Green wood contains high level of moisture, and green wood dont burn efficient because the moisture in green wood must evaporates before the wood can burn. Green wood can contain more than 40 percent moisture by weight, but seasoned firewood contain much less moisture. Seasoned firewood burns hot and seasoned firewood burns cleaner because seasoned firewood does not contain as much water.
Seasoned firewood provides approximately 30 percent more heat than green wood because seasoned firewood has less water content and more energy contents. Different types of wood requires different amount of time to become seasoned wood. Hardwoods, such as white oak or hickory, is dense woods, and because hardwoods are dense, hardwoods take between 12 and 24 month to reach a moisture content below 20 percent.
How to Dry and Store Firewood
Softwoods, such as ash or white pine, is less dense than hardwoods, and because softwoods are less dense, softwoods dry more quickly than hardwoods. Additionally, different woods produces different amount of heat, which is measured in BTUs. For example, Osage orange produce a high amount of heat, specifically 36 million BTUs per cord, but Osage orange is also difficult to split.
The climate and the method of stacking affects how quickly wood becomes seasoned wood. If you cut wood in the spring, the wood may be ready to burn by the fall, but if you cut wood in the winter, the wood may take longer to dry because the wood may absorb snowmelt. You should split wood immediate after you fell the wood because splitting the wood exposes the end grain to the air.
Exposing the end grain to the air allows moisture to escape the wood more quickly. You should also stack the wood on rails or pallets, and you should leave gap between the logs so that air can move through the stack. You should cover only the top of the wood stack to protect the wood from rain, but you should not cover the side of the wood stack because covering the sides will trap humidity inside the wood stack.
There are several ways to stack wood, and each stacking method affect airflow. A single row of wood allow air to move around both sides of the wood, so a single row is useful in tight spaces. A circular stack, known as a German holz hausen, is a stable stack, and a German holz hausen shed water effective.
You can also stack wood in a log cabin style to create a square frame that allows for ventilation. You should not stack wood against a house because stacking wood against a house can invite insect into the house. Instead, you should keep the wood stack at least 20 feet away from the house.
You can test if wood is seasoned wood by using several different method. You can knock two piece of wood together, and if the wood produce a hollow sound, the wood is likely dry. If the wood produces a dull thud, the wood is likely still wet and needs more seasoning.
You can also look at the ends of the wood, and if the bark is gray and peeling, the wood is likely seasoned wood. Additionally, you can use a moisture meter
