Couple newbie questions

Someone in another thread estimated the acreage needed to support a burning habit. Maybe you can search for it or they will chime in.

Without a meter you can oven test it for moisture or simply put a split in the stove and see what you get. If the ends start steaming or worse boiling off water you'll have to stack it.

Upper branches of dead standing might be ok , trunk still tend to hold a lot of moisture.

The best idea is to stack everything for 1 year minimum, but I too have found dead standing trees that are below 20 % moisture and is ready to burn. A moisture meter is a good tool. I have found mine to be very handy on knowing which stack to throw a piece of wood into...the one year stack or the 2 to 3 year stack.

Dead standing elm with all the bark peeled off is very common in this area and dry well when standing.

Ask local farmers if they want you to cut any wood. Many have a grove of trees full of downed trees that could keep you busy for a decade. Problem is they not want to be at risk due to a law suit.

Local towns will sometimes deliver free logs simply to get rid of them. They do that here in Austin, mn.

The old theory (in southern New England) was 2 cords per acre per year of cull, not dead. Get cutting and stacking,after a while you will not need to burn dead wood.
Green wood burns good after it is cut, split and stacked for 3 years.

farmboy05 said:

Any suggestions on a good, but not too expensive moisture meter?

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I recall from some homesteading articles years ago that 10 acres would supply the heating needs of a family of 4 indefinitely. Looks like a lot of BTU's there though, especially if it's all sugar maple, probably last a long time if supplemented with scrounge wood.

I've read at least an acre per cord is needed if you just want to cut dead wood and have it be sustainable. Preferably 2 acres per cord.

As for the wood, you can either wait until you buy a moisture meter, or take a split and throw it in the stove. Watch and listen. If the wood is truly dry it should burn easily. Look for water coming out of the ends and listen for the hissing sound of water leaving the wood. Dry wood may do this for a couple minutes but it should stop fairly soon, like within 5 minutes.

Or just to be safe you can split and stack it and wait until next winter!

farmboy05 said:

Any suggestions on a good, but not too expensive moisture meter?

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They've got then at lowes for around $25. Harbor freight also sells one for less if you have one around

farmboy05 said:

Any suggestions on a good, but not too expensive moisture meter?

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This is what I use from harbor Freight. Cheap as they come at $12.99 but it seems to work fine.

farmboy05 said:

Any suggestions on a good, but not too expensive moisture meter?

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After buying a cheaper one that kind of stunk then broke I got this one that I'm very happy with:


http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools...312544&sr=8-1&keywords=general+moisture+meter

Yep thats the one I got from lowes Bill. Its been working for me so far

The problem with the HF one (from the reviews ive read) is that it uses those weird mini batteries, and they cost more to replace than the meter costs to buy

I think my lowes meter uses AAA batteries

BrotherBart said:

One of my MMs is the little HF one. Uses the same batteries as my plug in thermostats and a couple of other things I have. I got 40 of the Maxell batteries off of eBay for five bucks, shipping included.

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Someone oughta tell the harbor freight reviewers that

farmboy05 said:

The one you have listed there BillLion is the same as what's at Lowes. I just ordered it from Lowes. With shipping, came out to about $33.

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Yeah, I bought it from Amazon last year for about the same price, but it's much higher there now. $30-35 seems to be the right range. Good little meter.

farmboy05 said:

1. I cut down a dead maple that was down to just the trunk. The wood looks great and not rotted. It's taking a couple good hits with a wedge and sledge to split the rounds. The wood feels very dry, feels light for what it is, and sounds like 2x4 lumber when hit together. Does this sound like I made a good find on dead, really dry wood? I'm still figuring out how to tell how wet it is when splitting. I don't have a MM yet, any suggestions?

2. How many acres of timber does it take to keep up with harvesting only dead fall? I have about 2.5 acres in my grove (see pic), but I can get easy access to another about 7 to 10 acres of groves, mostly maple and ash around here.

Thank you ahead of time for the help!

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It takes just a little experience to know when wood is dry enough to burn. Should you want to take all the guess work out of the equation, and you should. Get thee 3 years ahead on your wood stack and worry not. There are numerous benefits to being 3 years ahead and will be worth a whole lot more than a MM.

As to how many acres to harvest only dead fall, that is totally dependent upon the type of trees and the weather.