Block wood now or dry then block it?

r3nu4l

I've had about 15 Leylandii trees felled and chopped into lengths (~1M - 1.25M).

I want to dry them out and use maybe for Winter 2017 but should I cut the lengths into blocks now while the timber is wet or wait for it to dry and then cut and split?

Completely new to this so any and all advice appreciated...

I said

r3nu4l wrote: »

I've had about 15 Leylandii trees felled and chopped into lengths (~1M - 1.25M).

I want to dry them out and use maybe for Winter 2017 but should I cut the lengths into blocks now while the timber is wet or wait for it to dry and then cut and split?

Completely new to this so any and all advice appreciated...

I'd give it until 2018 it's harder season cut into lengths is fine to season it

CJhaughey

Wood will dry a lot faster if its cut and split, much more surface area available to transport moisture out.
Many species are a lot easier to split when they are wet rather than dry when they can toughen up.
Leylandii splits well wet or dry IME, but the faster you get it cut and split and stacked under cover to dry the better.

Jack180570

r3nu4l wrote: »

I've had about 15 Leylandii trees felled and chopped into lengths (~1M - 1.25M).

I want to dry them out and use maybe for Winter 2017 but should I cut the lengths into blocks now while the timber is wet or wait for it to dry and then cut and split?

Completely new to this so any and all advice appreciated...

We find that the best way to dry firewood is to stack the logs off the ground and cover with plastic until they are down to under 30% moisture content (MC). Then cut to length (8in in our case) and split and put in a well ventilated shed until they are under 25% and ideally around 20%MC

The other poster correctly pointed out they will dry faster if you cut and spilt immediately. The issue with this method is that TOO much moisture will be released and you will run the risk if the firewood going mouldy because of so much moisture being released in a very short period.

The traditional written advice is to cut and split as soon as possible, however from experience I believe that this is not the best advice for softwood because of its higher initial MC and its open cell structure.

Oldtree

I cut the wood to rings on site and then stack the rings in the northern lee of the house on tarmac in winter. Then early in early spring I split the rings and spread out on the tarmac randomly, maby 2-3 lumps deep. then depending on the weather I would turn the spread out pile maby once or twice. This dries the wood in 1 season to bone dry, mainly very dense ash and sycamore, but I havnt come across a wood that hasnt dried in 1 season doing this. I make sure that there is a good run of up to 7 dry days before it is stacked tightly in the ventilated shed in august/september.

Sycamore burns very well here, if it dosnt it must still be damp.

Leylandi can be used as posts as it is very durable, almost waterproof, thus it has a longer drying time. It does spark a fair bit and chimneys would need a more regular cleaning due to a larger build up of gook in the chimney.

If you have a large single stacked pile of split wood that has little ventilation, as mentioned above, you will get mould.

Squiggle

I have cut and split leylandii in March /April, and stacked it uncovered until August the following year. Like Oldtree I didn't put the blocks in the garage until after about a week of dry weather that August. Blocks burned well .

Currently have a load of split sycamore stacked in the open since last May. Well dry at this stage with blocks showing plenty of splits at the ends and a nice hollow sound when you bang two blocks together . They'll be going in the shed next month for burning this winter. Well seasoned sycamore burns beautifully imo.

Next to be felled this winter is ash and poplar which is going to keep us warm from September 2017.