If you have plenty of storage space, I have found a loose pile dries faster than a stack. It takes a lot less time to create too. When you heat exclusively with firewood in Norway you learn a bit about how to reduce the workload. I have been heating my house with firewood for 30 years, and I don't think a year goes by without some little change that reduces the effort it takes. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, I'm glad you like it. Thanks for the tip - we often do just throw it in a heap. It depends on whether it will be seen or just hidden at the back of the woodshed!
More info from books I've read on green woodworking (by Jennie Alexander, Peter Follansbee, and Drew Langsner) Wood cracks from the pith (center of the oldest rings) outward because - it's very weak/dead - wood cells don't shrink evenly when they lose moisture, and mostly shrink like an old bellows, around the circle of the trunk. Because it doesn't shrink pith-to-bark at an equal rate, the little wedges all separate from eachother as they get narrower. In woodworking you can minimize this by splitting round stock in unequal halves/quarters through the pith, and then removing the oldest rings from that corner of the split. At least for small pieces, the temperature of a carved object can tell you if it's dry. If it still feels cool to the touch, it's still drying. Storing wood on end, at least for a while after cutting, will dry it faster, and may leave a pool of water if it's the right species/situation. Wood can be thought of as having free and bound water. Free water fills the "straws" that carry nutrients up and down the tree, while "bound" water is in the cells/flesh of the tree itself. When you put wood on end, the free water flows out under gravity. The remaining empty pores in the wood serve as even more surface area for the bound water to evaporate, lowering the actual moisture content of the wood. This more rapid moisture loss leads to more dramatic cracking, and the lack of gravity/a stack of other boards holding a board flat tends to allow much more warping, so this mostly isn't used by woodworkers. Some, on the other hand, prefer to let the wood do what it will, and work with that final form, which may be more stable. Bark comes off/stays stuck for several reasons: - time of harvest; trees cut in the middle of a cold winter have less moisture in them (it's all in the roots) and so naturally shrink less and shed their bark more slowly - the same trees may have the bark practically fly off in early summer; a good time for harvesting bark for baskets! - The cambium, the growth layer under the bark, contains a lot of nutrients and is what most critters gnawing on trees actually eat. Once it gets eaten by critters, bacteria, and fungus, the bark comes off easily.
I would love to eventually get a home that can be heated with firewood, so this kind of knowledge is very appreciated. Also, that beautiful dog is just spoiled with cuddles hehe :)
It is very satisfying - I hope you get a home that you can heat with wood. I keep toying with the idea of getting some bees myself. Thanks for your videos!
@@theviewfromtheclouds Bees are wonderful little creatures, and I know of a few UK beekeepers you might get knowledge from: Gwenyn Gruffydd, Black Mountain Honey and Richard Noel (while Richar's moved to France, he's a great beekeeper with plenty of knowledge about beekeeping) 🙂
I just touch the wood to my bottom lip. If the moisture content is too high, the water in the wood conducts heat away from my lip and the wood feels cold, but if it's dry enough for burning then the wood insulates my lip and it feels warm. Basically a similar idea to your moisture meter, but with less accuracy!
Excellent video. Thank you. Can I add : ideally raise your wood off the ground. Old pallets are perfect so that moisture is not absorbed from the ground and air flows by convection thru the pile. Willow is the exception to the 2 year "rule" even in good conditions. It tends to spend the first year trying to grow new trees & then it will eventually die (if off the ground) and needs a further 2 years then to dry.
Hi, it depends on the size of the wood and what you are doing with it. For stuff that is only 5-10cm, I usually leave it or make a deadhedge with it. It is a lot of work to cut up and is only really useful for kindling. But, if you need kindling - it's perfect! Otherwise, you can let it rot down and benefit biodiversity.
Actually at true 0% moisture you'll end up with sawdust powder. Without ANY water the molecules fall apart as it is, in this case, a binding agent. And I'm not a biologist.
Easiest way to assess dryness - bang 2 firewood lengths together; a dull thud means one or both are still green. A higher pitched hollow sound tells you they're both dry. Here in Tasmania, firewood suppliers who cut down trees, if green, split the wood and stack it cut edge upwards for the winter, in what look like old fashioned beehives, the belief is that rainfall washes of the sap, which contains various hygroscopic sugars, so that it subsequently dries out more quickly the following summer.
My understanding from doing woodworking with green wood is this: There are two kinds of water in wood - "free water" that is being transported in the channels/straws of the wood - "bound water" that's actually in the cells of the plant When you stack the wood on end, the free water flows out the end rapidly/evaporates out the top, leaving more surface area in the now-empty channels for the bound water to evaporate into.
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If you have plenty of storage space, I have found a loose pile dries faster than a stack. It takes a lot less time to create too. When you heat exclusively with firewood in Norway you learn a bit about how to reduce the workload. I have been heating my house with firewood for 30 years, and I don't think a year goes by without some little change that reduces the effort it takes. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, I'm glad you like it. Thanks for the tip - we often do just throw it in a heap. It depends on whether it will be seen or just hidden at the back of the woodshed!
More info from books I've read on green woodworking (by Jennie Alexander, Peter Follansbee, and Drew Langsner)
Wood cracks from the pith (center of the oldest rings) outward because
- it's very weak/dead
- wood cells don't shrink evenly when they lose moisture, and mostly shrink like an old bellows, around the circle of the trunk.
Because it doesn't shrink pith-to-bark at an equal rate, the little wedges all separate from eachother as they get narrower. In woodworking you can minimize this by splitting round stock in unequal halves/quarters through the pith, and then removing the oldest rings from that corner of the split.
At least for small pieces, the temperature of a carved object can tell you if it's dry. If it still feels cool to the touch, it's still drying.
Storing wood on end, at least for a while after cutting, will dry it faster, and may leave a pool of water if it's the right species/situation. Wood can be thought of as having free and bound water. Free water fills the "straws" that carry nutrients up and down the tree, while "bound" water is in the cells/flesh of the tree itself. When you put wood on end, the free water flows out under gravity. The remaining empty pores in the wood serve as even more surface area for the bound water to evaporate, lowering the actual moisture content of the wood. This more rapid moisture loss leads to more dramatic cracking, and the lack of gravity/a stack of other boards holding a board flat tends to allow much more warping, so this mostly isn't used by woodworkers. Some, on the other hand, prefer to let the wood do what it will, and work with that final form, which may be more stable.
Bark comes off/stays stuck for several reasons:
- time of harvest; trees cut in the middle of a cold winter have less moisture in them (it's all in the roots) and so naturally shrink less and shed their bark more slowly
- the same trees may have the bark practically fly off in early summer; a good time for harvesting bark for baskets!
- The cambium, the growth layer under the bark, contains a lot of nutrients and is what most critters gnawing on trees actually eat. Once it gets eaten by critters, bacteria, and fungus, the bark comes off easily.
I would love to eventually get a home that can be heated with firewood, so this kind of knowledge is very appreciated. Also, that beautiful dog is just spoiled with cuddles hehe :)
It is very satisfying - I hope you get a home that you can heat with wood. I keep toying with the idea of getting some bees myself. Thanks for your videos!
@@theviewfromtheclouds Bees are wonderful little creatures, and I know of a few UK beekeepers you might get knowledge from: Gwenyn Gruffydd, Black Mountain Honey and Richard Noel (while Richar's moved to France, he's a great beekeeper with plenty of knowledge about beekeeping) 🙂
I just touch the wood to my bottom lip. If the moisture content is too high, the water in the wood conducts heat away from my lip and the wood feels cold, but if it's dry enough for burning then the wood insulates my lip and it feels warm.
Basically a similar idea to your moisture meter, but with less accuracy!
Excellent video. Thank you.
Can I add : ideally raise your wood off the ground. Old pallets are perfect so that moisture is not absorbed from the ground and air flows by convection thru the pile.
Willow is the exception to the 2 year "rule" even in good conditions. It tends to spend the first year trying to grow new trees & then it will eventually die (if off the ground) and needs a further 2 years then to dry.
Absolutely great videos. So practical and useful and so correct!
Thanks for that!
Great stuff! how about burning fallen wood? Been clearing out the undergrowth and pulling out some old wood. Is it worth cutting up for burning?
Hi, it depends on the size of the wood and what you are doing with it. For stuff that is only 5-10cm, I usually leave it or make a deadhedge with it. It is a lot of work to cut up and is only really useful for kindling. But, if you need kindling - it's perfect! Otherwise, you can let it rot down and benefit biodiversity.
Thank you
One of my most favourite channels though
excellent ..brilliantly put together
Well said that man
thanks for sharing
Thank you for that. Glad you liked it!
Fascinating
Thank you!
enjoying the content. thanks!
Thanks again!
Very good, just wished you’d covered softwoods, lots of myths surrounding burning them
Good point. I had meant to discuss softwood in this video, but it somehow got lost in production. Oops - I will cover it in a future video!
Actually at true 0% moisture you'll end up with sawdust powder. Without ANY water the molecules fall apart as it is, in this case, a binding agent. And I'm not a biologist.
Easiest way to assess dryness - bang 2 firewood lengths together; a dull thud means one or both are still green.
A higher pitched hollow sound tells you they're both dry.
Here in Tasmania, firewood suppliers who cut down trees, if green, split the wood and stack it cut edge upwards for the winter, in what look like old fashioned beehives, the belief is that rainfall washes of the sap, which contains various hygroscopic sugars, so that it subsequently dries out more quickly the following summer.
My understanding from doing woodworking with green wood is this:
There are two kinds of water in wood
- "free water" that is being transported in the channels/straws of the wood
- "bound water" that's actually in the cells of the plant
When you stack the wood on end, the free water flows out the end rapidly/evaporates out the top, leaving more surface area in the now-empty channels for the bound water to evaporate into.