What is seasoned?

[18 stoner]

Technically if it's been drying for a full year then it can be called seasoned but I wouldn't say it's ready to burn at 26%.

 

Thats why the moisture test is the truest way to test, not length of time seasoned, hence, I guess what Dave was asking.

 

Logs that are split large, heaped outside under trees wrapped in plastic sheet in an area with no wind or sun, will cure vary differently to those split small kept in vented bags in a poly tunnel with plenty of air circulation.

 

Moisture meter on a freshly split side will give the best indication how seasoned they are. Experience of burning them yourself will give the best guide to what the best content for burning should be. Anything well below 20 for me:thumbup1:

[scbk]

Thats why the moisture test is the truest way to test, not length of time seasoned, hence, I guess what Dave was asking.

 

What about wood that is seasoned but wet from rain?

 

 

Also maybe my moisture meter isn't very good but I have stuff which is very well seasoned in a shed and that's about 20%. Don't see how you could get it any drier at this time of year without a heated building/kiln? And even then unless you kept it in the house it would soak up moisture again

[eggsarascal]

What is the MAXIMUM moisture content you feel comfortable to describe as seasoned ( and all the people that have just started to type `well I only sell my barn 5 year stored seasoned ash at 12%` SAVE IT)

 

Anything around 25% and under. Sold two loads to the local pub and watched it burn tonight, looked and felt perfect. The logs were between 20% and 25%.

Edited December 2, 2011 by eggsarascal

[Big J]

If you are consistently selling your logs with a moisture content of less than 25% you are selling a better quality product that the majority of 'firewood retailers' out there.

 

I would be intrigued to hear what B&Q and garage forecourt MC averages were!

[Hodge]

2 year old stored in lengths out side, wet on the outsid, when split they are damp on the inside, once in a dry enviroment like a vented wood shed or porch ets they soon dry out and i have no trouble burning them. i hadnt had my liner swept for 2 years and when i did have it done the sweep said you must be burning good wood as the flue is pretty clean. i think you can get a bit anal about how dry wood is, unless you have a large enough storage area you can struggle to store large amounts of split stuff. I am now waiting for the barrage of abuse:thumbup:

[Michael C]

2 year old stored in lengths out side, wet on the outsid, when split they are damp on the inside, once in a dry enviroment like a vented wood shed or porch ets they soon dry out and i have no trouble burning them. i hadnt had my liner swept for 2 years and when i did have it done the sweep said you must be burning good wood as the flue is pretty clean. i think you can get a bit anal about how dry wood is, unless you have a large enough storage area you can struggle to store large amounts of split stuff. I am now waiting for the barrage of abuse:thumbup:

 

I agree totally. Its fine if you are dealing with smaller quantities to be treating each log like a baby, but I dont think its feasable with large m3.

The main thing is to be honest with customers, and its their choice after that.

[Big J]

I think that just as crucial as MC if not more is knowing how a fire should burn. Get a flue thermometer and make sure that it's always in the 'green' zone. I've met so many people that think that letting the fire 'tick over' (ie, smoulder) is fine. You get next to no heat, and it tars up the chimney, regardless of moisture content.

 

Jonathan

[corylus]

This might seem a silly question but as you are all talking about seasoned logs here goes.

Is 'seasoning' JUST the removal of moisture, or is there something else 'drying' out?

Is there any change in the levels of 'volatiles' (or whatever the technical term is)?

[welwell]

Ours is below 25%

[marka]

This might seem a silly question but as you are all talking about seasoned logs here goes.

Is 'seasoning' JUST the removal of moisture, or is there something else 'drying' out?

Is there any change in the levels of 'volatiles' (or whatever the technical term is)?

 

I'd be interested in this out of scientific curiosity. There may be a difference between drying and ageing, for instance a softwood with lots of sap/resin, it may dry out, which would make the resin much more viscous. Over time however I'd image that the resin could polymerise and therefore change its chemical properties. A polymerisation which kicks out water molecules could actually increase the energy value of the fuel. Volatiles other than water I'd guess could have two options, polymerise into bigger molecules, or evaporate.

 

I imagine that the chemical ageing of wood would be quite interesting. A quick google hunt turned up this:

http://joyx.joensuu.fi/~karenlam/petri/mechan/4496Hill.pdf

It isn't directly related to firewood, but after a quick look it appears that the properties of wood can change quite a bit with different treatments. This interested me:

"Drying at temperatures from 100-180C resulted in a reduction of equilibrium moisture content by as much as 3% compared with air dried wood."

 

It would be easy enough to test, with the right kit and enough time....

 

Different samples of wood of different ages / moiture contents placed in a calorimeter to determine the heat of combustion. A large number of samples would be needed to control for the huge number of variables. Other chemical techniques could be used to look for other potential changes, but this sort of work would probably get you a phd if you could find a sponsor!

 

My gut feeling as an (ex)chemist is that time will change the physical properties of the wood, so 15% 12month dried wood may well behave differently to 15% 36month old wood. Ultimately though it would probably burn just the same so it's just academic interest.