Hardwood shrinkage when drying?

Hello,

I don’t know about hardwood firewood, I typically burn softer woods like Doug Fir or Pine. That price seems steep, I live in North Bend up by Seattle, and a full chord of seasoned fire wood goes for around $200 to $250 now in the summer but in Aug or Sept the price does go up to $400 or so. I have a mill and a solar kiln and I will tell you that Hardwood will shrink but not enough to be worried about it. What I would be worried about is will it be fully seasoned by October. The rule is for every 1” of wood will take a year to dry. If the wood does not dry out then you get all that nasty creosote build up and chimney fires. Hope this helped.

-- Ty, Up in Washington

You can calculate the amount of shrinkage by knowing the original MC, the species, and the end MC. It is unrealistic, (as in NOT TRUE) that hardwood does not shrink. Whether it shrinks enough to significantly affect a cord measurement is highly doubtful. I think you may have to measure with a micrometer. But then as I said it depends on the aformentioned factors. Also if you don’t dry it properly you likely will get warp, check, collapse, case-hardening, twist etc. For that little savings I’d let him dry it at least if quality is guaranteed. In summary if not dried with care you can ruin the wood.

It will shrink a bit, but it is so little in volume that it shouldn’t be a concern. Three or four extra pieces would make up for it. I have cut, dried, and burned hundreds of cords of firewood, and what he is telling you is right. It will be fine next fall, but better if you leave it out and in the sun during the summer. Nobody I have ever met dries firewood down to woodworking dryness, and most woods burn better if they are half-dried anyway. If that is the going rate (I’m in NW Oregon, it’s around $200 a cord here but it’s mostly fir and alder) then you can either buy his or someone elses and end up with the same thing.

-- Power tools put us ahead of the monkeys

Hardwood shrinkage..hehe…sorry I’m immature

I have burned a lot of maple and never noticed any difference in the wood pile. Don’t worry about it. It will weigh less.

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

Mountain that rule is dependant on the wood type and is typically only applied when the bark is left on the wood, there are some species that will dry in 2-3 months.

-- The mark of a good carpenter is not how few mistakes he makes, but rather how well he fixes them.

You can figure about 6 – 7% volume shrinkage from green to air dry.

-- Wood-Mizer LT15

Thank you everyone!

Drying firewood is not the same as drying lumber. Firewood needs a much higher MC to keep from burning to fast. Lumber for woodworking has a mc way too low for good fire wood. Green lumber today will be great for this fall.

-- If the old masters had power tools, they would have used them. So get off your damn High Horse.