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How long to dry firewood

Started by BCinVT, January 14, 2010, 02:11:07 PM

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Magicman

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Pullinchips

Quote from: Magicman on March 01, 2010, 08:39:30 AM
Quote from: Pullinchips on February 28, 2010, 07:32:08 PMshe likes to see it 

Glass doors  ???
Trust me i have tried that already. NO and NO. I said well how about we can even open it up, open the flu all the way up and leave the doors open for a while while you sit in front of it.  And NO.  Even when we go to a friends house that heats there entire house with the stove with almost no auxillary heat needed.  I was like power bills cut by $80 month, NO.
Resident Forester
US Army Corps of Engineers: Savannah District

Clemson Forestry Grad 2004
MFR Clemson University 2006
Stihl MS 390

Magicman

Sounds like the lady likes to watch the fire..... fire_smiley
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

downeast

Quote from: John Mc on February 28, 2010, 10:51:38 PM
I burn with a relatively new (6 year old) wood stove. It's been my primary source of heat for about the last 3 years (other than when I've got the flu or something and I'm too sick to deal with it, or when we're away on vacation, when we switch to propane). Our house is only 7+ years old, built very tight, well insulated, and we designed it with the idea of heating with a wood stove.
There have been a lot of people replacing old stoves, or adding stoves in my area in the last couple of years... the big spike in fuel oil prices a couple of years ago prompted a lot of this. There is also a program here in Vermont (I believe it's a state program, and not a federal one) where you can get credit towards a new, EPA compliant wood stove if you turn in your old, non-compliant one. It's been enough of an extra incentive that it's caused people with older, "dirtier" or worn out stoves to upgrade.John Mc

Ditto John here in Downeast Maine. We designed the two parts for wood stove heating off the woodlot. Both "sides" are about the same size--the original 24' x 24' cape we built tight but only R-11 ( 3" ) walls with no plumbing until we built a "real place"  ;D with running water, flush toilets, etc.... The "real place" is heated with a cat VC Encore that does near twice the heat as the other with the non cat Oslo. This second wing though was seriously insulated ( 6" walls, 12" roof, sandwich slab, etc...) and very very tight. The original is shut off from the plumbing wing when we're off for more than a day in winter. A propane space heater will keep it ~ 50F.

Since the 70's we must have gone through 12 stoves in various homes in northern Mass while into careers. The original Vermont Castings, Vigilant and Defiant were tough, well built products. I had Lange, Morso 2BO (recycled the smoke before going out the flue ), Jotuls, Tempwood, the Bear stoves.........

John Mc

Quote from: downeast on March 02, 2010, 02:15:01 PM
Since the 70's we must have gone through 12 stoves in various homes in northern Mass while into careers. The original Vermont Castings, Vigilant and Defiant were tough, well built products. I had Lange, Morso 2BO (recycled the smoke before going out the flue ), Jotuls, Tempwood, the Bear stoves.........

I've got a Hearthstone Phoenix (non-cat) which we've been very happy with. Heats 2 floors of our 3 BR house with no problems at all in all but the coldest weather (i.e. -10F or lower for an extended time). If it weren't for the fact that my wife likes a warm house, even in those very cold days it would be fine.

To bring this back closer to the original topic: I can definitely tell the difference if I get into a section of my woodpile that has not dried as well as it should... I've got to keep the stove stoked higher, and it struggles to keep up on days significantly warmer than the -10 F I noted above.

John Mc
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

lumberjack48

Over all the years being a logger, when falling timber ahead never leave the tops on in the green season. The leaves suck all the moiscure out of the wood, this is not good when selling by weight.
When cutting firewood i found this to work very  good, i would fall a bunch of trees down, when the leaves turned brown, firewood is ready to skid in, this is an old Indain trick. ;D
Third generation logger, owner operator, 30 yrs felling experience with pole skidder. I got my neck broke back in 89, left me a quad. The wife kept the job going up to 96.

Pilot1

As should be evident from the earlier replies, how long to dry depends on the species, where you live (coastal New England vs. Arizona) and other factors, such as size--a large piece dries slower than a small one.

So here's what I suggest.  Go to Harbor Freight and buy a moisture meter for about $12.  Get some pieces drying and check them regularly.  At some point they will not dry much more, no matter how long you wait.  Even when "dry" the moisture will vary somewhat.  My wood, which is in dry storage dried down to 12%, which is the same as I had in the timbers in my dry pole barn with a concrete floor.  Then we had lots of rain, higher humidity, of course, and the wood moisture went up to 15%, even though none of it got rained on--it just absorbed moisture from the air.  It's mostly Doug fir with some cherry mixed in and it burns well at either moisture level.

Magicman

Pilot1, Welcome to The Forestry Forum...... :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Pilot1

Thanks for the welcome. 

Used to participate as Pilot, then kind of dropped out a couple years ago while I worked on building an airplane, but got back on OK a couple days ago.  The next day the site wouldn't let me log in anymore.  Had to reregister as Pilot1.

I'm a retired silviculturist, about 25 years experience--about 3 years in Montana, the rest in the Oregon Cascades, mostly on the west side, but some time on the east side also.

Magicman

I wondered about the name  ???  Jeff probably can fix whatever is /was wrong.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

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