Seasoning Firewood

[openspaceman]

7 hours ago, MarkyAB said:

I’m on the Derbyshire border of Sheffield, so in terms of rainfall we typically don’t have anything too excessive (apart from the odd storm). Where the stacks are situation may not receive an abundance of sun, but plenty of air/wind.

I'm in a low rainfall area and for most of my working life I had an uncovered stack about 5ft high and two or three logs deep. Most of the logs remained dryish but then it was not at all unusual to see blue smoke from the chimney, Now with a modern stove I don't see smoke after start up because my logs are under cover and mostly well under 20% mc.

[Stubby]

Probably been said above but ....Rain off , air flow through . Simples

[GarethM]

Yup, it isn't rocket science or a dark art.

Anyone that believes its some mysterious black magic lead into gold, needs to calm down.

[Paul in the woods]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

Probably been said above but ....Rain off , air flow through . Simples

 

Easy for you to say. This last couple of months the air flow around here has been very wet. Quite a bit of almost horizontal rain in all these storms.

 

Having said that I've been pleasantly surprised that logs a couple of layers down in an uncovered stack have still been about 20% moisture. If only it would stay dry for a few weeks.

[MarkyAB]

1 hour ago, GarethM said:

Yup, it isn't rocket science or a dark art.

Anyone that believes its some mysterious black magic lead into gold, needs to calm down.

That’s a shame, black magic and gold sounds far more exciting! 

[GarethM]

2 minutes ago, MarkyAB said:

That’s a shame, black magic and gold sounds far more exciting! 

If you want to eat 1980s chocolates and drinking Nescafé gold blend whilst watching the fire, that's up to you 🙂

[MarkyAB]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

Probably been said above but ....Rain off , air flow through . Simples

In being ready to burn, I have no doubt!

 

But is there a difference between seasoning and drying?

 

I’m sure people often to both at the same time to have more ready wood available sooner - but is there a place for seasoning in the open then moving to a sheltered location to dry in advance of burning? 
 

Still fairly new to this so a genuine question

[GarethM]

5 minutes ago, MarkyAB said:

In being ready to burn, I have no doubt!

 

But is there a difference between seasoning and drying?

 

I’m sure people often to both at the same time to have more ready wood available sooner - but is there a place for seasoning in the open then moving to a sheltered location to dry in advance of burning? 
 

Still fairly new to this so a genuine question

Not really much difference, I've best part of 300 ibcs sat outside with wooden lids all getting down to below 20%.

 

We measure rain in meters here, I'll drag a cage into the shed for a day or two just to get rid of any surface moisture.

 

Six months and it's usually enough.

Edited February 4 by GarethM

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, MarkyAB said:

In being ready to burn, I have no doubt!

 

But is there a difference between seasoning and drying?

 

I’m sure people often to both at the same time to have more ready wood available sooner - but is there a place for seasoning in the open then moving to a sheltered location to dry in advance of burning? 
 

Still fairly new to this so a genuine question

Seasoning is allowing the sap to come out of the wood so that is no longer " green " If seasoned logs become wet from rain they will dry out much quicker that un seasoned logs . So covered but with a gap above the stack allowing the air to flow . Logs ( some more than others ) will absorb moisture from the ambient air . Say you get m/c down to 12% in the summer it may well come back up to 18% in the winter due to the moisture content of the air . This cant really be helped if air drying .  Not a big problem .

[MarkyAB]

3 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Not really much difference, I've best part of 300 ibcs sat outside with wooden lids all getting down to below 20%.

 

We measure rain in meters here, I'll drag a cage into the shed for a day or two just to get rid of any surface moisture.

 

Six months and it's usually enough.

Thanks, that helps! 
 

So what would you do in my position? Cover now with a temporary solution (pallet, tarp etc) or leave until September time to cover and dry out? 
 

My other covered stacks are what I’m intending to use next season, but these are all hardwood, so I wouldn’t be averse to having a little softwood available too