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How long for firewood to season?

  • 13-01-2022 4:36pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,874 ✭✭✭


    A big old tree blew over in our last storm. It's 60+ years old and had a decent amount of growth on it from what I could see.

    I've not had a chance to go down the field during daylight to get a proper look at it but I'm wondering if I cut into blocks and split by say march would it be fit to burn next winter or is that too optimistic?



Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭timfromtang


    howdy buzz,

    How fast firewood will season depends on a number of factors.

    Species,

    oak dries slowly, ash quickly, beech medium, sycamore will go mouldy if left in contact with the soil and must be dried aggressively to make good firewood,

    what sort is your big old tree?

    Air circulation, lots of air movement is good and will greatly speed drying, a pile off the ground with room for air to circulate under the pile will dry faster and more evenly, similarly for spaces in the stack tight stacks dry more slowly, etc etc,

    wetting, clearly covered stacks will dry more quickly.

    Temperature, warmer air can hold more moisture, so cold air from outside heated and circulated through your stack can dry wood extremely quickly, modern kilns can dry firewood in 3-7 days, polytunnel makes a good solar kiln and will dry most species to firewood in a spring and a summer esp if pile is off the ground. In the spring and early summer when on average it is getting warmer every day, so each day the air can hold more moisture and this is the best drying period of year.

    Humidity, related to temperature above.

    I'd say in summary, stack your wood on pallets, cover them leave a roof overhang, leave them in a windy place, and likely it will be fit for burning by next winter, if you've a polytunnel 3-4 months in spring or summer will do the trick.

    all the best

    tim



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,874 ✭✭✭deadlybuzzman


    Thanks for the great insights, oddly enough I've never been able to ID the tree because it's a weird knarly shape and hasn't had a branch near the ground in decades so it's actually been the only big tree anywhere near the house that Ive never figured the species of but it has to be some kind of fir or possibly a pine.

    I was thinking of splitting and stacking it on a pallet in an old high sided car trailer and covering with tarps and the remainder in an old pallet that I got my last firewood delivery in. Obliviously I'll be packing it loose for ventilation. I'm actually thinking now although I'll cover the top of the pallet in a tarp I might get a roll of pallet wrap to wrap around the sides of the pallet and simulate the poly tunnel effect



  • Registered Users Posts: 452 ✭✭2forjoy


    Don't use pallet wrap. Will cause condensation.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 47,978 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    if you could run a few skites over the wood with a hand plane or similar, i reckon someone here could tell you one of the main suspects for the sort of tree it is. it's not beside a road where google street view might show it?



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 47,978 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    but it has to be some kind of fir or possibly a pine.

    ah, only just spotted this. it may be more difficult to tell what tree it is from the wood so.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 13,095 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    All the pines season the same from my limited experience.


    Tim from Tang's answer blew the thread out of the water. He knows his stuff.



  • Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭timfromtang


    your covered pallets sound good, and the pallet wrap could work to simulate the polytunnel effect, however a poster noted condensation, he is right! if you seal your package with pallet wrap very little drying will occur, no air exchange. So to make the pallet wrap effective leave space for air to get in and out at top and bottom, however I'd suggest that simply roofing the pallet will be fine especially as you will be drying through a spring and summer.

    If it is a pine/fir or other conifer species it is likely that the wood will be quite lightweight, dry quite quickly, and burn quite fast, and may spark whilst burning. The quantity of heat in firewood is a function of its weight and moisture content and largely independent of species, i.e. 100kg of Ash at 20% moisture has the same amount of heat as 100kg of spruce at 20% moisture, however the Ash will be much less volume and will feel like better firewood to use burning more slowly than the spruce.

    tim



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,568 ✭✭✭memorystick


    I cut timber into block size in the field and store in those metre vented bags. Pick up with loader when finished and leave in shed at end of summer. Very handy and not much handling.



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