Splitting and Seasoning Oak

[sime42]

i got this lot at the weekend. Quite a bargain i reckon: £50 for prime Oak rounds. Nice and clean and still green so splits lovely. Its the first load of firewood I've ever had to buy so glad I didn't pay through the nose for it.

 

[openspaceman]

4 hours ago, Gabriel82 said:

if you can plug/put a lid on that chimney after the burning ends ,you could keep it warm for longer since no convection air gets moved around it anymore! 

Yes I think that is done with purpose built masonry stoves but impractical in my case as there is always some air passage open to my stove and even if I could plug the top of the chimney there would be an increased risk from carbon monoxide.

 

Here is a picture from the same spot in the morning, before the fire is lit and some 8 hours since the stove was left to go out.

[sime42]

Good work!

That looks like Oak to me. If it was in front of me I would smell it to confirm. It has a quite distinctive aroma, reminiscent of vinegar to my nose. What can you smell?

Oak can split really easily like you've found, if it's fresh, straight, clean stems. I had some recently that was like that.

[Steven P]

Looks like oak, or very similar, slow grown - lots of close growth rings = lots of energy.

 

Splitting should be reasonably easy just now - still fresh, straight grain, and very few branches. I find the small branches are what slows me down the most. Something like that I'd be doing some splits one handed just because it will.

[Steven P]

Never split acacia but it looks very twisty - a tricky one

[5thelement]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

Never split acacia but it looks very twisty - a tricky one

Acacia splits surprisingly easily, it can be cleft for post and rail just like Sweetchestnut, turns well, has great colour and burns better than most European hardwoods. 

[Mik the Miller]

Oak is my favourite. Yes it takes a while to season (2 years minimum here in Scotland) but it really is the best for my woodstove. Spliting is easy when fresh and I make up a stack of 30mm square pieces as well as the 100/150mm chunks. The smaller pieces are great for rejuvanating the fire and the bigger pieces for a long burn.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

To dry wood you want a lot of air flow (to get rid of the humidity/evaporating water), can't see a lot of that shed but from the photo it looks quite enclosed so drying might be a bit slower than an ideal situation, unless it is more open than it looks.

[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.

[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, 2024 by Stere