Can Firewood be Too Dry? – The Answer

It makes a ton of sense to think that the wood which is left cut up for as long as possible will get more dry. But with that in mind, can you over do it? And if so, is there any bad to that?

It certainly can

Firewood which is left to season for longer than needed might lose more moisture than necessary. This means that once the wood is finally used for burning, the fires it’ll make may be too hot and/or fast.

Now, the results here depend on a lot of things – the climate, the stove you use and the wood. There are even firewood users out there who swear that there is no such a thing as wood that can be overly dry! The more seasoned the better, in their books.

I personally do believe that leaving the wood to season for longer than necessary can actually worsen it, that is, over dry. I feel like if you get rid of more moisture than needed it will indeed turn the actual firewood into a fast burner, not much else. This is especially an issue if there is no way to control the amount of airflow that goes through the firebox.

How long should I season the wood, then?

Considering I prepare most of my firewood in spring, I feel confident enough to use it fully as soon as fall hits.

I’ve even written an article about this topic. If you’re one of them softwood users, the same rule should be working as good to you.

But then again, how quickly can the wood dry properly does, and I mean, quite a bit depend on a ton of factors, so take my recommendations as a general rule of thumb, not as a clear-cut fact.

One thing for sure – you shouldn’t leave your wood to season for a half of decade to get the most out of it!

When to use the overly seasoned firewood

Using wood which is dried too much for pure heating purposes is kind of a waste, for me at least. I recommend to mix it in with the properly dried kind to find that perfect balance – i mean, you certainly don’t want to get rid of that dry wood, right?