drying firewood?

PCTREE

Treehouser
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OK so I have a load of firewood split that I will be hauling over the mountain for my machinists buddy. The trailer is 16'x7 and is very heavy as wood is fresh split. I was thinking how cool it would be if there was a way to expedite the drying process. Ive thought about throwing a black tarp over it and sealing the sides with 2x4 s and blowing air through it during the day when the sun is on it, maybe even make a 7' x 8' x 4" box with a corrugated metal roof material I have and paint it black for the incoming air to get heated with.

Any insight fellas??
 
Heat and air movement are the basics for drying wood, whether using solar kilns that take a number of months to gently reduce moisture content, or the ovens that commercial enterprises use to get the moisture content down in a very short time period. I think the process that you have in mind would be somewhat quicker than just letting it dry on it's own, but the density of the material, and the fact that it may not really be stacked properly in the most advantageous way for drying, and other inefficiencies, I have to think that you aren't going to gain much advantage, given the time frame that you probably have in mind. Just a guess...
 
Craigslist is a source of free windows. I've thought of making a south-facing solar kiln. Windows allow adjustments in air flow. Could double as a greenhouse. Problem might be that you might have to break out one pane of a double pane thermo-pane window in order to keep it in the frame, or you would have to remove from the frame and separate the panes.
 
Have heard that logs sitting will loose 40 to 60% of their weight in moisture in the first couple of weeks. Not sure if those are the exact no.’s and not sure how it differs from area to area or time of year (weather conditions.) But, it’s an interesting thought or perspective and one might be able to look it up somewhere for your area and conditions.

I remember a high school science experiment where we proved that wind or air movement is the single biggest factor in getting something to dry quickly. It struck me as odd, I always assumed heat was.
 
A dehumidifier.. would that work? We use them to keep a basement dry so why not a tented trailer of firewood.
 
We've put a tarp over a few piles and had a kerosine heater blowing under it for a few days, turned off at night. Seemed to work fairly well.


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The factor for heat when drying woodworking type wood is that it dries the air that passes through the wood. I notice that well seasoned and considered stable wood in the shop, will fluctuate in moisture content by a few points, depending on the time of year humidity. With firewood you could bake it to evaporate as well, since cracks aren't a problem. How much a log looses moisture when sitting, is also species dependent. Take a very dense tropical hardwood like Rosewood or Purple heart, and it will lose water a lot slower than a Walnut or Pine log. My guess is that a log losing half of it's water in a few weeks is a gross overestimation. After milling a lot of logs that sat long enough for the bark to easily peel off, sometimes up to a year or so, they are still very wet inside when stuck with a meter. Might register almost close to green. In Arizona or a place like that could be different.
 
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now Im wishing I stuck a couple of 4" pvc pipes under it filled with holes so I could have blown air down them and had it make its way through the pile...
 
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Yeh but Ed I assume that is contingent on having optimal airflow. I (in typical my form) just threw the wood on the trailer then thought it would be nice to dry it so am not sure if I can get a good even airflow through it.
 
I've ringed a few trees. It works decent, but leaves a tree very vulnerable to failure.
 
Yeh but Ed I assume that is contingent on having optimal airflow. I (in typical my form) just threw the wood on the trailer then thought it would be nice to dry it so am not sure if I can get a good even airflow through it.

Optimal is best. But not totally necessary
 
You've likely got some scrap materials around somewhere, build you one of these! :D
 

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I know it's a long run for you and probably not worth the gas but I would trade ya green for seasoned. There's always more here already worked up than I could ever use.
 
Firewood is supposed to be the CHEAPER alternative, is it not? All this talk of energy inputs to make it usable seems counter-intuitive. Time is free.
 
I season wood much faster then anyone would believe if I told them. My wood yard is on top of a hayfield hill, in full sun, with a constant breeze/wind.
 
If you put wood in a building.. cool air vent in from low... warm air out near top, using thermal dynamics to move the air through the building. Works quite well.
 
Long as you take the time it needs.

Personally, I never burn wood cured less than 2 years from green, natural drying like Stephen speaks of. But I'm not in the biz of selling...that can put a different color on it.
 
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