Process of Air Drying Wood At Home For Seasoned Logs For Stoves

Jan 31, 2012
Susan Morris

Seasoned Wood - Susan Morris

Chopped wood from winter pruning can be air dried in the garden to provide seasoned wood for open fires and multi-fuel stoves for the next winter season.

Reasons to Dry Wood

Wood Products and Utilization Specialist James E. Reeb, of the University of Kentucky College of Agricutlure, set out in 1997 some important reasons to dry wood as:

Better usability
Reduced shipping costs
Less likelihood of stain or decay during transit, storage and use
Reduced susceptibility to insect damage
Increased strength
Better hold
Better finishing
Better heat insulation
Better preservation
Added value

In the context of drying wood for use as fuel at home, advantages include contributing to a circular economy of reducing waste and transport related to disposal of regular winter pruning and the clearing of debris from fallen branches and uprooted trees due to wind damage. Retail outlets charge higher prices for seasoned logs for burning compared to unseasoned logs. Setting up a home-based process of drying wood for available garden wood cut into logs can provide a source of seasoned logs within the year.

How Wood Can Dry Outdoors

Wood will take up and keep moisture with ease, it is a hygroscopic material. Stacked in the backyard garden outdoors, logs of wood will seek an equilibrium moisture content in relation to the temperature and humidity of where they are stored in the backyard. For illustration a relative humidity (RH) of -12 degrees Celsius relates to an equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of 2-3; a RH of -1 degrees Celsius relates to a EMC of 6; a RH of 10 degrees Celsius to a EMC of 9 to 10; a RH of 21 degrees Celsius to a EMC of 12 to 13 and a RH of 32 degrees Celsius to a EMC of 18 to 21 (Reeb, 1997). Wood can air dry in a store outdoors when the moisture content of the air is less than the moisture content of the wood.

Efficiency in Air Drying Wood

Building a small store for unseasoned logs to be air drying in the backyard garden requires a design that allows air across the surface of the wood. The surface evaporation rate will be increased as long as the water can move from the inside of the wood to the exterior surfaces at a rate that keeps the surface wetter than the inside. The rate of drying the wood logs will increase as the surface evaporation increases as the outdoor temperatures rise above zero and into the twenty degrees Celsius in the summer and the relative humidity of the surrounding air in the store reduces and becomes drier.

There are any number of suitable designs for a wooden log stack that can be set up for effective air drying of wood ranging from an informal stack on a raised floor of bricks, to avoid the moisture from turf or soil, that is covered with a canopy to a bespoke store made from recycled wood with a roof protection from sun and rain.