What is seasoned?

[Mesterh]

I thought that in general wood had a MC of around 19-20% and it would stabilise at that.

 

Therefore isnt it pointless getting any lower unless its vacuum packed and used immediately after opening?

[corylus]

Someone pointed me to this Wood Equilibrium Moisture Content Calculator from Wood Workers Source.com in another thread.

 

If you live in the moist northern hills and are getting 20% you are not doing too bad!

[Crazy Cutter]

Usually because they dont understand that burning any green wood is not efficient, and will still tar the chimney.

 

It just so happens that ash will burn green and is readily available so many people are led to think its a good wood to burn!

 

Lets just remember that when the firewood poem was made up and other sayings, the woodburner wasn't used here just huge open fires in the average country home. Logs were rare just big faggots which would have dried quicker than a log. We are the ones now who need to be telling people what is good to burn or suitable for woodburners. The customer is still thinking open fires with a mountain of coal to get it going! Hope that makes sense.

[shanks]

Anything under 25% goes on my fire, Pulled a fair amount of felled spruce off the hills from the FC this summer. Had been there a few years I would guess and was reading around 19% in the summer. Burns like a dream.

[Big J]

Another reason for attempting to get firewood under 20% is that up until that point, you are drying out all of the free water in the wood (ie, water stored in reservoirs within the cell - not a very good description but the only one that comes to mind at this time on a Sunday morning!). Beyond 20% you are then drying out the bound water (bound within the cell walls) which is very much more difficult as anyone with a timber drying kiln will tell you. It's also far slower.

 

So I ask, when 20-25% is better than 95% of your competitors, and is absolutely fine for the job, why invest the additional 6 months in getting another 5% MC out?

[farmer rod]

Someone pointed me to this Wood Equilibrium Moisture Content Calculator from Wood Workers Source.com in another thread.

 

If you live in the moist northern hills and are getting 20% you are not doing too bad!

 

So if you only buy well aged logs from Phoenix Arizona you can be assured that they are properly dry

[Pete Tattam]

Not very well informed on this but I would have thought if the wood is exceptionally dry it would burn faster, meaning having to use more wood over slightly less dry wood. Good for the suppliers perhaps but not so good for the punters. Also some woods burn hotter than others (is that calorific value?). I only produce very small quantities which I sell at low low prices to friends and neighbours so I follow the "tell em the truth" principle. I inform them what type of wood it is, how long it's been split and suggest if they should keep it a while longer before burning. Never had a complaint.

[skyhuck]

Not very well informed on this but I would have thought if the wood is exceptionally dry it would burn faster, meaning having to use more wood over slightly less dry wood. Good for the suppliers perhaps but not so good for the punters. Also some woods burn hotter than others (is that calorific value?). I only produce very small quantities which I sell at low low prices to friends and neighbours so I follow the "tell em the truth" principle. I inform them what type of wood it is, how long it's been split and suggest if they should keep it a while longer before burning. Never had a complaint.

 

No, your far better controlling the speed of burn by controlling the air supply.

[18 stoner]

Not very well informed on this but I would have thought if the wood is exceptionally dry it would burn faster, meaning having to use more wood over slightly less dry wood. Good for the suppliers perhaps but not so good for the punters. Also some woods burn hotter than others (is that calorific value?). I only produce very small quantities which I sell at low low prices to friends and neighbours so I follow the "tell em the truth" principle. I inform them what type of wood it is, how long it's been split and suggest if they should keep it a while longer before burning. Never had a complaint.

 

Each log has its own amount of calories, dry or wet.

 

If you burn the log wet, many of those calories are used up heating up and burning the moisture(steam and tar created)

 

If the same log were dryer, those calories could be released in heat out of the fire/stove.

 

A balance is needed though, as to not introduce decay as a result of the extra time needed to dry/season, as this will reduce its calorific value.

[openspaceman]

Yes the same was done when summer felling Sycamore for furniture timber, the leave continue to transpire (is that the right term??) so most of the sap is draw out reducing the chance of staining.

 

Never risked that, the saying was fell on Xmas Eve, transport on Xmas day and mill on Boxing day.

 

Oak was often felled in late winter, left at stump and extracted after the hay harvest and then milled in the Autumn so that initial drying in the stick was not too fast.

 

AJH