Salt and Pepper

Seasoning.

No, not salt and pepper (or Spinderella!?)

Seasoning wood - the drying process where water is removed from wood. All very technical stuff - and something I knew nothing about till a chance discussion with someone who has a log burner. The upshot of this was that I couldn't use my newly found logs until they were dried out - which could be six months or so.

Oh dear - time to do some research on wood drying, google here I come.


Update (01/03/09): I can actually see my wood seasoning, well - drying at least. Here's some pics of the wood as the water works it's way out of the wood. It seems to be white when first cut but quickly turns to a yellow colour, then slowly turns to a pale yellow as it drys. In these pics it seems to be halfway between these first stages. Here's some advice I found on the web: "Seasoned wood looks dark, or gray when compared to green wood - but if you split a piece of seasoned wood - it's WHITE on the inside. It's brittle, or gnarly. It has cracks running through each piece, and a lot of little cracks on the inner rings". I assume from this I have quite a way to go till it gets white or gray and "chinks" nicely when banged against other pieces of dry wood (and doesn't produce a dull clunk - that's wet wood!, very nasty!) I've also followed the guidelines to split every piece, that nasty bark is perfect for holding all the water in so it must be split to expose the wood to drying.