# Burning Wet Wood



## raMONA

What if you were in a bug out situation and it was storming and flooding everywhere and you couldn't keep your wood dry....

Is there any way to quickly dry out the wood?

What are some ideas for keeping your wood dry before it starts to rain?


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## marilynhanson

You just need to have something set aside that has alot of fuel in it so you can burn the dried wood. I would have matches coated in wax and some other stuff coated in wax or some lighter fluid or sap would be good for flammability / other mishmashes of fuel; then take a knife and chop off parts around the outside that can easily be dried with the fuel source, then start exponentially adding the wood as it gets dry enough to light


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## JeepHammer

'Wet Wood' is an Oxymoron.

Due to it's closed cellular structure, wood can't be 'Wet'.
It can have water on the outside, but it's still dry as a bone on the inside.
Split the wood, and it will be dry inside.

Wood shavings, smeared with petroleum jelly and kept in a plastic bag are virtually 'Water Proof', and make GREAT tender to get a fire started.
Other cellulose material is very good tender too, wood, paper, cotton, grasses, ect.

Smeared with a volatile petroleum compound for added fuel, the cellulose structure works as a Wick', like in a candle, and that makes for some very easy to light, and very effective fire starting tender!

The only way wood can be wet internally is when it's dried out enough the cell walls have broken down (dry 'Rot'),
OR,
The wood has been wet long enough the cell walls have broken down.


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## dunappy

Agreed "Wet wood" isn't really wet. You would seriously be supprized at what burns even after become "wet" from rain etc. Basically if you have some dry tinder and an all weather fire starting device ( ie lighter etc) you can always get your wood "dried out" enough to burn. I used to work as a wildland firefighter. We would do prescribed burns in the middle of the winter with wood piles that were snow covered. You get the pile hot enough the snow melts/ evaporates and that wood pile is roaring away. 

However if it's raining and you are out side. you still want to protect your fire from excessive damp especially if it rains for days in a row. I don't have to worry about that here, but if you do,first you need to build or find a sheltered area to place the fire. Then you should have a sheltered area to place your wood. It can still get a little 'wet" and still be good to burn. Once you get the fire started. You place a few pieces at a time on the hot fire and then keep on going. The hotter the fire the faster the damp on the outside evaporates back off.

And good outdoor firestarters include a mixture of 3 parts diesel to 1 part gasoline. or a long burning road flare. Those things seriously get hot and will light even snow covered wood piles on fire.


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## TechAdmin

I've burned a lot of "wet" wood in my day out at the ranch camping. It will smoke more but it burns just fine after getting started.


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## Shultze 3

Good to know!


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## interacting

I use a twig stove to burn wet wood, starting the fire with a cotton ball finger painted with petroleum jelly. Then I add tinder and thin twigs, working up to thicker twigs. The key is to feed it air. If you are interested, you can see it here:
Burn Wet Wood


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## Viking

raMONA said:


> What if you were in a bug out situation and it was storming and flooding everywhere and you couldn't keep your wood dry....
> 
> Is there any way to quickly dry out the wood?
> 
> What are some ideas for keeping your wood dry before it starts to rain?


I've covered firewood with pieces of bark off of Douglas fir, cedar and other thick barked trees. It's also possible to drape fir or cedar boughs over your wood supply at an angle that can drain away a great deal of the rain. I've also laid firewood at a slant so that water drains off which helps keep water from getting under the bark. One other thing that might help is stacking firewood around the base of trees, I often see deer beds at the base of trees where they can get out of some of the rain or snowfall so it's a fair place to keep wood a bit drier. A lot depends on the types of trees you have available. Out here in SW Oregon fir, pine and cedar are the common evergreens with some varieties of oak and other hardwoods. One thing that I've done for starting fires under rain or snow conditions is to find pitch balls that form on pine and fir bark and put them with twigs, aged pine needles and dead branches from the base of fir and pine trees.


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## lotsoflead

Are you talking wet wood or green wood, wood that is cut and split is not like hay, that it will soak up all the rain coming down, it will soak up water if left in a pool or pond of water for a few days.. green wood can be burnt, but will have to boil the water out of it as it burns giving off little heat.


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## Viking

lotsoflead said:


> Are you talking wet wood or green wood, wood that is cut and split is not like hay, that it will soak up all the rain coming down, it will soak up water if left in a pool or pond of water for a few days.. green wood can be burnt, but will have to boil the water out of it as it burns giving off little heat.


From what I read of the original post it sounds like the wood has dried and it's an issue of keeping it dry without the benefit of tarping or woodshed.


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