Naturally drying cordwood down to 20% March to Nov???

[cessna]

Do any of you ,during an average u,k summer ,  manage to naturally dry winter cut cordwood (beech ,ash,etc excluding oak)   , 2.5 to 3mtrs long down to around  20%moisture (WITH OUT CUTTING IT IN TO SHORTER LENGTHS) between say March and the beginning of November (8months). If you do please can you tell me how you manage to do it,if you are coping initially with cord wood up to max  450 mm  diameter.   What equipment are you using  to split the 2.5 to 3mtr long cordwood  down to allow it to dry out.    

I ask the above  as burning 20% moisture logs  and below is ok   

[Woodworks]

Not even close here

 

Can just get our cut and split logs down to 20% in that time. Did process some dry cord for a client the other day and in all honesty it's the only dry cord I have ever seen. It had been there 3 years on a great site facing south, free drainage and very windy. Also had a the top of the stack covered.

[cessna]

3 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

Not even close here

 

Can just get our cut and split logs down to 20% in that time. Did process some dry cord for a client the other day and in all honesty it's the only dry cord I have ever seen. It had been there 3 years on a great site facing south, free drainage and very windy. Also had a the top of the stack covered.

Many thanks for your honesty ,a rare trait these days !!!

[gdh]

I have had the odd stack in the round get there for a couple of days in the summer but only on the surface. I can't see it's possible to do consistently and we used to struggle to get firewood to that, let alone logs.

 

Only way I can think of doing it to buy a splitter (but that's minimum 15k) and quarter them then restack them alternating directions to let the wind through then sheet the top.

 

If you had time and space to do that though you would be better processing them first I think and trying to dry them like that.

 

Short answer no.

[Stere]

I think cord wood left out will rot before it dries unless in kept in shed, but then it would takes yrs to dry stuff with a large diameter.

 

Some farm local to me bought an artic load of spruce cord wood, its being left out in field, now has fungus sprouting on it after several yrs outside seems abit of a  waste, good bug habitat I suppose though.

 

Some cord wood stacks  like willow & birch rot really fast in less than 1 yr larch oak & beech etc last alot longer.

 

But best to process wood whilst green as alot easier than seasoned wood to cut & split.

 

 

 

 

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, Stere said:

I think cord wood left out will rot before it dries unless in kept in shed, but then it would takes yrs to dry stuff with a large diameter.

 

Some farm local to me bought an artic load of spruce cord wood, its being left out in field, now has fungus sprouting on it after several yrs outside seems abit of a  waste, good bug habitat I suppose though.

 

Some cord wood stacks  like willow & birch rot really fast in less than 1 yr larch oak & beech etc last alot longer.

 

But best to process wood whilst green as alot easier than seasoned wood to cut & split.

 

 

 

 

This is my experience too.

 

I have just this week cut into a stack of sycamore that appeared to have dried out in the round, bark had fallen off and the incipient rot is plain to see, it has lost nearly 4% of it's weight in 4 days in my unheated outhouse. From which I conclude it has regained moisture from it's more open texture. It also burns poorly  with little flame which also suggests it's the more volatile bits of the dry matter that have been lost to rot.

 

So yes, cut and prepare it from green, maintain good airflow and prevent it rewetting so as to get it below the moisture content where rotting microbes can respire dry matter as soon as possible.

[openspaceman]

12 hours ago, Woodworks said:

Not even close here

 

Can just get our cut and split logs down to 20% in that time. Did process some dry cord for a client the other day and in all honesty it's the only dry cord I have ever seen. It had been there 3 years on a great site facing south, free drainage and very windy. Also had a the top of the stack covered.

I think having the top covered is the nub.

 

I have shown it's fairly easy to get a 2kg green log down to below 20% in free air as an indivudual but it's something else to do the same in a stack as airflow becomes the limiting factor.

[arboriculturist]

12 hours ago, gdh said:

I have had the odd stack in the round get there for a couple of days in the summer but only on the surface. I can't see it's possible to do consistently and we used to struggle to get firewood to that, let alone logs.

 

Only way I can think of doing it to buy a splitter (but that's minimum 15k) and quarter them then restack them alternating directions to let the wind through then sheet the top.

 

If you had time and space to do that though you would be better processing them first I think and trying to dry them like that.

 

Short answer no.

GDH I recall you keep your Larch/Douglas for 12 months before chipping - what average do you get that down to if you don't mind me asking?

[Big J]

Not possible. 

 

The estate I used to live on had huge stacks of hardwood thinnings (nothing large diameter - max 300mm) which they left off the deck drying for 3 years so that they could process straight into the trailer for delivery. Even then, moisture content varied wildly and was never under 25%.

[gdh]

6 hours ago, arboriculturist said:

GDH I recall you keep your Larch/Douglas for 12 months before chipping - what average do you get that down to if you don't mind me asking?

About 25-30% if I can get it covered but it's the wet layer trapped by the bark that puts it up.