Moisture meter reads will vary as you show. Here's what we've done for a few decades heating near 100% to check on the seasoning without meters. 1. Stack under cover. No tarps, just hard top covers so the stack can breathe. 2. Give the stacks at least 6 months to dry. 3. Splits should show both end cracks and a gray or dark color. 4. Two splits knocked together should 'ring' like a bat. And of course if the splits sizzle in the fire, you know you've screwed up. Simple. Works. Low tech, common sense.

Great to see you back in the wood yard!!!

Thanks for sharing the wood testing

Phil gotta love the smaller splits great for bundles also. Take care, Ben.

Glad you are back great video and you are right the wood will be just fine Phil

Most moisture leaves the wood axially, or from the face of the wood, the cut ends. You know what I mean. You can prove this by taking a piece of wood and putting one end in a fire and have the other end out of the fire, after 5 or ten minutes you'll see steam shooting out of the unburning end of the wood, the moisture escapes via the tubes, which run vertically through the wood grain. Splitting firewood only helps reduce the amount of wood between the grain, which is a very low amount of total moisture within the wood. The key to getting wood dry is to cut it shorter rather than split it. 20" long piece of split wood will have way more moisture in it than a 12" log that has only been split in half. Test it out, prove me wrong (I want to get to the bottom of this, and this is my theory so seriously, test it out and report on it).

Good video Phil! I love looking into how wood dries and how to make it dry quicker. I did a video awhile back about smaller firewood burning better for this exact reason. It absolutely does dry faster. It does take more time to split it smaller, but the payoffs are worth it for me!

Glad to see you back it’s been awhile! This was an interesting video, our weather here has been prime for drying wood and hay. I assume yours has been similar by the results your seeing. Take care and have a great day!

Great firewood ♪ I want it ♪

Appreciate the update on the firewood moisture content! Thanks, -Brad

Pine dries very fast once you open it up. Dead oak takes me a few weeks to a few months to dry out nicely in warm weather with a lot of wind. We have a very windy area and the oak is drying out surprisingly fast once its split and stacked. Oak that was at 58% moisture just in September is now ready for sale already. The green oak is still around 30% though since September. It may be ready yet this season. Time will tell.

Just found your channel it’s great.

We don’t have a problem with season wood here I don’t care how you stack it at 120f in the shade

I just started my channel and business in November and am already selling bundles. I had a good bit of poplar and ash to start out and it’s all ready to go so I’ve been mixing them in bundles. The cherry walnut maple and beech are all getting real close. The locust and oak need more time. Like you said, I dont think people are real picky about fire pit wood. Take care

Nice vid. My wife and I have 3 years worth cut and split, plus another 2 years cut and needs to be split. So we are good on cured wood. Never sold any, but we have given to the needy. I'm thinking about starting to sell some for camp fires like Hometown Acres does. Popular is my least liked firewood. Locust is my favorite.

😊thanks

Nice, thanks. We burn (mostly) Tamarack, Red Fir, Birch and Pine ; in order of preference but I sure would love to burn a bunch of Maple. I just got my moisture meter. - N Idaho -

I've got the same splitting axe. I really like it. If you haven't, you may want to look into purchasing logs from a logger. In my area, it works out to about $33 for a full cord. Some guys sell it about $600 for a full semi-truck load.

I find that you can burn Ash in 4 months and it seems to be seasoned well but Oak and Locust def take longer. Nice wood pile.

Flat creek outdoors by any chance are you in the greenville area in mi..good video

well for maple and pine i can tell you if split in winter early spring itll be ready by fall to winter. been doing that for years. oak is alot trickyer does take longer but split small can hit that time fram.

That's why I stick to pine for camp fire wood here in Southern Maine. The campers specifically request that I don't sell oak because it's not ideal for camp fires. Ash seems to be the premium!

Hi what meter do you use

This year, my wood has been drying super fast. Fresh cut this spring silver maple was dry enough to burn is a few weeks! Some older sugar maple- I'm guessing it was cut 2-3 years ago, and the logs have been off the ground-- tested 34% when first bucked and split. I was burning it within days. It was wet, but not green. The GREEN sugar maple I bought green/fresh cut in November is well on it's way, but will likely be until late fall until it's ready. The cherry I got with that maple? Already half gone! Hickory and Honey locust otoh, not a chance. that;ll be next spring, at least. I split all my wood smaller, as I burn in a kettle grill, for cooking and enjoyment. Neither purpose is served well by giant king kong chunks that burn all night.

I was hoping you would summarise what you did differently with that last stack in order to get it dried in only 4 months - kind of like a set of “top tips”

fire-wood sellers hardly ever sell truly seasoned wood....they keep it to themselves...in my experience they sell whatever they can get away with....almost green to dried for a couple of months is standard....seasoned wood takes seriously at least a year and a half or more sellers can't wait that long for the $money$...you will never get a full cord...and the wood you will have to season yourself! true story here

elm is excellent fire wood

HOW TO FIND NUMBER OF CORDS IN ANY SIZE RELATIVELY SQUARE STACK OF FIREWOOD Use a calculator. 1. Measure the stack in inches. Inches Wide or Deep X Inches Tall or High X Inches Long = a big number. Example: 36 in wide X 69 in tall X 156 in long = 387,504 cu inches. 2. Now divide 387,504 by 1728, (cubic inches in a cubic foot) = 224.25. 3. Now divide 224.25 by 128, (cubic feet in a cord of wood) = 1.75 cords of firewood.

Yeah oak to be seasoned unfortunately takes 2 years to be low 20’s upper teens. Ash, maple, cherry, beech, basically if it’s not a super dense wood it will dry pretty quick once split and stacked to air out. Oak, locust, walnut, take longer due to being pretty dense. Locust and oak take forever.

Question in in Florida but I have a wood rack and and I always keep my wood covered with a wood cover that is made from grill cover material. I always keep the entire rack of wood covered top and sides . Would my wood season better if I only cover the top of the rack and keep the sides open, my concern being in Florida is during the summer months the humidity and rain which is why I always kept the entire rack covered. Thanks for any info you can give me

Is sycamore any good for firewood?

I've had oak season in 60 days if the rounds were sitting for 2 years

Oak will be ready in 2 years maybe 3... poplar, birch, and maple won't dry till split 4 to 8 months depending on the weather

This better not be clickbIt

Well....all fruitwoods are sap light and easy to season, whereas red oak is sap heavy and usually takes 18 - 24 months to season.....this is a given and have known this since I was 10 yrs old......you must have lived a very sheltered life!!

Sassafras seasons in 30 days

cant dry wood well when it's exposed to water like that

Poplar isn’t good firewood

Needs a year mate. Four months is nothing.