De Barking timber for seasoning

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, josharb87 said:

Neither

Oh go on, play along.

[openspaceman]

14 hours ago, Stere said:

Birch here would just go rotten I think   your climate must be less wet maybe

 

In a "celtic rainforest"  type enviro wood left out doesn't do well seasoning

 

 

 

Thoose stacks look cool though.

Turnery poles were birch and alder with occasionally ash accepted and in a 700-800mm rainfall area from your map I think. Seasoned ready for the lathe in a summer. Without the striping they were doty in the same period, which is why we aimed to fell, extract and deliver in the winter. Once delivered a machine knocked stripes off. Thus avoiding manual striping in the woods.

Edited March 19, 2023 by openspaceman
added sentence for clarification

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

SPLIT FRESH!CUT FRESH! EASY!

[Vigen Tigen]

14 hours ago, sandspider said:

I stripe logs that are too thin to be worth splitting, but too thick to dry quick enough on their own. Just run the saw chain down the full length, making sure you get through the cambium layer so moisture can get out. You could do it two or three times if you can be bothered. I think striping helps but usually only have time to do it once.

So there is no need to strip bark of a split log as splitting is enough to facilitate seasoning? 

[sandspider]

If all else is equal, then yes, splitting is better. But striping is better than nothing. Cutting short helps as moisture escapes more from the ends of logs than the split faces.

[Steven P]

So, you are going to cut the logs to firewood length eventually, and split to the right thickness where necessary eventually. If you are not doing that now you want to add another process and couple of minutes each taking some bark off. Have fun. I can see the point if the log is going to be used for something else, made into something, but to be put on a fire?

 

Me, I would use the time chopping them to length / double length (double length is easier to stack), the cut end (x2, once for each end) surface area is going to be larger than running a saw down it or a blade or whatever, and am sure it won't take that much longer. For drying we need a large surface area of wood (not bark). If you can split them as soon as you can too that doubles (?) the surface area.

 

And do it as soon as you can too - do it in October and you have missed a whole drying season (willow takes 1 to 2 years to season, to dry), get it stacked now in a 'wind tunnel' location with sun you might be able to use it next (2023 - 2024) winter (example, my drive is a good wind tunnel - house either side the wind is tunnelled along the wood stack, err drive)

[Vigen Tigen]

Thank you for your feedback. About to install a log gasification biomass heating system and the burner takes logs up to half a metre long, so will need to up my game when it comes to chopping/storing/seasoning timber as previously chopped wood for log burners.  Started storing the large logs in the holzhausen style to facilitate drying before then moving into a woodshed. As the willow grows on river banks at my property, it's very wet 😏 and have been stripping the bark off split logs but are now questioning if this is worthwhile doing, as splitting the logs should be enough to facilitate seasoning to less than 20% water content in 2 years? (I'd rather forego the extra work of bark stipping unless it’s really necessary)

[Vigen Tigen]

On 18/03/2023 at 11:13, david lawrence said:

Log it up and split it as you go if possible

willow can get quite stringy and awkward once’s it’s dry

Yep, learn't and keep on learning that the hard way😆😏

Edited March 20, 2023 by Vigen Tigen

[Vigen Tigen]

On 19/03/2023 at 17:00, Steven P said:

So, you are going to cut the logs to firewood length eventually, and split to the right thickness where necessary eventually. If you are not doing that now you want to add another process and couple of minutes each taking some bark off. Have fun. I can see the point if the log is going to be used for something else, made into something, but to be put on a fire?

 

Me, I would use the time chopping them to length / double length (double length is easier to stack), the cut end (x2, once for each end) surface area is going to be larger than running a saw down it or a blade or whatever, and am sure it won't take that much longer. For drying we need a large surface area of wood (not bark). If you can split them as soon as you can too that doubles (?) the surface area.

 

And do it as soon as you can too - do it in October and you have missed a whole drying season (willow takes 1 to 2 years to season, to dry), get it stacked now in a 'wind tunnel' location with sun you might be able to use it next (2023 - 2024) winter (example, my drive is a good wind tunnel - house either side the wind is tunnelled along the wood stack, err drive)

Thank you for your feedback. About to install a log gasification biomass heating system and the burner takes logs up to half a metre long, so will need to up my game when it comes to chopping/storing/seasoning timber as previously chopped wood for log burners.  Started storing the large logs in the holzhausen style to facilitate drying before then moving into a woodshed. As the willow grows on river banks at my property, it's very wet 😏 and have been stripping the bark off split logs but are now questioning if this is worthwhile doing, as splitting the logs should be enough to facilitate seasoning to less than 20% water content in 2 years? (I'd rather forego the extra work of bark stipping unless it’s really necessary)

[Dan Maynard]

Bark will fall off the willow when it dries anyway. I'd definitely not waste time stripping it.