How small to split oak

[David Lawrence 88]

Hi

i have some oak to split and season

 

it will have two years on pallets in reasonable

sunny and breezy spot

 

Cut to 500 mm

 

how small do I need to split it to get to the magic 20 percent

 

Thanks. 

 

 

[dig-dug-dan]

13 minutes ago, David Lawrence 88 said:

Hi

i have some oak to split and season

 

it will have two years on pallets in reasonable

sunny and breezy spot

 

Cut to 500 mm

 

how small do I need to split it to get to the magic 20 percent

 

Thanks. 

 

 

Is this for your fire or selling?

From experience, oak is not great for  burning unless mixed in with other .

I am burning old oak fence posts, cut to 500, about 75mm in width, and put on the fire as is, they are not great. Soon as I mix it with some softwood, then all good.

But in answer to your question, I think you will struggle whatever to get to that figure unless you leave it at least 4 years.

I did a moisture test on a piece I had stored which came from an old barn structure. Been kept inside for 40 years at least, it registered 22%!

[Stubby]

I always season it a bit longer than say ash or beech and  split it slightely smaller to aid seasoning . As above . mix it in and its fine . Holm oak is better to burn I find . Burns a bit like coal .

[trigger_andy]

2 hours ago, dig-dug-dan said:

I did a moisture test on a piece I had stored which came from an old barn structure. Been kept inside for 40 years at least, it registered 22%!

I doubt it would ever get lower, that will be purely down to the ambient MC. Well within the preferred limits though. Most stove manufacturers recommended sub-25 or 26% up till very recently. 

[trigger_andy]

2 hours ago, David Lawrence 88 said:

Hi

i have some oak to split and season

 

it will have two years on pallets in reasonable

sunny and breezy spot

 

Cut to 500 mm

 

how small do I need to split it to get to the magic 20 percent

 

Thanks. 

 

 

Id cut them into 3" chunks if it was me. As others have said Oaks not the best burning on its own and to get a faster drying time and more surface area for in the Firebox to burn them 3" to me would be ideal. 

[Vedhoggar]

3 hours ago, David Lawrence 88 said:

Hi

i have some oak to split and season

 

it will have two years on pallets in reasonable

sunny and breezy spot

 

Cut to 500 mm

 

how small do I need to split it to get to the magic 20 percent

 

Thanks. 

 

 

Cut to <8cm (3") for two drying seasons then transfer to woodshed or barn before the autumn/winter wet weather ... seasoned quite a bit of oak and find it generally needs two seasons to get down to <20%. 

[Woodworks]

Great burning wood IME. Had a customer say  "do you have any more of that rocket fuel we had last time?" One year is enough in the right spot. We do split it a bit smaller say max 3" x 3" but we are seasoning in less than a year to 20%

[David Lawrence 88]

Split last lot to about 3 inches and it’s fine

 

just thought I

might chance it and do a bit less splitting

 

sounds like I should carry on splitting it small

[Vedhoggar]

51 minutes ago, David Lawrence 88 said:

Split last lot to about 3 inches and it’s fine

 

just thought I

might chance it and do a bit less splitting

 

sounds like I should carry on splitting it small

A 25cm long log will season more quickly than a 50cm but 50 cm better length for stacking also I find that a 25cm log in a crate with top covered will dry more quickly, it of course also depends on location and weather, have got oak down to 20% in one season but normally it’s two for me or 18 months. 

 

 

[dig-dug-dan]

56 minutes ago, Vedhoggar said:

A 25cm long log will season more quickly than a 50cm but 50 cm better length for stacking also I find that a 25cm log in a crate with top covered will dry more quickly, it of course also depends on location and weather, have got oak down to 20% in one season but normally it’s two for me or 18 months. 

 

 

Oak can get to 20% in a season, but only on the outside. If you split it open and read the internals, you may be surprised!