Does firewood "season" in the round?

[Mastermind]

Those you can bank as they take a long long time to rot and even when they start it's just a little on the outside, the rest is still sound as a dollar. Poplar on the other hand will rot in the round unless it's split or bark removed, standing, cut, doesn't matter. Even 100 inch logs will loose a lot of sap weight if let set for a summer, they're not dry by any means, but don't take long to compared to green.
In spring I fell trees early in the morning before the sap comes up for the day.

I took my axe to it. The sap wood is rotten as hell.....but the middle is solid as ever.

 

[Stihl036]

Down here in N/E Georgia if wood of any type isn't covered.....

.....is gets covered in fungi within a year. The heat and humidity make it a field day for insects and fungi.

 

[P.M.P.]

Down here in N/E Georgia if wood of any type isn't covered.....

.....is gets covered in fungi within a year. The heat and humidity make it a field day for insects and fungi.

I'd move...

 

[Wood Doctor]

I have a simple rule. If I can split it green, I do so. Many species fall into this category -- maple, oak (and most nut woods), ash, locust, berry woods, etc. If I cannot split it because it's stringy (such as elm, poplar, and cottonwood), I wait until it checks up on the ends and the bark starts falling off. Then I can split it.

 

[BlackCoffin]

Fir and cedar will season in the round, takes longer but they’ll be pretty dry if you let them sit long enough.

 

[kentuckyguy]

I have cut into butt saw oak logs that have been laying on the ground for over a year. Most were still very wet once you were about 18” in from the end grain.

 

[Wolverine]

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.

How much is probably impossible to predict. Variables are too many. But yes it does begin to dry in the round. Compare mc in an 18" round that's been sitting a year with a fresh cut round from a log that's been laying a year and I'm very confident the "seasoned" round will edge the fresh cut from log in dryness.
Can you properly dry firewood in rounds form, IMO not in any reasonable amount of time. Let it sit 20 years, maybe.
Red oak is slow to dry. I give my sized splits minimum 3 years to get to 20% or below. 22 still called good enough. I store 2.5 cords in my unfinished basement that gets 80 degrees when running the wood furnace so I get a bit of kiln effect to lower it that extra % or 2.


Give this a couple minutes and watch. Let you visualize how moisture can flow in different species.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Pin oak amazes me in its density. I once took a small dry piece that seemed rather dense and dropped it into a pail of water. It sank to the bottom of the pail. Not all of the sections of the tree will do this, but some will actually sink because they are so dense, similar to lignum. I used to make lots of furniture with quartersawn white oak because it is so stable and seems to have good rot resistance.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

I had to do the math.

An 8' log, 12" in diameter: 26.7 SF of surface area (1.57 if you ignore the bark surfaces)

Bucked to 16" long: 34.5 SF of surface area 29% more surface (9.4 if you ignore the bark surfaces 500% more surface)

Split into quarters: 66.5 SF of surface area 150% more surface(41.4 if you ignore the bark surfaces 2536% more surface)

 

[Mastermind]

View attachment 324277

I had to do the math.

An 8' log, 12" in diameter: 26.7 SF of surface area (1.57 if you ignore the bark surfaces)

Bucked to 16" long: 34.5 SF of surface area 29% more surface (9.4 if you ignore the bark surfaces 500% more surface)

Split into quarters: 66.5 SF of surface area 150% more surface(41.4 if you ignore the bark surfaces 2536% more surface)

Yep.....you're a nerd. LOL

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Yep.....you're a nerd. LOL

LOL. I didn't think it was a secret....

 

[Mastermind]

LOL. I didn't think it was a secret....

If it was, it ain't now.

 

[Wood Doctor]

View attachment 324277

I had to do the math.

An 8' log, 12" in diameter: 26.7 SF of surface area (1.57 if you ignore the bark surfaces)

Bucked to 16" long: 34.5 SF of surface area 29% more surface (9.4 if you ignore the bark surfaces 500% more surface)

Split into quarters: 66.5 SF of surface area 150% more surface(41.4 if you ignore the bark surfaces 2536% more surface)

Great math. For those who have no pi constant in their calculator, try this: 355 / 113. This fraction is 5,000 times more accurate than 22/7.

I discovered this when I wrote code for the Apple II computer back in the early '80s. My program that I wrote to find it was published by Steve Wozniak. As I recall, the next two integers I found that are slightly more accurate than 355 / 113 are five digits long apiece. The Apple II worked 20 minutes to find those two.

 

[Sawdust Man]

My opinion is that most wood cut to stove lengths will "season" or dry, pretty fine as long as it's stacked so's the air can get to the ends, it's just gonna take longer than the split stuff.

Sounds like some are talking about logs that are not cut to firewood length, and others are talking stove length rounds.....

Species and local climate makes a difference as well, l s'pose.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Great math. For those who have no pi constant in their calculator, try this: 355 / 113. This fraction is 100,000 times more accurate than 22/7.

I discovered this when I wrote code for the Apple II computer back in the early '80s. My program that I wrote to find it was published by Steve Wozniak. As I recall, the next two integers I found that are slightly more accurate than 355 / 113 are five digits long apiece. The Apple II worked 20 minutes to find those two.

I just keep 3.14159 memorized. I figure 5 decimal places is accurate enough for anything I'm doing. LOL.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

My opinion is that most wood cut to stove lengths will "season" or dry, pretty fine as long as it's stacked so's the air can get to the ends, it's just gonna take longer than the split stuff.

Sounds like some are talking about logs that are not cut to firewood length, and others are talking stove length rounds.....

Species and local climate makes a difference as well, l s'pose.

When I have a big wood score, I buck and stack in a long windrow on pallets - 2 bucked rounds wide on the pallet. It definitely starts the seasoning process as compared to leaving things in log form.

I think another consideration is - What direction does water move in the wood when seasoning? I have always understood that end-grain movement is more useful than side-grain movement. In other words, the water flows out the ends better than across the splits. I do not have any scientific evidence to back this up, though.

 

[kingOFgEEEks]

Also, this year I started covering just the top of my stacks with 100 mil poly. The sides still get plenty of airflow to breathe, and the poly hangs over enough that the end grain doesn't get very wet even when it rains. I can definitely tell a big difference in how my wood is seasoning, and it actually stays dry in the stack!

 

[Wood Doctor]

Can you imagine that some big firewood companies stack splits like this?

These appear to be half-cord racks.

 

[Wolverine]

Can you imagine that some big firewood companies stack splits like this?
View attachment 326253
These appear to be half-cord racks.

 

[LoneOak]

It would take 3 of those racks to fill this trailer that holds a cord of wood, as it is loaded in the pics.
But DAMN that's a lot of wood!!