Ash age hardening ?

[Aunt Maud]

I bet they burn just fine at 18%.

 

All this kiln drying of firewood down to parchment % is a waste of resources, time and money.

[Stubby]

I bet they burn just fine at 18%.

 

All this kiln drying of firewood down to parchment % is a waste of resources, time and money.

 

Absolutely .

[cornish wood burner]

Could well be so, I'm watching my test logs gradually increase in weight since oven drying, I burned the birch for Xmas, cracking timber the way the bark lights up as soon as on the fire. The ash log is gaining 2 grams/day and plainly the centre will be lagging the outside whichever way it goes.

 

I have never won a coconut, not even throwing wooden balls at one.

You obviously didn't allow for the Cornish weather we've been having.

[cornish wood burner]

I bet they burn just fine at 18%.

 

All this kiln drying of firewood down to parchment % is a waste of resources, time and money.

They burn very well. Probably the driest I've seen for a while.

I did get some slab wood under 18% in the summer after being stacked for a couple of years but that's unusual here.

[Stubby]

My stack is out side open to the elements . In the summer I process what I need and fill my log stores . The two out side stores loose moisture quickly and the inside store ( garage ) looses it at a slower rate . As winter approaches the out side logs take up a bit of moisture from the air were as the inside logs don't . So by the end of winter the inside logs are dryer than the outside logs albeit taking a longer time . All the wood is around the 10-12% when tested with an ordinary meter . End of the day you burn what you got ! .

[se7enthdevil]

i bought in a few lumps of oak that i split in january thinking that they probably need another year to be good and dry. i weighed a bit then cooked it next to the fore expecting a 10-20% loss in weight. it lost 30 grams from 585...

 

11 months is enough it seems.

[Aunt Maud]

I've got a circular stack on the go with a lot of Beech and Sycamore in it.

 

I was thinking of leaving it for two years, but I've just been outside and put my cheek to the side of it and I can feel the wind going through it.

 

It's going to be between 25 - 30 cubic meters or more, depending on its stability when I get up to 3 metres high. I reckon it'll be ready to burn for next winter.

 

I've built beehive type stacks before, but not on this scale and they've dried really well, if they're built so the wind can blow through them.

[cornish wood burner]

i bought in a few lumps of oak that i split in january thinking that they probably need another year to be good and dry. i weighed a bit then cooked it next to the fore expecting a 10-20% loss in weight. it lost 30 grams from 585...

 

11 months is enough it seems.

5% is very low unless you are in a desert. It might have needed longer cooking. Even in the last hour of 24 in the oven at around 60 to 80 deg C my 480 gram piece still lost 2 grams.

[Aunt Maud]

I think a lot of these low moisture readings are false, when you consider that the typical moisture content of timber flooring laid over heating elements is 9%. *

 

* Desch and Dinwoodie, Timber - Structure, Properties, Conversion and Use 7th. Edition - Macmillan 1996.

[Stubby]

I think a lot of these low moisture readings are false, when you consider that the typical moisture content of timber flooring laid over heating elements is 9%. *

 

* Desch and Dinwoodie, Timber - Structure, Properties, Conversion and Use 7th. Edition - Macmillan 1996.

 

This is true . I only use my moisture meter as a compariter . It tell you that some wood is dryer than others . As I said you godda burn what you got .