How to properly store your firewood

Drying oak wood for DIY projects

Oak wood should always:

• in one piece or as long planks as well
• in a place protected from rain

dry.

The drying of oak wood is relatively time-consuming. As a rule of thumb, you should expect a drying time of around a year for every centimeter of wood thickness.

method

When stacking the wood, you should use two centimeters thick stacking strips. These are inserted between the boards at a distance of 50 centimeters so that the air can circulate freely.

Cracks are almost always caused by improper storage and drying, for example when the oak wood is stored at high temperature and low humidity. The reason: The volume shrinkage caused by this process is many times greater in the outer annual rings than in the core.

Always cover the end grain surfaces, these are the sides cut across the grain, because the water evaporates significantly faster here than on the long cut edges.

Oak wood as fuel

Due to its density, oak burns very slowly and has a high calorific value. Since it is not resinous, it causes few sparks and forms a beautiful glow. However, the flame picture is disappointing and you have to forego the cozy crackling and crackling of the fire. That is why oak is more suitable for the closed tiled stove.

If you get fresh oak wood for firewood, you have to expect a comparatively long drying time. In contrast to spruce or pine, which you can burn up after about two years, you have to be patient with oak firewood for three to four years.

Let the oak firewood dry as follows:

• Store the logs in a sunny and dry place.
• The wood should be well ventilated on all sides.
• Protect the fuel from rain, for example with a roof or a cover made of metal.
• So that the wood does not pull moisture from the floor, you should place it on a substrate made of stones or on Euro pallets(€ 29.99 at Amazon *) or store squared timber.
• If there is no protected storage space, you can pile up the firewood in the form of a timber pile.