Seasoning Apple Wood For Wood Stoves In Three Simple Steps
Apple wood is a excellent wood burning fuel. A hardwood fuel source that is heavy and burns longer and hotter than soft woods. Just remember if your apple wood is not seasoned
Out in the western US, we are blessed with high heat and low humidty in the summer. This type of weather helps us season our wood fast. Seasoning apple wood does not take a rocket scientist to figure out. It's as simple as cutting your wood that fits inside your wood stove, throw it in piles, or stack it. Then don't burn it for at least one year or more and it should be completely dried out and ready for your wood stove.
Some people like to cure their wood slowly. The easiest way to cure your wood slowly is to run a sprinkler over it once a week during the summer months. By sprinkling the wood it will also help control bugs that can damage your wood.
Apple wood is susceptible to these little bore mites that drill small holes in the wood. Your wood will still burn well, but you need to watch your stack closely so they don't overrun it. I would highly recommend burning this wood as soon as you have seasoned it. Apple wood can be difficult to stack because it has many different shapes and it not uniform. However, as you begin to stack your wood, you will quickly be able to fill in holes with various other smaller pieces. We use a lot of 4 foot pipe to help us keep our wood stacks from falling over.
Wood burners who live in a city or town should place their wood in an area that will not receive water from your yard sprinklers. The wood that does get wet can take 2 or more years to completely dry if you continue to water it. As for keeping your wood covered, that is a personal preference. My folks cover their wood and we do not. The benefits of covering your wood during the winter months is that you can season your wood quicker, but out west with our dry summers that is not a big problem.
We tend to cut our wood in spurts. One year we will cut wood for 2 months solid and then take 2 years off. By cutting more wood than we need, it is easy to build up a reserve pile. That means if during one cutting season you are injured and cannot cut, you will not have to worry about cutting because you have a reserve.
In our neck of the woods, a lot of people simply buy cords of wood delivered to their home for around $100. But be careful because some people will sell their "B" grade apple wood that consists of small diameter tree limbs.These little limbs burn well, but they can never be relied upon to burn all night leaving you, fire starting coals in the morning.
If your wood stove has at least a 75% efficiency rating then apple wood works extremely well. Want to know who has the best efficiency rating then visit Wood Stove Review
If you want to learn how to burn less wood and get more heat then stop by
Wood Stoves Guide.
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