It is important that you burn your firewood only when it is completely dry or else it will not produce enough heat. Damp wood will never burn immediately; instead, the moisture will dry out first and the wood will burn afterwards. You will not experience maximum heat because the energy from the fire goes towards removing the excess moisture. It is therefore a good idea to learn how to dry firewood fast.
How to Dry Firewood Fast: 5 Steps You Should Follow
Take the axe as well as your chopping block. Now, start by splitting your wood into the length of firewood that you usually use. Splitting them early will help accelerate the drying process because you're actually exposing more of its surface to the air. How well the air circulates through the wood will determine how long it takes to get moisture out of your firewood.
The next step to learning how to dry firewood fast is to stack the wood as neatly as possible. You can opt for a criss-cross pattern, and ensure that the end of every wood piece is placed in a way that every row is perpendicular to the row underneath.
It is important to select pieces similar in size to ensure the stack doesn't collapse. Maintain the same pattern to the very end of the stacks, but be sure to fill the middle of your stack in a normal fashion. The alternating pattern plays a big role in drying out your wood. You should avoid stacking your firewood directly on the ground to prevent its decomposition.
Store your firewood in a dry, sunny place to accelerate the drying process. All your effort will go wasted if you store your firewood in a moist area. Even if you're storing it in a structured area, it is important to ensure there is enough ventilation.
Cover your firewood with plastic sheeting. It is important to ensure that the sheeting hangs about a foot off the ground or else you will block ventilation. The focuss is to protect the wood from rain – you should not restrict airflow through the stacks. It is therefore important that you have placed the sheeting lightly over the wood to speed up drying.
- You should not let the sheeting touch the ground, but you can attach weights or something to keep it in place. You can also consider tying fishing line around it. Although the plastic sheeting works fine, you can also make use of old shower curtains to protect your wood from rain. Using shower curtains makes it easy to use weights because you can add them to the grommets.
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