question about seasoned wood

[tjg3159]

I am new to all of this and just installed my oven two weeks ago...so pardon my naivety....everything i read says to use only hardwood that has been seasoned for two years....I certainly understand using only hardwood...that's common sense...but 2 years??...I do not know how hard it will be to find...my question is...is the reason for this one of health and safety (formation of harmful agents?creosote..Etc..)..or just oven efficiency?.any insight would be greatly appreciated

[tusr18a]

Re: question about seasoned wood

The drier the wood the better. If you can find two year old dried hard wood, the jump on it. Otherwise, find the driest wood that you can find. If you can't find seasoned wood, then there are tricks that can help you out. One is to use residual heat from the oven to help dry out the wood. After you have used the oven on a given night, remove the coals and ashes and let it cool a little. Then stack up the wood that you plan to use for your next burn inside the oven. The remaining heat in the oven will help dry out the wood. There are a few reasons to try to avoid green wood. First, it is hard to light. It is no fun spending a lot of time trying to get the fire to light. Second, green wood puts off less energy. The fire spends energy converting the water in the wood to steam. That is energy that is not being used to heat the masonry in your oven. Hope this helps!

[tjg3159]

Re: question about seasoned wood

thank you...and yes that does help...have you heard of any health concerns related to using wood that is not seasoned?...something about the moisture in the wood meeting the air...forming creosote and/or other hazardous agents

thanks again for your response!

[Poetryart]

Re: question about seasoned wood

I must admit to being totally blown away by the difference in heat from different types of wood. Fascinating! And the green stuff smokes like crazy. Hardwoods are sooo much more efficient and effective.

[kmrice]

Re: question about seasoned wood

Make sure you let the oven cool down to something like 400 degrees f before loading in the wood you plan to cure. Otherwise you could find yourself with a huge fire - and, at the end, no cured wood. I didn't let the oven cool down enough the first time I tried to cure wood in it and the fire was pretty spectacular. Flash point of wood is somewhere in low 400s, IIRC.

Karl

[tusr18a]

Re: question about seasoned wood

I am not aware of any health concerns with burning green wood. With that said, I am definitely not an expert in that area.

[mikku]

Re: question about seasoned wood

I'd say, burn what you can get. Dry is good!

Stay away from scrap wood that is painted; plywood is a no-no; so is OSB or any other wood that is chemically treated.

Almost all wood will burn--just some wood burns better!

All you are looking for is something that will heat your oven--almost everything will!

If you have any access to standing dead wood, usually that is already dry. Trees that have fallen during storms make good firewood as long as you can harvest the wood before the trunks settle too much to the ground and start decaying. Almost all branches--any size from finger size up make great firewood. When you look around your surroundings--look at trees --as a fuel source not just for their majestic presence. If you have a small chainsaw, or really good cross-cut saw that would work on branches...keep them in the trunk of your car--so you can take advantage of every opportunity!

Join the crowd of firewood seekers!