. And cover that wood in the winter with tarps or tin or re-engineered IBC tanks.
For my own personal firewood I built inexpensive racks: two 8x8x16" concrete blocks sitting on a 2x16x16 brick on the ground. This puts the wood about 15" of the ground. I have two 2x6x12's running between them, and two 2x4x48" tipped into the open blocks at each end, which holds the stacks on the ends. This gives me a drying rack that will hold split logs 16-24" long, stacked up about 4', and over 12' long at the top. This allows the wood to get plenty of air flow and sun. It's 90-100 degrees all summer long with very little rain. That holds all the firewood I need, so it was worth the investment of about $100 per stack that I will reuse every year. I have a shed I move the dry wood to closer to the house.
I burn mostly oak and maple. Bringing in firewood from outside cold air, the wood needs to warm up before burning it. I make sure the firewood is cut on 90 degree angles on both ends. When I bring inside, I will put the wood standing up in soldier course fashion in front of the stove and the high heat will further dry the wood. I can bring in wood without any visible checking on the ends, but when I stand them up on end in front of the glassdoor, in about an hour or less, the checking ( cracks on the ends) will develop showing signs of dryer wood. Remember to at least bring your wood inside the room where the stove is, to bring it up to room temperature.
In your video, mention that drying times also depend on what type of wood you're talking about. Example, oak takes much longer to dry than ash.
The only reason you need a moisture meter is if you haven’t planned ahead and aren’t on top of it enough. Split, stack, cure 2+ years and don’t ever run out. Repeat.
calm down. it's been 3 months.
@@methus57 Muy calm
Dummy,it is a good guide as different woods dry @ different rates:/
@@jazpanoz4996 Dummy?
Brookwood @ Yes ewe!
I never really comment on videos but I need to let you know that in order to dry your wood faster you should pile it right side up. You are piling your wood upside down especially if you are not covering it. Always pile your wood with the bark side up. That way it naturally sheds water when it gets rained on or snowed on.
I would think this is common sense tho 💁🏾🤣
What is right side up and who is the you piling it upside down? How do you even upside-down stack?
What they mean is that the bark is facing down or up
A Norwegian university tested seasoning split firewood bark side up vs. bark side down. They found that bark side DOWN averaged about 1% drier than bark side up, and concluded there was no significant difference between stacking split wood bark up or bark down.
@scandibilly I agree with that assessment. The bark side up or down is an old wives tale that has been around for hundreds of years.
Have you looked into a solar kiln? Easy/inexpensive to build. Accelerates drying.
I live in South Eastern Ontario. I do everything possible at every stage of the firewood hunting and harvesting to maximize the drying process. I cut all my trees in November and december when moisture from sap is lowest in trees. I select 70% Ash, 10% Maple, 10% Beech, and the other 10% is of cherry, apple and iron wood. I stay away from oak because it takes forever to dry. I buck all trees up at the end of February and all of March. I collect all the rounds all of April and May and stack them in single rows off the ground in full sun and wind. Then I stack it off the ground as I split all of June. Then I let it sit in upper field uncovered with full, wind and sun July and August. September and October I transfer wood to lower field for easy pick up when selling. I stack it in 3 single rows of 240 feet each still exposed to sun and wind and rain... Usually I sell 35 cord a year. I burn the same wood as I sell and my wood gets down to 9 to 15% moisture. After that it will fluctuate with humidity in the air.... I have split wood in shed that is leftover from 3 years ago and it stays at around no moisture reading to 6% depending on external humidity. So I'm satisfied with 9 to 15% to burn. I've never had any issues and my clients keep coming back and have never complained. In fact I have 2 clients that drive an hour to pick up 4 cord every fall. This year has been perfect for drying. We have barely had any rain. It was like an oven all summer and even now we are have warm sunny days. Nature has been the kiln this year.
I like your flag. Good tips for drying wood too. Thanks
@@truthinian thank you. Merry Christmas!
If it's rainy how does the rain affect the drying ?
Stacking the splits vertically, like a teepee, allows the wood to dry MUCH faster. Most of the moisture just drips out the bottom of each split.
Great video Adam! 👍.. thanks for reminding me I'm way behind on firewood like always lol
Haha you got that new wood furnace for a reason! You gotta feed it lol
CJ get used to burning that anthracite and you won’t need much wood
I’m slowly starting to sell pick up loads of wood here and there. It’s not prime seasoned but I’m selling to a guy that just burns it for his man cave. I’d like to have a stock so I can age the stuff. But I can’t have too much because I’m staking it my parents. If I can get a spot to load up I will and start building a stock. Good stuff.
You made a lot of good points Adam. I dry my wood in a single row for about a year then into the woodshed for another year. I am currently about 2 1/2 years ahead. I burn strictly oak and locust in my house. In my garage I burn whatever is dry. I get a lot of soft maple and it drys much faster than hard maple, usually about 6 months will do. Good video my friend!
That is a NICE stack of wood! I can't get my wife out of her LazyBoy long enough to split a good load. I even bought her a new chainsaw
I did have my wood in a pile for about two years. I recently bought a residential splitter it's big enough for my needs. I also have my stacks on pallets double rows. I have my end towards the west for the sun and the wind to blow through the pile.
Have you tested the moisture to see how it’s working out?
@@HometownAcres what I have is pine what was in the center was really wet. Most of my pile is tree tops and slabs from my sawmill. I use my split firewood for my fire pit. I am doing my hard wood tonight I will let you know.
My meter start was 10.7 it's old. Big round in the center of pile was 50.1 on the end. The rest was cherry bark was 10.8-19.4 ends 12.7-18.4 centers 17.6 22.1. From now on I will be stacking my rounds.
I live in alaska and burn tons of birch and beetle kill spruce. Every few days I'll crank it up to clean it out. Every spring when I run a brush down the pipe , well its clean. So I can honestly say that burning green birch isn't bad and it does last longer. So the moisture content doesn't matter to me.
I like sawing, chopping, and stacking January... Frozen wood flys apart when splitting
I split and stack all my mixed hardwood. Also, when I stack, I stack this years wood in a ring 8' in diameter. Wind can hit all sides evenly. Also if your tree is green, split it into smaller pieces.
Cheers from Germany! My firewood gets about 18 months. I badically have two stacks, one is the one who will be burned in this Winter, the other one next year 😉 sometimes 12 months of drying is enough, but 18 months always does it. firewood starts loosing heating/ fire power after 24 months of drying. Best example is birch wood, if it gets to old, it just falls apart.
If I was just collecting wood for myself I would adopt the same philosophy. But since I sell wood I can never have enough. I usually have a pile of wood set aside for my next winter and then just make a stack as big as I can for selling
Agree for white birch, but yellow birch lasts much longer.
In my very limited experience, the differences between different wood are huge. Differences in drying time. Variation in wood species, where and when it was cut, what the climate is where you are, the weather on the particular year. Where it was dried. These things all influence the drying. The 24 months rule is good, still, i would prefer wood which is 3 years and dry to wood 1,5 years old and not entirely dry. Agree? I am in Denmark. Grüsse!
@@Jack_Schularick hej to you 😉
Totally agree, I forgot to mention, that we split the wood before we let it dry.
I was 2014 on Langeland!
Hej hej 👍😉
@@Nopsi1300 Hej Nopsi. I split before drying as well. And I dry partly in Holzhaufen, the round stacks, partly in longer or shorter walls of firewood. The climate in Denmark is rather wet and damp but I happen to live on a hill and it is windy here, so it dries pretty ok. I hope you had a good time in Denmark. As for the "hej " and hej hej, i am not a fan. I prefer the old style "god dag" and "farvel". I am an old guy, and very conservative :)
Cut old tarps to cover the top only. Or make tin roof frames. Cut trees in the winter when the sap is down in the roots. You can girdle standing trees too and let stand a year. Farmers used to cut wood this winter for two years down the road. Be careful cutting dead trees or you might get dead too. Be safe
Mark your trees for cutting next fall with marking tape or paint. Then wait for the sap to drop and girdle them You can then cut and split next fall into winter. Once cut and split and stacked let it season but none of the time before split and stacked counts toward seasoned. Time for seasoning is very species dependent. In our area with mostly oak and hickory it is best to let it season for two years. At that point a fresh split will read twelve to fifteen percent moisture and will burn very clean and hot. I will note that many will use less dry wood at night to get a longer burn. Something in the fifteen to twenty percent moisture reading and usually in half rounds they call slow burners.
Wouldn't there be more benefit facing your woodpiles south as opposed to west as you suggest? I would think wood facing south would get a significant amount more sunshine then just catching the sun late (facing west) especially in fall and winter.
No, if possible, have your log pile face west, so the morning sun hits the log pile on the east side of the pile in the morning, and then hits the pile on the opposite side in the afternoon, drying out the pile evenly. If you face your pile south, the majority of the day only one side of your log pile is going to get hit with sun. Also, the wind in my area typically blows from west to east, so if you stacked it facing south, the wind would be hitting the end of the pile, rather than the broadside of the pile, and be less effective in drying it out. Cheers!
Location and species will vary this advice. In the PNW you can fell a Doug Fir today, cut it 14" and split 4-6" and it will be dry by Labor day. Our summers are dry and the softwoods have very little moisture to begin with. I cut some after Easter and it is
What if "today" is August 31st?
@@davegarber7964 Probably not going to get dry enough unless it was semi-seaoned already. I stop cutting green wood in the beginning of August because it won't have enough time to dry. Semi-seasoned wood that was felled a few months before might have a chance if you put it in a nice sunny breezy spot
The first year I moved to Montana it was August already and the previous owner only left about a half chord of dry Larch. I cut and split a few chords of fir and lodge pole but I was leery of it becoming dry enough for that winter. What I did was as I was burning the dry larch I stood the green fir on end around the stove, literally right next to it! Every so often I would flip the wood to dry the other end, and would pick the wood closest to the stove to burn while moving another into the rotation. Made it through the winter, and it only dropped below zero a couple times!! Usually if I do my firewooding in early summer it's pretty dry by Halloween! It's always nice to have back up/left over wood from the previous year!
Hilltop would allow more air movement. A hoop type solar kiln costs little to make and almost nothing to run and can really cut drying time down.
I mean a good place to start in making anything dry would be to not let it get wet. Cover the top of your wood pile.
dont need too. and whos gonna buy that many tarps.
@@tribulation138 Try a visit to a local lumberyard. The lumber they receive from the mills is quite often covered with some type of a woven material similar to a Tyvek type house wrap. Not sure what it's sun exposure lifespan is. Once the cover comes off the lumber pile I'm not sure that they have an actual use for it. Even though it probably has some staple holes in it it still should help shed some water. 16' to 20' long pieces.
By definition "seasoning" means 3 months 🤷♂️
Good tips Adam. I let my wood dry for 5 years then move what I need for winter undercover in the summer, never have to worry about wood not being seasoned. It burns hot and after the burning season when I clean the flue I never get over a cupful of creasote.
That's ideal as long as it's not begun to rot or mold.
@@harveyroad6 never had an issue with rot or mold. I do keep it off the ground and its well ventilated.
Humidity lowest in the fall??? We’ve got rains non stop all fall.
September and early October are still really dry here. Have to be careful with campfires that time of year here because it’s so dry.
You are correct, there is no "fast" practical way to dry firewood. I have found the best way to dry firewood is everything you offer plus one other thing. Let it sit a year out in the open and then add my secret ingredient . Maple drys much faster than oak. Mostly I have red oak so I single row stack it. To make it go faster, in the second year I cover it with 6 mil transparent (translucent) plastic. This acts like a green house and really absorbs the sun rays and condenses the heat under the clear plastic, Go down about half way on the stack.
What sad is where I live people spend 200-250 bucks a cord on piss elm wood that hasn't been cut but for 6-7 months and 500 for not even 2 full cords of cedar. I have seasoned maple, oak, cedar and pinion pine I sell cords for 150 bucks and people won't even call to see what I have. Lol it blows mind how they spend so much on garbage wood and won't even see what I have to offer. Gotta love moving to a new area and people are just plain ignorant because I'm not from here but my dad's side of the family is.
They're not burning it for heat, just ambiance. Supply and demand=basic economics.
@@davegarber7964 no they are burning it for heat. 90% of the houses are heated with wood here.
Depends on what your kiln heats with. A Kiln could make sense if it runs on sawdust, bark and offcuts.
I knew, an old time who did firewood, he piled wood with the round or bark up, to drain the rain water.
I've experimented with all kinds of positions. It seems to dry faster split side up. Bark side up is ok for the to row.
A solar kiln made with clear plastic in the sunshine will do a lot. I have done this to dry logs for log home construction.
“how to dry faster”……..”there’s not really a way to dry faster”. great vid.
Unless you’re in NM. Dry your wood in one summer season here in New Mexico. ( No humidity!)
Something the old timers did was follow the signs of the moon. Cutting hay and even wood will cure better when done during a light moon. Which means the moon is in its waxing stage. It works
After a full moon there's moonlight during the waning period. Waxing poetic about old timers results in eyes wide shut.
I sure do like the videos you put out... Watching your videos most all of them in a couple of days and nights. How about googling "Polaris tow behind trailers" I think this will give you a million and one Ideas for your firewood farm...
Hey Doug, glad you found us and enjoy the channel. I’ve often considered getting a trailer for the ranger but thought it might make getting around some of the trails a little more difficult. Especially if I ever had to turn around on one of the trails
Stack wood in rows running East/West. Stretch wire about two feet back on the North and higher, clip black plastic over the top stretch and clip to a low wire
about a foot high on the South. Almost a full day of heated low humidity air flow through the stack. Not as good as a solar kiln but no management needed.
Can you explain this again? Not quite understanding it
#1 top cover it so it doesnt get rained on. It gets punky repeatedly getting wet and then drying and mold can devolpe in the stacks where the sun doesnt reach. #2 face it south so it gets good and hot (west??) #3 get a year or two ahead in your piles so it has time to dry and you dont have to worry about it as much. #4 get it off the ground.
We have a winner here 👏
Pretty sure that what you're calling sugar maple is actually Red maple.
I was thinking the same thing
I guess the obvious is to split it before you stack it. The finer you split it the greater surface area to mass you have, and the easier it is for the moisture to escape. Also throwing a tarp over just the top or stacking in a open sided shed helps.
The only bad thing about fine splitting is that wood doesn’t last as long in fireplace.but using a tarp is a must if no wind.👍
what about in winter and the rain, what can one do with it, and does rain affect wood, im just new to this stuff
Rain will dry out of the wood within a day or 2. So as long as you can keep like 1/3rd of a cord dry at a time you should be good
You said you had a school build your wrapping machine , I'd like to buy their plans if you'd be so kind. I weld myself and just for my personal use.
Looks good. Never had a problem burning wood that has seasoned for a year even uncovered. To each his own.
Yeah same
Probably a good idea to put something over top of your firewood as well.
Would a black tin roof help in seasoning that pile? Granted it is not a kiln, but I think it would work as a “collector of heat, while also leaving sides open for ventilation of moisture.
I've been splitting Ash throughout the summer. Half of it was dead for nearly a year and standing. The other have was a bit green. I've separated the two groups. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy a wood moisture meter and check the dead and then green Ash.
I've also got a dead Red Oak in the woods that was standing dead for two years before being dropped. It's been down for a year now and I have to get in there to round it.
i love when he says really cheap and then says 10 20 30 dollars, 30 dollars is a far piece from 10 lol
$30 is still cheap not having to guess on moisture.
@@midwestbd7144 or you could just stack it right and let it sit for a good long while and spend zero dollars lol
The wasp really love those wood stacks here in Texas
Great job!!
What wood splitter do you use??
Looked very good!!
It’s an Eastonmade 12-22
Prevailing wind and a pole barn.
Good video
Thanks Hank!
Couldn't you stack wood in a big shed and put a dehumidifier in there ?
I live in northern Ontario, I buy cut this winter hardwood, I have a 20x20 room in my basement, 100% sealed from rest of house, I put the wood from the winter in my wood room, in may, I have a fan that I run at low with a intake that is low in room, I also put a dehumidifier in it for a few month’s then this fall it’s good to go. I keep air circulating all the year, I use a slide dimmer switch, I am on year 3, so I assume the fan will finally burn out but worth it.
Two more tips:
- Stack the logs “bark side up,” especially if it’s an uncovered stack.
- Cover the top of the pile with 6 mil (or thicker) black plastic, to keep the rain from soaking the pile.
New to to firewood just got a house with a fireplace and that is my biggest concern in PA we get a decent amount of snow and rain, just covering the top of the stack with plastic is good enough?
Most of the wood i purchase dint have bark. So i can't leave it overnight because it might rain. Should i just cover it with plastic
I’ve just split and staked a lad of oak. I’ve doe a long ple on pallets facing west and a round Holtzhaussen pile. It’ll be interesting to see which dries best. They are right next to each other. Round pike is 8 feet diameter. Whe do people move wood into woidsheds? I have a large woodshed open on the west side and wonder at what point I take wood off the piles and stack it in there? Or do I just leave it outside?
We move our wood into a covered shed anytime it's dry. But we get it done before the wet fall weather.
Keep it covered
Keep it off the ground.
Keep it in the sun
3 stage storage. (Out door, basement, next to woodstove)
And lastly "listen for the hissin'. Look for the pissin'."
Hi Adam, Cool video! Question. Do some hard woods season faster than others? For example, how long does it take ash to season compared to oak?
Yes. It absolutely depends on species. Oak can take up to 2 years to dry. Some say you can burn ash green although it’s always better to let it dry. Cherry can season in as little as 6 months
Ash naturally has between 22-28% moisture which is just above seasoned at 20% or less. Oak on the other hand naturally has between 33-60% moisture depending on type (ie red, white, black, pin, post etc.). Personally I don’t care if the inside is less than 20% because some woods like white oak will never dry out in the center even after 5 years because it’s air tight due to being a closed cell wood.
@@bradleyhite3476 Good to know. Thank you!!
Love the video.
Thanks Tony!
I guess I'm gathering late. I just split a half cord of Black Walnut and hopefully will dry in 6 months. It's not so critical here in Ca but it does get cold with zero insulation in the winter. It can get to a bone chilling 28 degrees here.. :-)
Wildfires in spring? Easter? I wish. Easter was yesterday and it has rained and snowed for the vast majority of spring. Not hating. it is just unfortunate. This is my first year burning wood and it is my only source of heat. I’ve been burning wet maple all winter and I’ll probably be doing it next winter. I’ll get ahead eventually. :)
Takes an overhead swing on a quarter of dry Sugar Maple, and buries his Friskars into the soil... doh!
Fiskars not Friskars since you're that type.
@@steenfraosterbro3268 Thanks for the spelling lesson, Karen. I'm the type that doesn't care because I would never own a Friskars.
Great video adam. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Andrew!
High temperature is not what dries wood. Low humidity is what dries wood. If you want to dry wood in ONE MONTH, load it up in a solar kiln with a dessicant. Switch out the dessicant every other day and let it dry out in it's own kiln (or on your stove after breakfast)
A lot of limbs shed from my native trees during wind storms. I cut the limbs in 3 feet sections and left them on the ground. Most have been there 2 to 3 years. Tried to burn them using a burn barrel. I even use gasoline as an accelerant. They will not burn. I further cut them in half and split each log multiple times. Are they good to burn now or should I wait?
Would you say it's medically recommended to get a lot of wind through your piles or simply anecdotal experience that leads you towards this recommendation? 😉
This may get lost in translation because piles is another term for haemorrhoids in the UK and I realise may not be used in your country.
Thanks for the video and info. Love your location!
Solar kiln. Look into them. They can easily be built with very little money. The biggest issue, space. They could be big.
Easter? Hell the wood I burned in winter 2020 was stacked spring of 19. Generally anyway
Pretty good but I feel along with many others it takes at least two years to dry.
I will heat with 3 year cut, split and stacked oak and hickory this winter.
Please join our group and discussion at the firewood hoarders club.
very informative especially the moisture meter.
I can get about as many plastic truck bed liner as I need from places like Linex, Rhino liner, etc.
I cut the sides off so I have just the floor of the liner.left. I put them on top of my stacked wood and hold them down with a few deck screws. It keeps the rain and snow from running down through the stack.
Where do you get the liners? Free?
@@mydogdidit
Linex
Rhinoliner
And other spray in bed liner places. They usually have a few laying out back that people didn't want back. You might check at truck dealerships as well.
What about cross-stacking or waffle stacking instead of stacking them directly on one another?
Question for you.
If you collected wood rounds that belonged to a tree that was originally caught in a forest fire and then fell and the rounds then sat for the fall winter and spring under a tarp. If you split the rounds strip off the bark and stack the wood square 4x4 under a trap, will it dry even faster? I should also mention I live in a high heat low humidity state.
No offence, but it's hard to take firewood advice from a guy who slams his ax into the dirt.....
3:50 "So in my opinion there really isn't a good way to dry your firewood faster"
Clickbait extreme title. downvoted
I split mine a little smaller (no bigger than the pieces after you split at 3:10 , stack on pallets and keep it covered with a tarp so the rain doesn't soak it every time. Wife and I made a lot of stops at Harbor Freight for free 5x7 tarps with any purchase :). I've heard I may be able to get free tarps they cover lumber with during shipping on rail. Seems like getting is split before July is a huge help.
Maple does dry much much faster than oak just for those who don’t know i personally think oak takes 2 years or more, I bought some big box store wood just to run a test and not even split open it’s 40-55% so I will continue to cut trees buck split and stack because you cannot get truly dry wood from stores anymore
I have all mine under a lean to wood shed. Mostly open on the sides. Keeping it covered is really helpful in NW PA.
When you split it were you thinking..I hope I don't miss..😅
No, he was thinking I can't believe this is the 4th take!🤣
Keep it covered with lots of airflow and as much heat as you can... It will dry fast enough.
Stack it looser will help. I remember an old timer stacking rows criss cross for faster drying i was told, i was probably 8 at the time.
Here in South Africa eastern cape i lie my wood open and flat out with in 5 weeks drie ready for packing 20 kg bags
in climates where it rains, you want a roof over the stack, but leave the sides open. also, if you don't have a roof, stacking bark side up as much as possible helps shed rain better.
This past year we used a Shelter Logic to season our firewood. We stacked about 3 cord in the shed an hung a fan from the top. We put the firewood in the shelter in April. We checked the moisture a couple times a month. By September it was below 20%. This was green oak mixed with dead ash. Started burning in November and most readings are 15%.
the rain doesn't negatively affect the moisture content? have you compared covering with a tarp to wood that wasn't covered with a tarp?
How to dry faster? The longer time you take the better. LOL. Thanks.
I stack all my lumber with the bark up so the rain runs off it.Nice looking piles though
All you can do is give it the time needed. There's not much new tec. That will help. Just as I thought 😮
You need to build a wood splitter for b.c sized wood
I've been drying logs in my greenhouse by using cable basket trays hung up near the roof.
Name of video, how to dry wood fast...4 minutes in he’s says “in my opinion there’s no way to dry it fast”... are you kidding me??
fastER.
I mean what do you expect its impossible to dry it that quick
@@mdsk7623 but it is entirely possible to dry it slower.
Folks cut in too late in thevyear, leave it outside , not covered , in the rain and expext dry wood ?
I think you read it wrong... looked like 21 to me. You held it upside down
Have you tried the holz haufen method? Curious if it dries as well. Great video.
Dry wood is only as dry as the ambient humidity when seasoned. If you want to understand how much water is in a piece of wood do this. When you initially split your wood take a piece and weight it, write the weight on the log with a sharpy. Put that log in your oven at 300 degrees for a couple hours then weigh it again. this post bake weight is with no water in that log. You can leave the log longer if you suspect there is still water in the log. The lowest that log will ever weigh is its driest thats 0% moisture. Write that weight on the log. Now go put that log in your wood storage area. Let it sit there for a month then weigh it again. You will find the log has reacquired moisture from the ambient environment. When out door humidity levels are above 20% fire wood will reabsorb water just like a sponge. By using the weights you measured you can tell how much water is in the log before drying and after seasoning. You can weigh other green logs and leave them in your storage area. Then look at the seasoned weight to understand were you are. You dont need a two contact moisture meter that only really tells you a moisture level based on the resistance of the wood between the two points. Surface moisture and internal moisture are two different things. I stack my wood in south facing wood sheds. The sun is your friend and rain and snow are your enemies Wood dry's most from its end grain so getting the end grain ends wet is what you need to avoid. The log will just suck up water as its really a sponge. Its really very simple.
Osmosis stops when the tree is cut. End grain in fire wood is a smaller percentage so it actually dries the most from the side grain.