Splitting and Seasoning Oak

[openspaceman]

5 hours ago, Stubby said:

Oak takes at least 2 years more like 5 ! Also I would mix it with Sycamore or similar .

Yes oak does fry slower than most and if left in the round hardly dries at all but cut and split for firewood and left under cover in free moving air it will dry below 20%  mc in any of the months May till end of August in UK.

 

As has been pointed out the air has to be able to move through the stack and a log tightly packed deep in the stack may not dry very well but, as long as it cannot be re-wetted, over time it will reach an equilibrium with the surrounding air of less than 20%.

 

Most of my stack gets well below 20% in a year, I have no space to store more, but I still pull an occasional log which I can see free water from as it burns.

[Muddy42]

Another tip is to split a log before using a moisture tester to get a true measurement of the water still trapped inside.

 

In the uk, if you start early, split very small, stack outside for a bit, then bring undercover for a bit more, but still exposed to sun and wind, you might just season wood enough to burn that winter. But this is hard work if doing it by hand and a longer would always be safer.

 

Also you really tell what your wood is like with an open fire and the hissing, stoves burn any old wood.

 

 

 

[Gabriel82]

On 02/12/2024 at 16:51, Steven P said:

Sounds like the above was true and 6 months seasoning isn't enough for oak... 2 years is better.

 

I assume you are storing it outside or somewhere with a good airflow at that too - a mostly sealed garage will get damp inside for example, difference in air moisture and log moisture is reduced and drying speed slows. Don't stack drying logs to close together either, the stacks need air gaps for air flow. Last comment, taking a bucket of logs off the top of a wood pile will also take last weeks rain with it, taken from the middle might give better results.... but you'll knock the wood pile over trying to get them.

got the oak in logs ,average size/diameter. I split them all in february/march ,average split 5-6 cm by 30 cm length .there's a photo a page back. stored outside in the air/sun ,covered by transparent plastic sheet. 

don't wanna talk $!@# about oak wood but for f...s sake in the years before this I always had beech and hornbeam logs cut and split the same time february/march and in one year they were dry as f... ready to burn. 

nevermind 18-20 months of dry 40 degrees celcius Romania heat summers( yes they stay for 2 summers in the air under plastic transparent sheet to dry...). 

All I can say ,maybe next 2025 november this oak will be dry enough good to burn... 

Or else it's not for me for sure... 

I can manage do just fine heating a ceramic tile stove with beech ,hornbeam and wood briquettes in 3-4 hours of burn time. After all that's the purpose and what I've been doing for years(many have done this for decades here in Romania). The only new thing in this are the wood briquettes wich them alone can heat the ceramic tile stove in 3-4 hours ,with some wood(ANY type) thrown in there just to have a good fire maintained). 

I just got oak because the guy that sells me firewood can bring me at home ANY type of hardwood in logs freshly cut. So far hornbeam was amazing in dry time or how it maintained in time while im storage or how much heat it released and burn time in the stove. Beech burns faster but still heats up the stove just the same as other wood mentioned or briquettes. 

bottom line : if in november 2025 this split oak doesn't perform as beech or hornbeam (nevermind wood briquettes that are drier than anything and readily available by 40 ton truck if I need them) ,I see no reason to mess around with oak. 

Not for me!