How to Season Your Firewood Logs

The dream of a warm fire on a cold night can be quickly ruined by using wood that is too "wet" for burning, as the wood smokes, smolders, or simply goes out.

The answer to this difficulty is to use seasoned wood, or wood that has had excess moisture removed and is therefore more easily burned. To ensure that your winter fire is a toasty success, instead of a prelude to a choke fest, start by allowing enough time between wood harvest and usage.

Seasoning time can run from 6 to 9 months; a particularly dense wood, such as hickory, can take up to 12 months to adequately dry. Imagine this: some freshly harvested wood can hold between 50 to 80 percent of its weight in water.

Properly seasoned wood will hold a moisture content of 20 percent or less. You stack the odds in your favor if you harvest wood in a dry time of the year, such as in the fall or winter, when trees are more dormant and are less likely to be uptaking moisture from their roots. You can also speed up the drying process by splitting the wood you've harvested; water has a more difficult time exiting wood through the moisture-retaining bark. As a matter of principle, smaller pieces of wood will dry more quickly than larger pieces.

At this point, stacking firewood to be seasoned becomes a way to let nature help your cause. If you can, start your stack with a base of wood palettes or cinder blocks, because this promotes air circulation and prevents the wood on the bottom from picking up moisture from the ground and eventually rotting. As you build your stack, ensure its sturdiness so that it doesn't blow over and create further work. Some folks like to criss-cross their wood stack about every two layers as a way to further promote air circulation and speed the drying process. If need be, use twine or stakes to stabilize the outside areas of the wood stack. If you choose to use a tarp, keep it from directly touching the wood as that can lead to pockets of moisture getting trapped inside the stack and leading to wood rot.

At any rate, allowing the sun and the wind access to your seasoning stack will aid in the drying process, as both will work to pull water from the wood. How do you know when the wood is ready for burning? Smack two pieces together; you should hear a hollow sound. Also watch for large cracks that start to appear; this is another clue that the wood is fully seasoned.