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Does firewood "season" in the round?

krag

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I was splitting some red oak today that had been sitting over a year. Some rot, but still a little wet inside.

How much does wood season in the round? If you split two oak logs, one recently cut and one sitting for a year how much sooner would the one sitting for over a year take to be called air dry? Around here due to humidity, dry wood is probably 20-30% moisture.

Does the seasoning process involve a chemical process due to age? If wood sits bacteria works and the make up of what is inside the wood changes right? Of course if wood is kiln dried the chemical process is bypassed.
 

cus_deluxe

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I doubt youd be able to see much of a difference in moisture content in a fresh cut round vs a round that was sitting for a year. Especially oak. As said above, theres no way for the moisture to get out but the ends. When split you get orders of magnitude more surface area for moisture to get out.
 

krag

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Microbial and chemical actions probably happen depending on the wood, higher sugar or other chemical content would accelerate the breakdown. People routinely believe that wood seasons in the round. Science doesn't support that much. What I see in rounds that have been sitting a year or two is some rot, breakdown; probably dries faster but you have loss of BTU content.
 

MinnesotaJon

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I leave all my wood in rounds for the first year just stacked up off the ground. Then split it and move it into the wood shed for the next year in the spring. My wood even all the white red and burr oak are less then 20% doing that. I do split or noodle the chunks that I don’t want to pick up and put in the truck.
 

B440

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So what makes a standing dead tree come down?

Rotting roots.

Microbial and chemical actions probably happen depending on the wood, higher sugar or other chemical content would accelerate the breakdown. People routinely believe that wood seasons in the round. Science doesn't support that much. What I see in rounds that have been sitting a year or two is some rot, breakdown; probably dries faster but you have loss of BTU content.

What I'm pointing out is that rounds will season. I've seen rot in rounds where bark was left on, but it will season when done properly, and takes longer.
 

cuinrearview

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Rotting roots.
The point that the ash come down probably hasn't reached you yet, but many of them can't lose moisture in the trunk before rot overcomes them, and they break 8-12 feet up. It's all relative. In our environment most wood in any form will dry eventually, but will it lose enough moisture quickly enough to avoid rot? Oak holds onto it's moisture well enough that it's a crap shoot.
 

B440

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Breaking 8-12ft up is a weak point in the tree from a knot, strangulation from vines, or similar. As it dries out, it becomes brittle and the wind finishes the job. So maybe I don't understand what you're trying to point out?
 

cuinrearview

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Breaking 8-12ft up is a weak point in the tree from a knot, strangulation from vines, or similar. As it dries out, it becomes brittle and the wind finishes the job. So maybe I don't understand what you're trying to point out?
Get back with me in a half dozen years or so. These are ash. Forest trees. You know, the ones so straight they make baseball bats out if them. The point is, it's not just about removing moisture to burn. Some woods are more susceptible to rot than others and if you keep them in rounds they won't have a chance to "season" before they rot. The answer to the thread title isn't black and white.
 

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Dead standing eab killed ash here have a decently solid stump, and then punk from 10-20’, and then it turns hard for the rest of the top. The trees that died from natural causes seem to continue to get harder and drier while they stand
 

B440

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Get back with me in a half dozen years or so. These are ash. Forest trees. You know, the ones so straight they make baseball bats out if them. The point is, it's not just about removing moisture to burn. Some woods are more susceptible to rot than others and if you keep them in rounds they won't have a chance to "season" before they rot. The answer to the thread title isn't black and white.

It's all about removing moisture to burn. Your experience playing with ash trees in the forest is getting off topic.

I was splitting some red oak today that had been sitting over a year. Some rot, but still a little wet inside.

How much does wood season in the round? If you split two oak logs, one recently cut and one sitting for a year how much sooner would the one sitting for over a year take to be called air dry? Around here due to humidity, dry wood is probably 20-30% moisture.

Does the seasoning process involve a chemical process due to age? If wood sits bacteria works and the make up of what is inside the wood changes right? Of course if wood is kiln dried the chemical process is bypassed.

Yes rounds will season the same as split (without rotting), but it takes longer. I've done it: Same climate.
There are too many variables to the "split two oak logs" question. Diameter and length of the rounds would be large variables.
If wet wood sits, then bacteria can break down the wood, but there should not be a chemical change going from wet to dry firewood.
 
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