KD firewood??

[Bedlam]

Up around my area, there is a place that Kiln dries firewood.
Does anyone know how they do this seems like it would be costly to run a kiln for this
purpose?

 

[ToadHill]

They probably heat it with the limbs and branches of the trees they cut down.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Yeah what's wrong with the old fashioned solar drying method that has been used for thousands of years?
Are they just drying firewood or lumber?

 

[Bedlam]

Didn't think of the limbs to dry it ,and yes its firewood .Huge buns they load and then it kiln dries for some time ,no idea how long.
Yes I think its silly, but just another fact of our rush rush have it now world.lol
I will stick to air drying myself,tried and true. I have a wood furnace so I burn anything anyways if its soaked and I have no choice i burn it.Just doesn't seem feasible to me somehow.But the possible limb burning I hadn't thought of wouldn't think you could use a fissile fuel and still make it worth while.
good replies thanks

 

[kennyd]

It could be because of the emerald ash borer beetle that is fast becoming a problem. I know that in PA they are considering making it mandatory for seller's of firewood to kiln dry it first for 48 hours...it's going to hurt a lot of small businesses.

 

[20 20]

Kennyd; wow making common Joe the fire wood guy kiln dry. Well I quess the government finally found away to get their greedy little paws into the wood business. I do agree the beetles are a bad thing but how much is this really going to help??? Is this just another way for the country folks to be regulated by big brother???

Kiln drying fire wood, next folks will want it burned for them also

 

[jayste]

They keep this up and those big city folks will be paying a premium for their firewood! It might be cheaper to just bust up some of that junky Chinese made furniture and burn it instead! Of course you might have some sort of lead problem! They'd really have to want that romantic fire pretty bad then.

Jay

 

[jimmyj]

What would the moisture content of KD wood be? If it's less than the regularly humidity the wood would just get "more moist" when you pull it out of the kiln and put it into the woodshed would it not?

 

[tommu56]

I'm sure the cooking is to kill the beetle / larva and stop the invasion not season the wood.

tom

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Well for those of you married folk don't let the little lady catch you sticking your firewood in the microwave to kill the little critter.

 

[Bedlam]

Interesting about the betle I didnt consider a bug would be why the dry it I just thought it was a way to get more money from the 'city' folk.
I have a neighbor who cuts wood on his land and throws away(buries or over the banking) the wood that doesn't have the highest BTU content, etc. As he has read from the internet. I have burned wood primary for over 30 years I will burn anything.
I simply dont understand why some people over engineer things.
I am sure that this kild fryed isnt much of a fraction of the wood sold here. maybe people who are worried about bugs will buy it to store indoors.

 

[tommu56]

Interesting about the betle I didnt consider a bug would be why the dry it I just thought it was a way to get more money from the 'city' folk.
I have a neighbor who cuts wood on his land and throws away(buries or over the banking) the wood that doesn't have the highest BTU content, etc. As he has read from the internet. I have burned wood primary for over 30 years I will burn anything.
I simply dont understand why some people over engineer things.
I am sure that this kild fryed isnt much of a fraction of the wood sold here. maybe people who are worried about bugs will buy it to store indoors.

If you read the link from kennyd about how the bore is killing the ash trees from Michigan east the agricultural dept is posting the ban to slow the spread .

The forestry dept has burnt patches of Forrest that has them in it to kill them off the other trees aren't bothered by the bug just the ash.

tom

 

[kennyd]

Kennyd; wow making common Joe the fire wood guy kiln dry. Well I quess the government finally found away to get their greedy little paws into the wood business. I do agree the beetles are a bad thing but how much is this really going to help??? Is this just another way for the country folks to be regulated by big brother???

Kiln drying fire wood, next folks will want it burned for them also

I'm sure the cooking is to kill the beetle / larva and stop the invasion not season the wood.

tom

If you read the link from kennyd about how the bore is killing the ash trees from Michigan east the agricultural dept is posting the ban to slow the spread .

The forestry dept has burnt patches of Forrest that has them in it to kill them off the other trees aren't bothered by the bug just the ash.

tom

There is a HUGE campaign here in MD about this...there are billboards everywhere about not "moving" firewood from one county to another. This is definitely going to hurt the little/medium guys and drive the cost of wood through the roof.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

THat is waht it is for. In order tot ake wood to a state campground her ein MN it has to be processed wood. Don't know if kiln dried would be considered processed. Otherwise you get to pay $4.40 for a arm full.

It is to stop the spread of the emarld ash bore. This critter is claiming trees now in St Paul Minniaplois.

 

[dangerdoc]

Up around my area, there is a place that Kiln dries firewood.
Does anyone know how they do this seems like it would be costly to run a kiln for this
purpose?

If they are just heating up the wood to kill bugs but not taking it down below 8% moisture level, then it probably makes sense.

If they are truely making the wood kiln dry, <8% moisture level, then I urge caution in using it. It would not be safe in antique type stoves and fire places. Unless you can control the air flow, wood that dry will produce too much heat and present a potential hazard to the stove and or home.

 

[boxygen]

I cut my own firewood but there is a company in town that sells KD firewood. We just finished building a house for a client that had 4 fireplaces. They only use the house on the ocean a couple weeks a year and this was one of the weeks. They asked if we could get them some firewood. I said sure no problem. I drove over with my own pickup truck to get some wood from the company in town. They are very nice and professional. The kiln was wood fired, I did not check out how it was fired though. The wood comes off the processor into custom built steel racks that are about 4' square with a hinged gate on one side. They had a JD 110 TLB that he moved these around with inside and outside the kiln they were able to stack them ect. He put on his pallet forks drove over to my pickup, opened the gate and carefully dumped it in the bed. Since these were loosely piled as they came of the conveyor into the rack, he said three of these racks equalled 1 cord. This was definitely a generous third of a cord. The wood was very light, It hauled like there wasnt anything in the bed. I think the main advantage is that they can have dry wood anytime of the year, no matter what supply and demand does, they are ready. I had a friend who waited last year unti fall to get his firewood when fuel was 4.00+/gal. He bought a cord of KD from them for $400! Everyone else had been sold out for quite a while. I bought 10 cords of tree length this winter for $1100. Thats more my style

 

[Bedlam]

All interesting responces. I guess its up to the person ,I myself used to view wood burning as a savings and I still do but I couldnt afford the oil now adays so I ahve to burn wood, and Ill do it the old fashioned way..
I can sure understand how a part time burner would want it clean from bugs etc. But when you burn 10 cords like me ..

 

[20 20]

There is a HUGE campaign here in MD about this...there are billboards everywhere about not "moving" firewood from one county to another. This is definitely going to hurt the little/medium guys and drive the cost of wood through the roof.

All ready happening up here also, even though NY is free from the little pest they don't want to take any chances. I can understand wanting to stop the pest but maybe another solution would be to only allow the sale of other type woods??? I just don't care for big brother sticking its nose in on anything they allready rob us blind as it is.

 

[tommu56]

All ready happening up here also, even though NY is free from the little pest they don't want to take any chances. I can understand wanting to stop the pest but maybe another solution would be to only allow the sale of other type woods??? I just don't care for big brother sticking its nose in on anything they allready rob us blind as it is.

Most people buying fire wood coulden't tell ash from oak they just want something to burn they hear dried hard wood and they don't care except for $$$$

tom

 

[MikeD74T]

Kiln drying firewood has been around in New England for several years but only practiced by a few vendors. The primary reason, prior to the recent concerns over insect invasions, was to sell dry wood one week rather than one year after cutting. Means less space occupied by the process and less money invested in next years finished product. These vendors usually don't offer the option of green wood for sale. The kilns are not operated in the manner of lumber kilns which remove the water slowly. Firewood kilning is just heat the wood to temp quickly then ventilate. The wood checks significantly which further aids in drying. Bug free is a side benefit. There's also less handling involved in kiln dried wood and it resolves a waste disposal issue. MikeD74T