Splitting and Seasoning Oak

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Yeah, we don't see extremes like you clearly do.  You have to do what works for you.

 

Norwegian Wood (a good book) covers a shed design with doors that are removed in summer and fitted in winter to keep the snow out. I have no experience of such a design but it sounds sensible, you get air in summer and keeps snow out in winter.  I built log racks out of old fence posts for the verticals and roof supports with slat walls and floor made from planks from pallets.  One has a slat roof which works OK, lets a bit of water in with heavy rain but wood dries OK.  Other has corrugated plastic roof.  Sounds like this sort of thing would be of little use for you in winter.  Even here the plastic roof is not lasting, will probably need replacing this year but the idea was to get more heat in there in summer.  Not sure what I'll try next.

 

I too keep the wood outside initially, try to keep 2 years of worth of wood on site if I can.  1 year split and under cover to burn and the rest as it arrived, in a stack with a simple cover over the top; old advertising hording (sort of material they make curtain sides for trucks out of) with whatever planks to hand to hold it down, mostly fence posts as they last and are free.

 

In the process of building a 3.6mx3.6m covered area (put the roof up last year) and will be putting a floor in plus some slatted walls in this year.  I used to dry half my wood outside in summer and then put it in the garage (then refill the racks) but that was not great with trying to get a car in there as well + made a mess.  Wood was very dry as a result though despite the limited time in the racks.  Aim for me is not to bring it inside now but leave it all under this new covered area.  Longer time to dry but will be outside in winter so may get damp again.

[Gabriel82]

@Rob_the_Sparky yes, around here is either too cold(minus 15-20 Celcius+blizzards/snow) or too hot(35-40 celcius) with weeks/months of no rain... Last I remember was 3 months of no rain but full sun clear sky and 38-40 celcius in the shade 😂🙄🤔 hard to believe everything won't dry up fast... Oak included 😁

Only way I see it, the ideal firewood shed must be built like this:

1.Clear walls and roof but able to stand up in summer or winter storms. 

2.Ventilators blowing air non stop underneath the wood stacks.(hot air rises so with a little help so will humidity/water). One fan smaller in size ,to evacuate air from inside in the upper side of the shed(on the side to be protected from rain).

3. Solar powered heating elements  under the wood stacks running non-stop. 

Risk of setting the whole shed+firewood on fire is high. But I'm willing to bet my life ,after 12 months of this kind of "seasoning+shed" the firewood will be like out of the gas oven 😁 

Especially here in Romania ,where I wouldn't force anyone to stay in the sun for more than 1 hour without water(not even my worse enemy 😁 ) . 

Except if you're at Vama Veche beach ,Black Sea resort and your behind is in water(risky stuff these days with some ukrainian mines reaching Constanta shore and exploding in full summer season...). 

But anyway: a firewood seasoning shed must be designed well and built carefully. Benefits are kiln like dried wood. If you really want or need such dry firewood. 

I think I'll have to build some things like these to store the rest of firewood(A LOT) since today I ran out of space to store it... Near the shed... 

And I"m not even done splitting all the log slices... 🤕 

 

 

Edited February 22 by Gabriel82

[Gabriel82]

@Rob_the_Sparky yes, I find winter in UK very confusing. It's more like autumn in Romania. Nice to not freeze up but so damp...

This is one reason I didn't liked UK ,besides others more important... 

Maybe diesel/ heating oil stove is more suited for heating in UK?! Or coal stoves... 

Although I have no clue what prices are now in UK for heating oil/diesel or coal... Compared to firewood...

[Stere]

Any Sweet chesnut coppice about in Romania?

 

Or black locust, & acacia..

 

Acacia Poles - Products

WWW.ACACIABOIS.COM

---

Poles (round, peeled, pointy): small diameters for fencing, large diameters for earthworks, river bank restoration (tunnage).

 

 If so you could  make  a nice shed from the round poles etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22 by Stere

[Gabriel82]

@Stere I'm a bit confused about the name of these trees... Maybe I'll find them by latin name. This black locust seems to be some acacia type of tree... 

There's a hilly mountain area 30-40 km long ,where I cycle sundays and last I remember it's full of flowers like the black locust has! One thing is for sure: in hilly mountaineous area here ,where young people left for western europe and old people died, it's full of acacia trees. Grows very fast and nobody touches them(lately people got in jail because of theft from secular forests). So now you think twice about cutting anything... 

Acacia is used here as live fence too. And goats love them leaves 😁 

I have a wood supplier for firewood and a supplier for construction wood products. It's 1,2km from me. I just call her(a very nice lady that also drives forestry trucks) ,tell her what I want and next day or whenever has the requested 4x4 or wood lumber ,I get it home! It's a trust thing, been buying from her since 2008 ,couldn't be more happy 😁 

I'll have the wood for the storing "rack" monday , will be keep spliting oak until then. Building it should be easy ,I'll post some pictures when I'm done. So far I'm happy it splits easy and not like hornbeam... 

What is sweet chesnut coppice?!  

[sime42]

13 hours ago, Stere said:

Any Sweet chesnut coppice about in Romania?

 

Or black locust, & acacia..

 

Acacia Poles - Products

WWW.ACACIABOIS.COM

---

Poles (round, peeled, pointy): small diameters for fencing, large diameters for earthworks, river bank restoration (tunnage).

 

 If so you could  make  a nice shed from the round poles etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That looks good. We could do with a supplier like that in the UK. It would be nice to have a readily available alternative to tanalised softwood timber, (which normally rots after not many years anyway).

 

 

[Stere]

Robinia pseudoacacia - Black locust or False  Acacia

Castanea sativa - Sweet Chestnut

 

Bit about Sweet Chesnut coppice:

 

Coppicing - Hampshire Chestnut

WWW.HAMPSHIRECHESTNUT.CO.UK

---

Sweet chestnut coppice is cut in rotation much like Hazel. In this case the stools are around 22yrs in age, a good time to...

 

There are a few UK suppliers  that import Robinia &  Ive seem them used for playground structures.

 

Robinia Timber | agricultural-fencing

WWW.AGRIFENCING.CO.UK

 

From the look of it the poles,  also sand down  really  smooth so are ideally suited.

 

Looks alot better  aesthetically than tanalized, & will last longer plus  more eco.

 

Id be happy to pay a few quid more over tanalized for fence posts etc that lasted better.

 

 

 

 

 

Loads grown  in Hungary even though its a  non native has become there "national tree".

 

 

 

Dunno why  or if  it could not also be grown  in the UK but I suppose we already have Sweet Chestnut that does a similar job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23 by Stere

[sime42]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

Robinia pseudoacacia - Black locust or False  Acacia

Castanea sativa - Sweet Chestnut

 

Bit about Sweet Chesnut coppice:

 

Coppicing - Hampshire Chestnut

WWW.HAMPSHIRECHESTNUT.CO.UK

---

Sweet chestnut coppice is cut in rotation much like Hazel. In this case the stools are around 22yrs in age, a good time to...

 

There are a few UK suppliers  that import Robinia &  Ive seem them used for playground structures.

 

Robinia Timber | agricultural-fencing

WWW.AGRIFENCING.CO.UK

 

From the look of it the poles,  also sand down  really  smooth so are ideally suited.

 

Looks alot better  aesthetically than tanalized, & will last longer plus  more eco.

 

Id be happy to pay a few quid more over tanalized for fence posts etc that lasted better.

 

 

 

 

 

Loads grown  in Hungary even though its a  non native has become there "national tree".

 

 

 

Dunno why  or if  it could not also be grown  in the UK but I suppose we already have Sweet Chestnut that does a similar job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's got some impressive stats. Harder and denser than Oak, and more durable than Sweet Chestnut.

 

I've turned a few bits and pieces. It looks very attractive but can be tricky to get a decent finish as it's so hard.

 

[5thelement]

4 hours ago, sime42 said:

 

That looks good. We could do with a supplier like that in the UK. It would be nice to have a readily available alternative to tanalised softwood timber, (which normally rots after not many years anyway).

 

 

There is if you live anywhere on the South coast of England or Hereford, where there is a burgeoning Sweet chestnut coppice product industry. 

[Stere]

I was under the impression alot of it was overstood and derelict  & not heard of any  new land planted so not sure if  it is thriving or  in decline as a industry?