Log drying

[JuanCarlosFandango]

I'm currently cutting up a sycamore to burn and trying to strategise storage to give it time to dry properly. I believe it has been down for a couple of years. Some limbs are dead and have been in their air, these are ideal 10-20% and burn beautifully straight away. Some of the lower limbs appear to have been still alive and are soaking. A lot of it is clearly dead but still quite wet, showing 30-40% moisture. I'm not sure if this is because it is still drying out from dying or if it has absorbed moisture back in from lying in a wet field.

Question is: is there any science to knowing how long these bits take to dry, or is it just a matter of checking it before burning. Action is, do I put them on the next year pile and go looking for more dry stuff, or do I put them to the back of the wood store and hope they dry out in a few weeks?

[Bonefish Blues]

Nest year's pile if they're 30-40, it's too late in the season to get that ready, I think.

[Cats_pyjamas]

As said get it chopped and stowed for next year.

[Ranger 6]

JuanCarlosFandango said:

....is there any science to knowing how long these bits take to dry?

I don't know - I just chop it and stack it, then leave it for a year before burning. The stack is in the open but protected from rain.

I don't have any tools to check moisture content, so if it's not ready after a year that's tough

[shtu]

JuanCarlosFandango said:

Question is: is there any science to knowing how long these bits take to dry, or is it just a matter of checking it before burning.

There's 1001 old wives' tales, but there's too many variables in reality. Leave it until next autumn and see how it is then.

JuanCarlosFandango said:

Action is, do I put them on the next year pile and go looking for more dry stuff, or do I put them to the back of the wood store and hope they dry out in a few weeks?

Not a hope it'll be ready for this winter. Find more dry wood - in fact, just find more wood. If it's dry enough, burn it, if not add it to the drying pile. The best option is to have as much wood stored as you have space for and always be adding more, then after a year or so you will always have a stock of seasoned wood.

[JuanCarlosFandango]

Ranger 6 said:

I don't know - I just chop it and stack it, then leave it for a year before burning. The stack is in the open but protected from rain.

I don't have any tools to check moisture content, so if it's not ready after a year that's tough

If I didn't have the moisture meter I'd be exactly the same. Now I have it can't unseen!

Seems like a pretty clear consensus though so I'll put it on the next year pile.

[S6PNJ]

A 'general rule of thumb' for air dried logs (ie with sufficient air flow around them) is 1" per year, so a 2" dia log will season in a year (one inch to the centre in all directions).

[wombleh]

Would also go with a year at least.

Seem to remember Sycamore is not great for fire wood.

[Silvanus]

wombleh said:

Would also go with a year at least.

Seem to remember Sycamore is not great for fire wood.

Sycamore is a perfectly good firewood, it seasons quickly and burns moderately. When I had my fire I burned plenty of it. You'll find it in a lot of supplied mixed hardwood.

[JuanCarlosFandango]

Dry bits burn great and it's a dream to split.

[Bonefish Blues]

I was foolish enough to take on my dead elm that had been felled. Evil wood to split, even with one of these:

https://www.paragontoolhire.com/static/products/fi...

[JimM169]

Bonefish Blues said:

I was foolish enough to take on my dead elm that had been felled. Evil wood to split, even with one of these:

https://www.paragontoolhire.com/static/products/fi...

Same with Lime. The grain runs in spirals and refuses to split, basically end up having to rip/tear it into logs

[JuanCarlosFandango]

Hawthorn spirals like that but it isn't bad to split once you get your eye in for where to cut it. My favourite burner too.

[Simpo Two]

Bonefish Blues said:

I was foolish enough to take on my dead elm that had been felled. Evil wood to split, even with one of these:

https://www.paragontoolhire.com/static/products/fi...

Elm is good for woodturning - next time sell it! Also waterproof so you can make boats out of it.

JimM169 said:

Same with Lime. The grain runs in spirals and refuses to split, basically end up having to rip/tear it into logs

Lime is good for carving - next time sell it!

[S6PNJ]

I've got tons (or tonnes) of Lime - currently thinning some woodland so have plenty. it's ok to split but not as good for burning as the oak I have is. I am on biomass for central heating so get through quite a bit of wood throughout the year.

[Silvanus]

JuanCarlosFandango said:

Hawthorn spirals like that but it isn't bad to split once you get your eye in for where to cut it. My favourite burner too.

Hawthorn is cracking firewood, as is holy. Rhododendron and laurel are surprisingly good too when well seasoned.

[WyrleyD]

If you do want to stack wood for drying there's a very interesting book called Norwegian Wood by Lars Mytting, not joking here as it's a very interesting read. Somebody loaned it to me when we lived overseas and our main source of heating was a woodburner, my job was collecting and cutting the logs and Mrs WD was in charge of stacking and was very good at it, the wood collected, cut and stacked in year one was used in year 2 etc.

[Bonefish Blues]

The round stacks?