High moisture content

[openspaceman]

As some of you know I do some simple experiments with wood drying and also occasionally do a bit of tree work.

 

Sometimes I fetch a few bits from arb jobs home in the back of the Vitara and cut, split and stack them to season.

 

About a month ago I brought home some wellingtonia rings from the top of a tree, about 50cms diameter. On splitting them I was amazed at how easy they were to split and quite heavy. I dropped a bit in the water butt and it just about floated, unlike some of the heavier hardwoods like beech and oak which sink.

 

Anyway since the log felt very wet I brought it in and weighed it 30/01/19.

 

I sat it on a radiator until yesterday when it had fallen from 1690g to 670g in 9 days. I microwaved it till it was a stable weight of 465g,

 

Given that I had dropped and broken my 1g interval scales last week and the kitchen ones are +-5g that seems to show a wet weight moisture content of 72%, I am surprised.

 

I wonder if I should stack it away from my other firewood in case it doesn’t get below 20% over the summer.

 

I tested some western red cedar which had been in my glass woodshed since I built it last summer and it was at 16% wwb, a bit better than the oak which hovers around 20%.

Edited February 10, 2019 by openspaceman
typo on weight

[Squaredy]

21 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

As some of you know I do some simple experiments with wood drying and also occasionally do a bit of tree work.

 

Sometimes I fetch a few bits from arb jobs home in the back of the Vitara and cut, split and stack them to season.

 

About a month ago I brought home some wellingtonia rings from the top of a tree, about 50cms diameter. On splitting them I was amazed at how easy they were to split and quite heavy. I dropped a bit in the water butt and it just about floated, unlike some of the heavier hardwoods like beech and oak which sink.

 

Anyway since the log felt very wet I brought it in and weighed it 30/01/19.

 

I sat it on a radiator until yesterday when it had fallen from 1690g to 670g in 9 days. I microwaved it till it was a stable weight of 475g,

 

Given that I had dropped and broken my 1g interval scales last week and the kitchen ones are +-5g that seems to show a wet weight moisture content of 72%, I am surprised.

 

I wonder if I should stack it away from my other firewood in case it doesn’t get below 20% over the summer.

 

I tested some western red cedar which had been in my glass woodshed since I built it last summer and it was at 16% wwb, a bit better than the oak which hovers around 20%.

I guess this makes sense about the sequoia.  It is a very light wood when dry - only about 300 kilos per cubic metre.  Whereas when freshly felled it only just floated which indicates a weight of about 900 kilos per cubic metre.  Hence most of the weight was water.

 

This is why when buying logs it is so much better to do so by the ton.

[kinderscout]

I milled these last year 1 day to mill ten.two days to carry them out two the trailer out of an enclosed garden.
Should of left them their for 9 months as now they are so light and 17% mc

[openspaceman]

19 hours ago, kinderscout said:

I milled these last year 1 day to mill ten.two days to carry them out two the trailer out of an enclosed garden.
Should of left them their for 9 months as now they are so light and 17% mc

Apart from having a lovely colour this must me why they are good for shingles and roofing, light weight and durable heart.

 

Is there much difference between the redwoods as timbers, sequoia or sequoiadendron? Or thuya come to that.

[billpierce]

I've found it drys out fine in the rest of the log pile. I remember buying a whole mature tree once. Couldn't believe how heavy it was at first, but as you say, quickly lightens up