advice on wood please

[Lyn Ed]

padawan ?

[Stubby]

padawan ?

 

Sopunds a bit " Star wars " ? Not sure who padawan is but .

[gensetsteve]

too much for one load not enough for two. Maple splits and burns the same as beech hard to tell the difference in my stove.

[Alycidon]

Do you find that makes much difference? Common wisdom is that most water is lost through the end grain (although clearly some is lost through the long grain otherwise end-sealed timber would never dry). I like to stack firewood "round" as the splitting gives a quick visual estimate of how it's drying.

 

Tony S

 

If you want the wood season fast then yes. You are correct in the fact the moisture mainly escapes from the end grain as the bark is just about water proof. Rain cant get in when growing, moisture cant get out.

 

If there is no bark on your log then if its under 3 inch no real point in splitting but if bark is present then split for optimum MC and heat performance.

 

I processed some soft a couple of summers ago, 4% on the ends, a foot into the log 27%, they had been felled and stacked 2 years.

 

A

[aesmith]

Cheers, I wouldn't question what you say about intact logs. I was thinking more in terms of sawn to 9" lengths but not split (my preference), compared to both sawn and split. Similar to your comment we had some Ash and some unspecified softwood that had been felled several years ago and just left as logs. As you say once you're away from the immediate sawn ends it was as wet as wet.

[gensetsteve]

Even 3" stuff cut to 10" long can take an age to season unless the bark falls off. We have some beech logs bagged 2 years ago still 25% in the middle. I have beech cut and split last summer now under 20%

[Woodworks]

Do you find that makes much difference? Common wisdom is that most water is lost through the end grain (although clearly some is lost through the long grain otherwise end-sealed timber would never dry). I like to stack firewood "round" as the splitting gives a quick visual estimate of how it's drying.

 

Tony S

 

I was not sure about this so I carried out a basic test. The log with bark on is still not quite dry.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/53749-log-drying-test.html

[aesmith]

I was not sure about this so I carried out a basic test. The log with bark on is still not quite dry.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/53749-log-drying-test.html

That's an interesting set of results. Of course I always knew that some water was lost through the long grain, but I was convinced it wasn't significant compared to the loss though the end grain. Clearly wrong looking at your sample 3 which got down to 80% in 5 days, compared to sample 1 taking 14. And that doesn't even account for the extra long grain surface area once a given log's split into many chunks. I suppose that's it actually, the end grain loses water faster, but there's much more long grain area so it's total effect is greater.

 

I wonder if you'd see similar results with diffuse porous timbers.

[loskie]

you're all forgetting that if it does need splitting then it is easier to get it done now whilst green.

Just get it fired into the transit and get it home before someone comes along and steals it.

[Johny Walker]

about 3/4 of a ton ,