# Burning Wet Wood



## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

As some of you know I've recently moved to southern Oregon for a little while. (I'm really missing Washington though, and might have to go back if only for the stand your ground and castle law I cherish so much...:hysterical

Anyway, the place I'm renting right now came complete with a pile of unsplit wood and a woodstove. Sadly, the wood is WET, and I do mean wet. So much so that when the temps dip below freezing for any amount of time frozen sap oozes out of the rounds. Splitting it in the cold sucks for sure, but I'm just glad to have the wood around.

Now we get to the interesting part, and the reason for my post. In the last month I've relearned a lot about burning wet wood and I thought I'd share what I've remembered from my winter camping trips with granddad with those that might not know.

1st thing to know, wood is dry(ish) on the inside. Wet rounds will have much drier insides and of course burn better. They'll also dry faster on the fire (makes sense right? We split them to season em faster after all, and to keep em from rotting)

2nd thing. COALS ARE KING! A roaring, crackling fire is a beautiful thing I know. But when all we have is wet wood we make do with heat. While building up a good coal bed seems like a no brainer,with wet wood it's far more important.

When building up that initial bed of coals it takes a bit more kindling than normal. I keep feeding the kindling stage until I've got a fair layer of coals over the bottom of the stove. Lucky for me I have terrible aim with the maul, so I end up with an abundance of chips to play with. That along with the fact I'm splitting wet, frozen madrone...

After that initial coal bed is built up (Here's a hint, get your lazy  up once or twice a night and feed the fire, then you'll only have to build a coal bed ONCE) I begin to lay on the big stuff. I'm kinda lazy and don't want to work up from small to big so I go for average sized pieces and lay them in like a log cabin. I build my cabin 3 courses high, for a total of six logs. Then I cheat and throw some cardboard in the middle, an/or across the top. Paper works too, I just happen to have a ton of cardboard around.

This creates a nice draft, pulling air across the coals and heating them up nicely. It of course creates heat of it's own, but I'm really interested in getting those bottom two logs burning, so the coals getting hot is my main concern. With the frozen stuff I may have to through in a second course of paper, but rarely ever anymore.

Once those bottom logs are burning (not roaring and crackling I'm sad to report) I can usually move on to something else. The bottom logs burn slowly and dry out the logs above them. Once the 2nd row catches there is a serious bed of coals, and semi dry wood to burn. Once the third row really catches it's dry, crackling,and nice. At this point we spread the coals around and build a 2 course cabin. Rinse repeat, the house stays warm and I don't have to buy seasoned firewood. 

Now, there might be a better way to do this. In fact I'm sure there is. But this is how granddad used to do it and it's the best way I know how. It's also great for the lazy folks among us as once the coals are hot you can burn rounds instead of the split stuff... :hysterical:


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

You didn't mention stacking half a face cord inside, as close to the stove as reasonable, for some pre-emptive drying....... :shrug:


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## lonelytree (Feb 28, 2008)

Find a place nearby that builds trusses. Mill ends make a great bed of coals. We do it all the time. That way we can throw on a huge log or 2 and only stoke it once overnight.


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## greenmcdonalds (Oct 30, 2006)

u build the fire like I do! I knew I was lazy. I did fill the house with alot of wet wood for acouple of days before I use it. I mostly worry about using too much wet wood. I can get a van load of not season wood for 20.00 dollars, which is great since they charge 80.00 dollars to deliver here. But that means I will have to clean the chimmey more. Sue


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## janetn (Apr 26, 2012)

Wet wood is a pain. But if its what you got it does give heat. Just remember your chimmney is going to need cleaning a lot more often. You dont want to end up with a fire in the chimmney, that really stinks. We had to burn some wet wood a few years ago and we ended up cleaning the chimmney once a month - that really stunk. Of course it was my DH fault we ended up with green wood - someone didnt get his act together early enough to get good dry wood. It was a learning experience for him not only did he have to deal with the problems that came with green wood he had to listen to me complain about it all year :hysterical:


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

The moral of the thread _should_ be...after all is said and done.....


Don't burn wet wood for in home heat. :kiss:


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

What kind of wood are you burning? Oaks,Maples,hickorys don't have enough water in them to worry about. I can fill my stoves at 8pm amd there are still a good bed of coals at 6 am. . Anytime I burn really dry wood all the heat goes up the chimney and the fire last about 3-4 hours. If there is something really wet I put those on the outside. On the smaller stove I cross stack when I fill it that way every thing gets burned.
I know all the supposed do this and that but I been burning wood for 30 years and rarely use anything older than a few months. And if its smaller than 8 inches I don't split except for the smaller stove. I clean my chimney at the beginning an depending on how much its used maybe once in the middle of the burn year. The only time I have seen wood to wet to burn is if it lay in a mudhole and was rained on for 40 days and nights

Do yourself a favor and get on of those 20.00 moisture meters. You'll be suprised how much wet there* isn't* in wood


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## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

The wood I'm burning is madrone. It's a good hard wood and when you burn it 'wet' it bleeds red out of the end. Very interesting.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

InvalidID said:


> The wood I'm burning is madrone. It's a good hard wood and when you burn it 'wet' it bleeds red out of the end. Very interesting.


I think we had a thread on madrone before. And its not nice to burn it :nono:, If I remember right it burns pretty hot and fast. But it is a beautiful wood and should be traded for proper firewood


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## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

That was curly maple back in Washington. But I admit, I do tend to burn the good stuff...


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

TNHermit said:


> I think we had a thread on madrone before. And its not nice to burn it :nono:, If I remember right it burns pretty hot and fast. But it is a beautiful wood and should be traded for proper firewood


Madrone seems to be the most common hardwood used for firewood in our area. It regrows very quickly when cut. 

It is interesting how soft and easy it is to cut initially then it dries rock hard.

I've never seen it bleed before, have to watch for that. I think our total of rain so far is 18" since October, so if it was not covered I'm surprised it burns at all!


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## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Forerunner said:


> You didn't mention stacking half a face cord inside, as close to the stove as reasonable, for some pre-emptive drying....... :shrug:


 Sadly there is no space for that. The closet nearest to the stove is filled with paintings my SO has done...


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## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

We're burning wet wood right now but not green wood. There's a difference. Wet wood from rain or sitting on the ground will dry out a lot faster. We have an old/antique fridge shell sitting right next to the wood stove that we keep wood in. Gets nice and warm for drying. One year I stacked wood on top of the wood stove to dry it. Worked like a charm but kept a close eye on it.
There's a lot of cedar here that was knocked down by loggers years ago. Some of it's rotten down to the heart but cedar burns HOT and we use it to get the oak going. The oak is mostly tops and reject trees from the logging.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Sounds like you need to be putting up wood right now for next winter. As said, green and wet are 2 different problems, easier to dry out then to season....James


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

We stack damp wood under the woodstove to dry more thoroughly before putting it in the woodstove.
It works very well.
You turn it once or twice in the course of a burn and by the next morning it is ready to go to start the morning fire.
Bring more down and start the process over.

Adds some moisture to the air as well.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

If you have a copy of Readers Digest traditional skills.1981. It is one of the original bibles of the homesteading movement. There is a plate in the wood burning section that will tee you about drying wood


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Just a website to let you know how evil you area. Sell it to some guys and buy firewood and keep the change
http://www.thejoinery.com/wood-profile-madrone


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## ablesolutions (Sep 1, 2011)

For many days I had to cook outside during hurricane sandy due to no electricity for my kitchen stove. I used a twig stove outside and for the first few days the twigs were wet. Using wet twigs I was still able to make hot coffee, hot chocolate, and heat canned and dehydrated food, cook hot dogs, hamburgers, fish and other foods using the twig stove and forced air directed below the fire. I think the key is the forced air once the fire got going. The fire in the twig stove was started by match lighting a petroleum jelly coated cotton ball, using dry cardboard for tinder, then placing the wet twigs over the burning cardboard tinder and forcing air under the fire with a battery powered fan. This approach kept the whole family fed for the many days we had no electricity to power our kitchen stove. If you are interested, you can see the stove burn wet wood.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

This is a timely thread for my family. Our older son is 13 and we've been teaching him some survival type skills, including fire starting and tending in our outdoor firepit. He's gotten to the point he can build a pretty good fire if there's no rain or wind, but he really struggles when it's wet or windy. He wanted to put some kerosene on the fire at one point but we worked with him to show him how to shield the flame so it doesn't go out, and also how to find dry kindling in the inner bark of trees. It makes me proud to see him work at it until he gits 'er done!


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## GoldenCityMuse (Apr 15, 2009)

Or move to NM. It dries out wood in about 30 days. 12-19% humidity these days.

In June we will have 7-9% humidity.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

GoldenCityMuse said:


> Or move to NM. It dries out wood in about 30 days. 12-19% humidity these days.
> 
> In June we will have 7-9% humidity.



Not today. We started out breezy, went to windy, then to sand storm, then to raining mud, to sleet and now snow. Our wood is wet dirty and frozen.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

about 2 years ago i built a simple free standing wood shed , best thing i think i ever did for burning wood , it holds about 3 to 4 cord , what a world of difference dry wood makes , i had put tarps on my piles and thought that was dry , not dry like an actual roof and air movment the shed is 3 sided and the open side faces the house it s about 20 feet from the house 50 or so from the door 

but bringing wood in that is wet and stacking it or keeping it in tubs in the house makes a huge difference it will dry considerably if you can keep a 3 day supply in the house rotating a new day in each day 

but it will never get inside or under a roof dry , with my dry wood i put 2 full size pieces roughly 5x5x16 front to back right and left then a few smaller ones right to left across the top , a section of news paper or the like rolled up and placed in the tunnel the wood makes and light it and i have a fire 

the important part to remember is your not trying to burn the wood your trying to heat the wood till it off gasses enough wood gas that it can sustain combustion then it becomes a self sustaining combustion cycle if your wood is wet it will have greater mass to heat to the gas point , and it will be adding water vapor to your wood gas and air mix requiring more wood gas to air to compensate


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

always make sure to check the chimney and stove pipe regularly....low fires and green wood create buildup that needs to be dealt with.....never heard of this mandrone? but ASH is my favorite hardwood...burns safely at all stages....splits easy, grows like crazy where I live.


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