This comment has nothing to do with your wonderful content. It has more to do with how much I appreciate how you organized the video. Great intro, body, and conclusion. Very easy to understand. Nice job!

It will amaze you how fast pine dries once the bark is off…I find that about after 2-4 weeks internal moisture is about 16%

In the south were i live, if i leave fire wood on the open by what y'll do i would just have nothing but sawdust! Between the termites, carpenters ants, power post beetles, woodpeckers there's no way to leave wood that long to dry. Ive heated my cabin for the last fifteen years on ( what ya' ll call ) wet wood That sometimes is only been down a few weeks, i only use oak and a little hickory. Lick to see the electric bills like the one this month's was $78.87 ! I bank up the heater at bed time and set a alarm for five hours, load it again, and go back to bed, Raven out for all the WANDERING JOHNS stay on point

I had two log truck loads of mixed hardwood poles delivered recently. One in mid-February and another a week ago end of Feb. I live in the lower Adirondacks in NY. I wanted the logs delivered in the dead of winter for two reasons; (1) frozen ground = clean logs and a longer time between sharpenings(2) Winter = very low moisture content.. I think seasoning times is greatly effected by *when* the trees were harvested

@rhys5567

7 ай бұрын

In the North In the south where our 'hard woods' are 'evergreen' it doesn't make as much experience imo.

Yep. 6 months on ever greens, cherry, ash... year on hard maple, 2 yrs on oak, hickory, locust. Has always been my rule of thumb.

@StudCity718

2 жыл бұрын

Is this after splitting?

@somewhere-n-Texas

2 ай бұрын

​@StudCity718 yes, after stacking.

a good wood shed open on two ends and open side walls framed 8" on center... good southern exposure... even oak if stacked in my shed in early summer is ready to burn by halloween... wood that isn't split will take longer to season than you will live... usually it just turns to punk

I was thinking that wood you were leaning on looked like Hackberry. Good info about the seasoning!

Excellent advice thanks for sharing!

A lot of times I go through the comment section to find answers for questions I have instead of waiting for a reply I’ll never get back from the KZreadrs cause they rarely answer questions. They mostly just post videos but I’m subscribing anyway cause maybe I’ll watch a video that benefits me. Thanks for posting, good video. Now subscribed

Great video bro, informative and Concise! Nice work

Where I live in western Washington the relative humidity is near 100% for weeks at a time. Wood absorbs moisture, and measurable weight, from the air in those conditions even in a covered shed. Uncovered wood will become soggy and unburnable when the rains come in September or October and stay that way until late next summer. Covered storage is not optional here. In my neighborhood drying wood for one summer is okay if it's split and stacked under cover. Two summers is marginally better. More than that doesn't matter because of the moisture gained in the rainy season.

Another way to quickly dry your firewood for the same season if you cut your own in your woods is to girdle the trees you will cut just before the tree will leave out and the leaves will suck a lot of water out of the wood and it will dry faster when you split it up.

Great info Jon! My locust was seasoning for a year and a half...well ventilated and dry, needless to say it was still not seasoned. 2 years plus sounds right for some types. Spot on brother!

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Ricc!

I had a giant Bradford pear split in half last week in my front yard, and we 'sawed' it into logs for firewood. So in the humid Southern US, I found this video quite helpful.

Excellent info

Good video, I will say though that when cutting wood in the winter when trees are inactive is best because there's a lot less moisture in the wood. I like those round unsplit pieces that you have your hand arm on as they have much longer burn times, and much less work. I try to manage my wood shed so the oldest wood is being burned.

Very helpful! Thank you

hi there this just popped up so i watched , some i agree and some well . i may be the only y/ter that scales fire wood . its interesting to watch the weight go down and up . keep up the good work john

Great video thanks. We’re in the salt Lake areas and so most videos I’ve seen on drying firewood come from the Midwest or the East Coast. We are very fortunate here and have very low humidity very hot spring summer and fall’s and typically a good breeze and lots of sunshine. Drying Cottonwood and elm can take about three months to dry to less than 15% moisture from April through the end of November. Ash, evergreens, Russian olive usually a maximum of two months during that time. We sell commercially and we pride ourselves in the quality of our firewood. From spring to fall and early winter we don’t even cover our ward. And we only cover it in the winter time if we’re going to get a rain or snow storm. There’s so much to consider when talking about drying firewood.

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Hey Peter - thanks for the note! Yeah, I’m sure the local climate plays a big role in drying time. Sounds like the wood that you have in the area (cottonwood, elm, etc.) tends to be less dense than other hardwoods (like Oak) which probably helps those dry times as well. Anyway, thanks for joining the channel, love hearing from folks about their experience.

@lifewithpeter2819

3 жыл бұрын

@@burlybeaver6013 Yeah we don’t really get much maple or oak or that type of denser wood. Like Cottonwood out here is really wet when we cut it but it’s not a dense wood at all. Same with our Ash and elm. But our customers are really happy with our product so that’s all that counts. Keep making those great videos.

Great Info! I was hoping to burn the Oakwood we cut the Spring- this winter. we split it quite small but now I need to go and check how heavy it is and listen for the sound I'm thinking it won't be ready in 2 months from now😢 again very informative!!

I go through about 12 to 14 "face cords" (4'H x 8'W" x 18 to 21"D) of hardwood every winter. On top of all the good things you remarked, I would add "get a moisture meter": it eliminates all the guesswork. Regardless of wood type or how long it's been "seasoning", if it's more than 20% I don't burn it. I aim for 10% or less: fires are easy to start and maintain, they burn hot and clean with no smoke. It's May now and the last of my winter 2020 firewood (about half a face cord) is showing 3% or less moisture content...it moves to the front of the line for winter 2021. As noted, to achieve this without juggling you have to work two years ahead, but the results are worth the effort.

@MattAnderson311

Жыл бұрын

3% is impossible due to the moisture content of the atmosphere. Realistically it’s very difficult to get below 10. I have Oak that’s been sitting under a roof and elevated on a deck for 3 years and the lowest it goes is 12%. If I move it into my cabin and let it sit for a few months in the summer before burning season I can get 10 or 11% because it’s drier inside than outside.

In So Cal we get up to 112 in summer cutting oak but its snowing now ,March hope it will be ready by Dec.. Thanks for the info.

This was a really good video. I like the tip about stacking for sun exposure. I'll offer my 2 cents worth. In NE Ohio I can get sugar maple to season in 6-8 months no problem. Oak can be ready in 12 months but 18 months is best. Hickory is at least 2 years. That's what I've found in my region. Side note, biggest mistake I see people make is completely covering up the stacks with a tarp, your better off to not cover it all if you do that. Just cover the top.

Nice work

Thanks for this. I live in Bowie, MD. We have a wood stove and this is the first year I have gotten serious about understanding how to season wood. My son cut down two oaks on his property and I have been splitting every day since December. I had been splitting slightly larger logs to save labor, but have now begun splitting smaller. My son has a forest on his property so I am going to locate the woodpile in a relative cleared space with some exposure to the south. Question: should I cover just the top of the wood rack with a tarp, or should it hang partway down the sides? I like the way you explain things, so I subscribed, figuring there would be other good advice as well.

😊Thanks for sharing 😊 take care 😊

I'm seeing that every wood burning channel " cherry wood " is the main wood of choice.

I cut and split oak in March on my driveway and left it there until early October and was burning it late October the blacktop absorbs so much sunlight it's like a suana and dries that wood down to 21% moisture

Nice video

Nice presentation

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Steve - I did my best to keep the presentation tight for this one.

You were very helpful! I did have one question though,I agree about splitting wood to dry faster but what if I want to keep whole and just split it at year’s end? Is that ok? I have pine btw.

Nice video!

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks - appreciate it!

Another way I stack for air flow once the wood is split into chunks is to lay it alternating long ways on one row and cross ways on the next row and alternate to the height of your choosing. Thanks for the info.

@raycaster4398

Жыл бұрын

"Criss-cross" stacking or "Lincoln log" stacking. Use it.

Good video 👍

I live in the deep south. About half and half use Water Oak, or what most people around here mistaking call Pin Oak. The other half is Red Oak. If it's a summer cut tree, it takes 3 years to be really right. That is split, stacked, under a roof, not much direct sunlight. A winter dropped tree, stacked in the open sun is a 2yr seasoning to get right.

Great video! I just cut down 3 trees I am not sure what kind they are but I was hoping to hit the 6-month mark but now I'm realizing it's going to take longer and it resets my expectations!

Hey, great video, do you typically remove the bark or do you just leave it?

South Arkansas where it’s 100+ degrees from may thru November, you’re good most of the time if it’s cut, split,and stacked in the sun by March for starting burning season late November(ish), only thing that hasn’t work with me is Bradford pair it take it 18 months or better

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Wow - sounds like your weather is pretty ideal for getting firewood dry.

Love your firewood tutorials. I love my ironwood, hophornbeam. However, I do a lot of urban bushcrafting. I live in an apartment and store my wood in bags. I just cut up some cottonwood for kindling as I hear it is good for that. I also learned that it takes up to 2 years to season cottonwood because of its high moisture content. What do you think, in time, it would take to season cottonwood split into 1" or smaller kindling in about 11" lengths. Also, whT should the moisture meter read to indicate seasoned wood? Thanks for your time.

If it has any bearing on my comment I live in south central Nebraska and heat with wood consisting primarily of ash and a little elm and black walnut. Yes, I agree it is an unpardonable sin to cut black walnut into firewood. In my defense I was not the person who chunked up the walnut tree. I have a neighbor whose heated with wood for 30 years and is an actual logger in Nebraska which seems pretty far fetched but he logs big cottonwoods then mills them on his Lucas swing blade mill into 4X4 & 4X6 lumber which is used as dunnage for steel transport. Anyway he told me that when much younger he cut several cords of green firewood, don’t know the species, which he stacked in a row bordering his property. He said after a couple years it had rotted and was completely worthless. My understanding is when stacked it’s to tight to allow the air to circulate. Makes sense to me, I think. He claims it’s best to just throw the green wood in a pile which does allow for circulation. I did split up into smaller pieces and throw into a pile some black walnut and used it the next year. Just my 2 cents worth. I’ll give you my address so you can send me the 2 cents. 😐 Ever notice old people have a stupid sense of humor? P.S. I really enjoy your video presentations a great deal. I am very appreciative of your professionalism, your oration is clear and once again professional, you’re always very well researched thereby knowledgeable about the subject matter and your personal passion shines through making a great experience for your viewership. One question I have if I may please, what’s your day job? Who knows I may have the urge to stalk you sometime in the future. Please keep yourself safe, healthy, and blest. 👍

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Hey Bud - that’s an interesting point about how the wood is stacked. I’d be curious to learn more about which stacking method is the most effective long term (I.e. rows, piles, or Holz Hausen). Maybe that’s a future video topic :) And thanks for the very kind words about the videos. I do my best to get good info together, and to present it in a helpful and interesting way. Glad to hear it’s coming through positively. Ah, and you asked about my day job. I work on websites, mostly writing and editing articles.

Lots Of variables here: the species, amount of wind and its RH, bark on or off, loosely or tightly stacked, deciduous or conifer, thickness of the pieces, use a moisture meter

Thanks for the info, but my experience varies some. I have little experience with heating with wood, so perhaps you will take this with a gain of salt, but I have heard others claim similar results on forums. Here is my story: My new house came with a fireplace insert and this is the second season burning wood. When I ran out of wood that the previous owner's left last year, I reached out to a tree service for some wood. Last March they asked if I wanted a load of oak or maple. I asked for Oak because of it's excellent firewood properties. At that time, I was not aware of the long seasoning time Oak requires, or most people believe is required. I split everything pretty small, stacked it up on pallets and covered most of it with metal roofing. Any way, fast forward to this fall; I was concerned about the firewood being dry enough. Several pieces I have split in half and checked the moisture. Unless the piece is really large, everything I checked was less than 20% mc per my General moisture meter. I had one round, ~15" of locust that came in that load, and when I split it, the highest moisture in it was 23%. It was a lot lower than I was expecting! Any way, I have found so far, if you split the firewood small enough and keep it out of the rain, I feel that 6-8 months of drying time is enough. I have cleaned my chimney liner several times and found little creosote. I also can burn several days before having to clean the insert's glass. Both indicate that my wood is seasoned properly. I just find it hard to believe these long seasoning requirements with my experience this far.

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Hey there - thanks for sharing your experience. Super interesting to hear. I’ve got two questions for you: 1. What region are you based in? Curious if it a hotter / dryer area. 2. When the firewood service delivered the wood, had the trees just been cut? Or had it been sitting out for awhile? I ask because sometimes firewood services will sell “semi seasoned” wood, which is not fully seasoned, but has already been seasoning for a few months. If the answers to these questions don’t change anything, then I’m impressed. 6-8 months is pretty fast for something like Oak. To your point, it’s possible that you accelerated the drying time by splitting it into small pieces, and keeping it dry. Those things can make a big difference. Personally, I wouldn’t have guessed that it would get things down to under 20% moisture in 6 months for Oak, but hey, if it’s working for you, it’s working for you :)

@drewr13NJ

3 жыл бұрын

@@burlybeaver6013 I live in Indianapolis. The logs were free. They were green too because I saw the moisture bubble out of the butts of the rounds when I split them. I think it is primarily a function of split size. Some are pretty small.

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Gotcha - well, you might be right about the split size then. Just out of curiosity, did you do it all by hand, or do you use a splitter?

@drewr13NJ

3 жыл бұрын

@@burlybeaver6013 I split all of it with an Iron and Oak 26 ton splitter. I got an 8 lb. splitting maul for Christmas, which makes it fun to split the straight grained stuff.

@fisherman695

3 жыл бұрын

Agree...who has room to store 2 or three years worth of wood to dry ... 4 months small split oak is good to go ...been doing it for years clean chimney twice a winter ... still less work than storing all that wood

In your estimation, what is the relative drying time of say oak when the tree cut has been dead for a while ( standing, bark starting to peel off but sound throughout). Location SW Ontario .

remove bark? simple cover on rows? cross stacking to improve air flow? 55-gallon drum, painted black placed in sun, recycled window for lid - to create a sun kiln, seen mine get to ~120 deg F

Hi mate cool video 😊 just wondered if a tree has fallen 2 years prior to chopping it with a chainsaw and then splitting it, is it already seasoned?? Or is the seasoning process only from when you chop it into the desired sizes for you're burner . Hope this makes sense cheers hamish in the uk England

Had a pecan hit by lightning. Then stood for a year before cutting it down. Wondering how much drying happened in standing state. I live in East Texas.

👍

In the deep south we cut our firewood in March and it is ready by November. I cut mine 18-24 " and no bigger than 6" in diameter. The hottest burning wood down here is dogwood and live oak

Ok so while we are talking about splitting smaller…. Does it matter how small what or is there a ideal size diameter for burning … there is the “overnighter” so thick it barely makes it in the stove vs kindling one inch diameter… do you have any comments on this…. I find myself recutting my wood due to a smaller firebox and all the little ends packed in make a good fire with some chunk but still good surface area…. Stumbled across your channel and liked your conversation style

@stevepatch1809

Жыл бұрын

I personally like to have a mix of big and small, I get the fire going with the small and once I have a good bed of coals I put the big boys on for a longer burn. I also try to stack my wood with big on one side and small on the other so I can grab a little of each. My small sizes are about 4” and then I go up from there.

Hey, so what happens if you've dried your wood for lets say 6 months and accidently you forgot to put it under cover and it is exposed to a heavy nights rain.. does this mean the rain water had penetrated the wood deeply and you basically would have to restart the 6 months process all over? I've heard in the past that some people purposefully spray the wood with water in summer months as that moisture then helps draw out the moisture sitting deep within the wood? These would be my to main questions on seasoning your wood. Oh and a thirst question- I understand that smaller wood pieces burn easily and probably faster and therefore probably burning hotter. But is it not more efficient when you use bigger pieces lets say a log split in have as apposed to a log split into 4 quarters?

Humidity and wind conditions in your area is the major factor in how long it takes to get dry enough to burn.

Why don't you harvest in the fall after leaves have dropped? Would it not have a lot less moisture to begin with?

@cocacolatgv

Жыл бұрын

No, a tree will always have moisture as long as it’s alive.

@CJSoutdoors

Жыл бұрын

@@cocacolatgv he said "less" moisture... obviously as long as the tree is alive there will be moisture content lol

I wouldn't let my wood set in a round or log for over winter. I split it at least in quarters to keep it from rotting and cover it. I lost alot of wood thinking it would season as a log

@Resistculturaldecline

6 ай бұрын

I haven't had good luck with rounds, if they're more than 6" or so. That's in a 2 yr seasoning, stacked off the ground, under roof, some brief morning sun but not much direct sunlight.

that link is now dead for the study.....good video though

I just wanted to mention that this info is contrary to cutting a live tree vs dead, correct?

What if trees are dead ? Will they dry faster. They have been dead a couple years.

Does it need to b rotated?

I always figured it will " season / dry " 1 inch per month if stored under roof out of the rain . Depends on how thick the wood is I reckon ? We mostly cut trees that are down or dying and ain't got time to season them .

@Resistculturaldecline

6 ай бұрын

I'm in the deep south, mostly water oak and red oak. I stack off the ground, under roof, and have moderate sunlight. My splits need at least 2yrs minimum. Large splits are perfect at 3yrs. A round over 7" or so isn't worth the bother. I have 3 year rounds this season that are 10" and won't burn.

Red oak and white oak take 2 or 3 years to season where it's good to burn

@Resistculturaldecline

6 ай бұрын

Those and water oak. That's exactly my experience also.

split your wood into smaller chunks it will dry faster. Break down small wood in quarters of 4 and larger wood break a log into 6 small chunks

Where would hedge or Osage orange rank because it never dries!

I try to cut my wood year to year it's not fully seasoned though probably 2 years what it takes

@davidward6626

Жыл бұрын

Yeah split the wood it takes a couple of years to dry any at all

6 months is plenty here in the desert lol

i always stay 3 years ahead and rotate the oldest out first..

Cut it up and split smaller

Seasoning firewood for 2 years is a bit of a stretch. I'd say if you split it, and have it stacked for 6 to 8 months, most species of wood will be absolutely ready.

@jeffreylc

Жыл бұрын

Wrong.

@Resistculturaldecline

6 ай бұрын

With our trees, where I am, 3 yrs is perfect. Under a year old wood will just char and boil smoke, will not burn on its own. Not disputing your area and wood. I just think the region plays into it. My wood is 2 year minimum to be a good behaving wood.

Split wood sheds moisture very quickly...

The dryer the wood ....the faster it burns up..

Someone accidentally hit the dislike button

@burlybeaver6013

3 жыл бұрын

Lol - too bad KZread doesn’t allow me to alert them about their mistake.

@derekdempsey8506

Жыл бұрын

It was the green party.I buy 1 tonne bags of ash but also keep saw in boot(the trunk) of car and collect my own after windy day.Ive a very small wood store but just got chain saw and bit nervous bout making my own logs.I have some big branches drying the last 6 months and looking forward to cold weather arriving

If I am burning it myself I will do 6-8 months minimum. If I am selling.... 2 years minimum. Want my customers happy

Next year The answer is always "next year"

cut the wood one year an burn the next year.

Sure talked a lot and took a long time to not say much at all

Blah blah blah

i was told 2 years to season dry