First use of moisture meter

I have the same unit. My problem is that I get obsessed with this stuff. I've only had it for a couple of weeks and the wife already flinches when she sees it.

FYI, in the pic you've got the pins oriented about 90 degrees off from where they should be. Ideally both pins should be stuck in the same annual ring , i.e lined up with the length of the split.

I just bought a moisture meter also and found that the box elder I cut last winter is still 35% That is unsplit and sitting on a north facing fenceline without enough sun. I always thought it was fairly dry this way before - still burns fine in my outdoor boiler.

The oak I split into large - 16"x 8-10" split pieces 3 years ago is between 15% and 26% when measuring the inside of a fresh split. This is exactly what I thought, but good to know for sure. I originally was going to use it in the outdoor boiler, but after some big finds of oak this year, I am splitting it down smaller and selling it as stove wood to pay for a hydraulic splitter so I don't have to spend so much time working on firewood. I think cutting firewood is a sickness as if I get a splitter I can process more wood and grow the piles. I realized this year I have 4 years of wood cut now. I do need to do a lot of splitting though.

will not dry out much unless its split

I sadly admit I joined the Numbers Group myself. Well my BIL did to contradict my telling him my oak needs 3 years. Hes trying to prove me wrong.
What he doesnt realize is that I hope he does.
We tested 1 yr old oak splits, oak cut and split last August.
The readings were 19.5 and 20.3 and 21.0 on splits from 3 different locations in the stacks.
On green wood its not so critical for math proof but Im curious about dead oaks that have fallen or snagged or on the ground.
Im cutting into oaks that have been down for decades.
The petrified forest.
In these instances the numbers are more interesting.

Applesister said:

I sadly admit I joined the Numbers Group myself. Well my BIL did to contradict my telling him my oak needs 3 years. Hes trying to prove me wrong.
What he doesnt realize is that I hope he does.
We tested 1 yr old oak splits, oak cut and split last August.
The readings were 19.5 and 20.3 and 21.0 on splits from 3 different locations in the stacks.
On green wood its not so critical for math proof but Im curious about dead oaks that have fallen or snagged or on the ground.
Im cutting into oaks that have been down for decades.
The petrified forest.
In these instances the numbers are more interesting.

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You're sure you were measuring those on a freshly split interior surface, not on the outside? If so, you are very fortunate. (Is there a jealousy emoticon?)

Osage said:

Have a tool now that is as valuable as any of my other wood cutting tools.View attachment 117761
Just realized that I was in the Wood shed when I posted this, should have probably been in The Gear. Sorry.

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Like I've been saying, if everybody who burned wood owned a moisture meter, and knew how to use it and what the readings meant, then there would be a heck of a lot less people burning wet wood.
Over the last 4 or 5 years I've gone out cutting firewood with a friend I know, he often cuts wood that is not all that dry, and what's worse is he stores it in his shed last in, first out. He only has one small entrance into his shed, so the wood he puts in last is the wood he takes out first. I tried telling him about his wet wood and flawed wood storing practices, but he brushed it off because he has been doing it that way for years (same old story, right?). This year he bought a moisture meter and has been testing his wood, old and new. Well, a little light must have gone on because he's been telling me how he's planning to switch things around a bit, and actually putting some of his newer cut wood to the side so he can access the old wood at the back of the shed.
Funny how when you test things for yourself, you can start making the right decisions.

Also something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that if the wood is frozen the numbers will be off. When in doubt you can bring the split inside until it warms up and then take a reading once you resplit it. Im not sure what temperature the wood should be (anyone know?) It might be good enough for our purposes to say thawed. I remember last year I had a few pieces of aspen that I thought was ready to burn because it was so lite. I resplit a piece and it was almost 30%. Since I had never burned the stuff before the meter was a useful tool for me.

Seanm said:

Im not sure what temperature the wood should be (anyone know?)

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Meters are typically calibrated for doug fir at 70F. Cold wood will make the meter err to the low side (wood is actually wetter than indicated). Species can throw it off in either direction. Nothing special happens if the wood is "frozen" though.

Jon1270 said:

Meters are typically calibrated for doug fir at 70F. Cold wood will make the meter err to the low side (wood is actually wetter than indicated). Species can throw it off in either direction. Nothing special happens if the wood is "frozen" though.

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Thanks I couldnt remember what temperature they were calibrated to. So cold wood makes a difference. Maybe Im splitting hairs here, it might not make more than a small difference and could be irrelevant for our needs. I wonder if the lower the temperature the more it would be off? When Im outside and its -20c and play around with my moisture meter I don't trust the reading very much.

Andy S. said:

I have the same unit. My problem is that I get obsessed with this stuff. I've only had it for a couple of weeks and the wife already flinches when she sees it.

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It's for the wood, right?

Im really in Backwood Savages camp with the 3 yr supply philosophy. Having wood seasoned for that period covers alot of hypothetical scenarios. No real need for a meter.
But thats not to say Im not curious. And Im sure theres a learning curve. One thing so far on the Oak testing of super fresh cuts and splits show a higher MC the closer to the cambium layer you get. Not that the information surprises me.
Heartwood and sapwood test quite differently.
And yes, I know this is all documented at forestry testing labs. Just interesting to see in person.

Applesister said:

Im really in Backwood Savages camp with the 3 yr supply philosophy. Having wood seasoned for that period covers alot of hypothetical scenarios. No real need for a meter.
.

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Great camp to be a member of if you have no access to dry wood and a big enough property to store all that wood. The problem is, I hear there's a three year waiting list to join.

Our camp allows even people with small city sized properties to join, and no waiting period for membership, only thing is we want to see you using your moisture meter and burning dry wood, or else we'll give you the boot. Then you'll end up having to join the big camp where the majority of the new wood burner end up. Nobody is sure how many members they have, because it's so smokey over there it's hard to get an accurate count, but it's a lot.

It's definitely an eye opening experience the first time you use one.

Two good points, with the grain and freshly split piece.

My moisture meter has gotten me a couple of cold ones on a bet or two. You know the guys...they got seasoned wood, it was delivered tree length a yr ago, just cut and split.Well he found out it wasn't.

Applesister said:

Im really in Backwood Savages camp with the 3 yr supply philosophy. Having wood seasoned for that period covers alot of hypothetical scenarios. No real need for a meter.

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Sure, that's the ideal philosophy and a goal I'm striving to meet myself. But the the vast majority, of new burners especially, simply don't have three years of dry wood stacked up the first year or two they burn, or are inclined to or able to. I'm convinced that for 95% of wood burners, meters would save a ton of problems and disappointments. Most visitors here are beginners and need help now.

I'd bet that a huge majority of poor stove performance problems posted here end up being wood moisture problems. I know that when I started burning, I was stuck with a mix of stuff and I had no idea about MC. The meter took all the guess work out and now I'm confident about what I'm putting in my stove. And all for 15 bucks.

CenterTree said:

I was using my MM today on some fresh spit black locust and chestnut oak.

Some splits would give a reading of 16%. Some would be 18%.

Question: Sometimes I would insert the prongs (4 of them) and the meter would not lock on just one number. It would flash 15%, then 21%, then 15% again, etc...back and forth, over and over.

Anyone know what the deal is??

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My meter does that sometimes too. I'm not sure if the 4 pin models are more sensitive to that kind of thing, but every time that happens to me (mine is a 2-pin), it's when the wood is quite dry, under 20%, so I'm happy

Regarding the pin orientation, I did some testing on that, and every time the measurement with-the-grain was just a bit higher than cross-grain, so I do with-grain as it's probably more conservative and accurate.

Jon1270 said:

Species can throw it off in either direction.

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Here is a correction chart for species

http://www.delmhorst.com/Documents/PDFs/Product-Support/Species-Correction-Table.pdf

PS sorry for the string of posts. I just found this thread...

Jon1270 said:

FYI, in the pic you've got the pins oriented about 90 degrees off from where they should be. Ideally both pins should be stuck in the same annual ring , i.e lined up with the length of the split.

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Mine has never shown any difference in how I place the pins, it reads the same no matter how I place them.
As stated by Lumber-Jack, many people dont have the area or are new to woodburning or buy wood, all good reasons to have one.
Mine is a toy but some times I burn wood quicker then I thought due to the MM.
Never have had any surprises with the readings, always in the range I expected for the most part.

The MM is a inexpensive tool if you're diagnosing a problem with improper burning/adjustments. I usually only have 18 months ahead, but sometimes i might hit a spot thats higher moisture.

Sprinter said:

Sure, that's the ideal philosophy and a goal I'm striving to meet myself. But the the vast majority, of new burners especially, simply don't have three years of dry wood stacked up the first year or two they burn, or are inclined to or able to. I'm convinced that for 95% of wood burners, meters would save a ton of problems and disappointments. Most visitors here are beginners and need help now.

I'd bet that a huge majority of poor stove performance problems posted here end up being wood moisture problems. I know that when I started burning, I was stuck with a mix of stuff and I had no idea about MC. The meter took all the guess work out and now I'm confident about what I'm putting in my stove. And all for 15 bucks.

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This seems right on to me. Unless someone knew they were buying a stove a couple of years in advance, it is pretty unlikely they would have stacks of wood set aside waiting to go.

I used a mm for the first time this weekend, and it was mostly just fun seeing what the moisture content of wood around my house was (some new PT decking I just installed was 50%!), but it also confirmed that the hemlock I cut in the spring was 15%, and some oak I had delivered last year that was "seasoned" was still 24% in the middle when I resplit and checked it.

CenterTree said:

I was using my MM today on some fresh spit black locust and chestnut oak.

Some splits would give a reading of 16%. Some would be 18%.

Question: Sometimes I would insert the prongs (4 of them) and the meter would not lock on just one number. It would flash 15%, then 21%, then 15% again, etc...back and forth, over and over.

Anyone know what the deal is??

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Broken meter? Bad connection?