Drying Roundwood stacks before processing

[arboriculturist]

With the ongoing shortages of Roundwood available to buy in, we are looking to stockpile a lot more Hardwood / Softwood when available. 

 

I know a few on here do this and some cover the top of stacks with plastic sheet weighted down and others don't. GDH has done this for years now.

 

In my experience stacked on bearers, correctly orientated on a reasonably exposed site, after 1 Year it is possible to reduce the MC down by the following:

 

Softwood 15%, Hardwood 10%.  After 2 years Softwood another 5% = 20%, Hardwood another 5% = 15%. 

 

How do these finding compare with your experience /situation ?

Edited March 3, 2019 by arboriculturist

[Big J]

An estate where we lived 6 years ago dried all their hardwood in stacks and then processed straight into the tipping trailer for delivery. Not ideal, but the wood was always fairly dry. They gave it three years for mostly sub 12" hardwood.

[Woodworks]

After 2 years some of our hardwoods would be rotting. Sycamore and birch need cutting pronto IMO. Beech discolors quickly but is still sound after a year. I see the chap down near Denham bridge uses covers but it's a very protected site. If we had covers on today they would have to be heavy duty and very well tied down or they would end up in Somerset! We are very wet up here but on the upside, very windy as well so drying once split and covered is quite quick. I haven't measured the moisture content of the roundwood as there is not much I can do about it anyway

[arboriculturist]

That's efficient. There is a Firewood retailer who stores outside up to 4 years on some stacks given some of the diameters. Our issue is the sizes we have to take now, anything up to 450mm and it will be well over 5 years to get that spec down to circa 25%. It's a serious investment in stock also.

[arboriculturist]

4 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

After 2 years some of our hardwoods would be rotting. Sycamore and birch need cutting pronto IMO. Beech discolors quickly but is still sound after a year. I see the chap down near Denham bridge uses covers but it's a very protected site. If we had covers on today they would have to be heavy duty and very well tied down or they would end up in Somerset! We are very wet up here but on the upside, very windy as well so drying once split and covered is quite quick. I haven't measured the moisture content of the roundwood as there is not much I can do about it anyway

Agreed, nearing 2 years Sycamore and Birch is degrading if NOT covered. However these species

generally come in at small diameters so may well be fit by then. Up on large diameter  bearers, covered,

most species appear to tolerate long term storage.

[openspaceman]

41 minutes ago, arboriculturist said:

50 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

After 2 years some of our hardwoods would be rotting. Sycamore and birch need cutting pronto IMO. Beech discolors quickly but is still sound after a year.

Read more  

Agreed, nearing 2 years Sycamore and Birch is degrading if NOT covered. However these species

generally come in at small diameters so may well be fit by then. Up on large diameter  bearers, covered,

most species appear to tolerate long term storage.

I agree with Beau and would class oak sapwood in with birch.

 

The thing is that bugs will be living on the wood all the time it is above 20% and it is the volatile solids that they live on first. I suspect these are the things that give a bright flame as old iron hard oak is a less lively burn.

 

So attempting to dry in the round  means you lose dry matter to rot and the wood is not as lively when it burns.

 

From my experience in sunny Surrey if you cut and split it and stack it in a covered, airy (in my case glazed) shelter then the logs are down around 20% by autumn.

 

Although it's currently raining it's the first for a while and the wellingtonia I split last month has noticeably dried in the heap (because I have no  room as I'm still burning from the shelter and don't want to re-stack it).

[Woodworks]

36 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

I agree with Beau and would class oak sapwood in with birch.

 

 

 

Yes, I should have mentioned that. Must admit to trying to avoid getting any oak or chestnut these days as they are both so slow drying.

 

Generally found softwoods far better for drying in the round and not prone to rotting quickly. That's douglas and larch. 

[arboriculturist]

11 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

Yes, I should have mentioned that. Must admit to trying to avoid getting any oak or chestnut these days as they are both so slow drying.

 

Generally found softwoods far better for drying in the round and not prone to rotting quickly. That's douglas and larch. 

Same, we never touch anything softwood unless DF and L. IBC's are no longer lo cost delivered so also thinking through ways of reducing drying times in the cages by pre-drying in the stacks. I'm waiting for GDH to pipe up as he has lots of experience drying covered stacks. ( He's probably out there taking a beating in this hurricane,weighting down those top sheets that are blowing off).

[gdh]

2 hours ago, arboriculturist said:

Same, we never touch anything softwood unless DF and L. IBC's are no longer lo cost delivered so also thinking through ways of reducing drying times in the cages by pre-drying in the stacks. I'm waiting for GDH to pipe up as he has lots of experience drying covered stacks. ( He's probably out there taking a beating in this hurricane,weighting down those top sheets that are blowing off).

Haha. I'm busy lambing actually but at least that's indoors.

 

In all honesty everything has been different this year and we ended up not sheeting because we had such a good summer then ran out of time (and almost wood).

 

I'm hoping to get back on top of it this year because I doubt we'll get lucky with weather twice. 

 

Most effective way I found was making sure it's on good bearers, and stacked out in the open in as much wind as possible. Avoid under trees, they make a huge difference. 

 

For the covers we use silage sheets for the best value, something like this (only an example not the best price or anything) https://www.allplas.co.uk/acatalog/4metre-wide-125mu--Heavy-duty-500gauge--Black--784.html#SID=547

 

I try to use 2 or 3 of us and have a morning to cover everything - 2 people holding the plastic and one on the log trailer putting a layer of logs dotted over top. I don't bother tying the sides, just leave them flapping about 2ft so you can unroll with the log crane when it comes to getting it in a hurry. 

 

We can get stuff down to 15-20% in a good summer, the issue is it goes back up 25+ by the time we're cutting it in the winter. 

[arboriculturist]

1 hour ago, gdh said:

Haha. I'm busy lambing actually but at least that's indoors.

 

In all honesty everything has been different this year and we ended up not sheeting because we had such a good summer then ran out of time (and almost wood).

 

I'm hoping to get back on top of it this year because I doubt we'll get lucky with weather twice. 

 

Most effective way I found was making sure it's on good bearers, and stacked out in the open in as much wind as possible. Avoid under trees, they make a huge difference. 

 

For the covers we use silage sheets for the best value, something like this (only an example not the best price or anything) https://www.allplas.co.uk/acatalog/4metre-wide-125mu--Heavy-duty-500gauge--Black--784.html#SID=547

 

I try to use 2 or 3 of us and have a morning to cover everything - 2 people holding the plastic and one on the log trailer putting a layer of logs dotted over top. I don't bother tying the sides, just leave them flapping about 2ft so you can unroll with the log crane when it comes to getting it in a hurry. 

 

We can get stuff down to 15-20% in a good summer, the issue is it goes back up 25+ by the time we're cutting it in the winter. 

 

Good reply thanks.

Do you dot ringed up timber on top of stacks, like each side and some down the middle?

 

So is that Softwood down to 15-20%? What about your Hardwood?