Rapid Drying - has anyone done it ?

[Catweazle]

I know the best way is to leave it out in the open somewhere with a good breeze, and I have a good supply of Sweet Chestnut cut last spring for normal day / evening use, but I want something dense and heavy to keep the stove going through the night and Sweet Chestnut won't do it.

 

So, I have 8 tons of Hornbeam which burns for hours when dry, but it's green and needs drying. I am currently collecting the bits for my home-build charcoal burner and I reckon I can dry some in it,

 

Has anyone tried this ? If so, is there any advice you can offer ?

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

[chestnut]

i have a great supply of hornbeam - great wood for burning

 

i use it green on a hot fire (i don't sell the hornbeam - but will charcoal some)

[Tree Man Tom]

What i do, whilst having the fire lit throughout the evening is place 2 or 3 large lumps of green oak infront of the fire. IMO they dry enough to be able to put on the fire before you go off to bed, and will burn all through the night. Maybe you could try this sorta thing yourself? Although with hornbeam in your case

 

Tom

[woodrascal]

This is no use on a commercial scale, but we dry green wood off in the low oven of our Esse W23 woodfired cooker. You can cram a good days worth of hardwood in there. If you leave it in for 16-20 hours or so it usually comes out fairly dry.

 

We're currently drying some nice greenish oak in there (barked, split logs). It's going in at over 40%MC and coming out at around 18%MC. Burns a treat:001_smile:

[Darren]

Stack it around you stove.