firewood How to dry in just 6 weeks
Get the basics right, and you can have perfect firewood in as little as six weeks.
Perfect firewood has a moisture content of below 20 percent. Above that, wood in your firebox puts its energy into drying, not producing heat. It also creates lots of smoke and a sticky creosote layer inside your flue. Research has found if you do it right, firewood can be dry in just 6-12 weeks.
■ Cut wood to a length that fits easily into your woodburner or fireplace – the firewood in the research was at most 60cm long.
■ Split the wood at least once – wood dries along the grain up to 15 times faster than across the grain.
■ Ideally, store drying firewood in a shed; only put it in the sun if it’s not going to rain. ■ Wood sitting on concrete, tarseal, or another solid surface dries significantly faster than wood on bare or vegetationcovered ground. ■ Stack wood so there’s space for air to flow between the pieces.
■ Orientation is important: shorter, narrower stacks dry faster.
■ Stack wood away from buildings and trees, which block wind and breezes, decreasing the drying rate.
■ Only cover the top of an outdoor stack when it’s drying. Test wood with a top cover took half as long to dry in a sunny, airy place as a completely covered stack.
■ Allow sun and air to reach the sides of the woodpile to help dry the wood. ■ Season for at least six weeks during summer. Cover in autumn or newly dry firewood will soak up moisture again.
■ By autumn, it’s too late to quickly season wood due to humidity and moisture levels; even in a dry shed, it’s unlikely to get below 30 percent moisture content.