Birch moisture content

I was out splitting some birch I cut in March of this year. As I was splitting, I started testing the fresh splits with my moisture meter. I put the meter in the grain of a newly split face of the wood. I was getting readings from 18-21% MC. This seemed really low to me given that the rounds have set on a shaded forest floor for a few months and it has been a fairly rainy spring/summer. Could I be missing something? Other than the low readings, the wood seems pretty green to me based on how it looks and sounds. I might try burning some in the fire pit to see how it burns.

Richie said:

What type of birch?

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black and paper birch

DAKSY said:

IMHO, 4 months is way too short a time to get readings like that.
Birch tends to hold a LOT of water & without it being split, I don't think
it'll dry that much thru the bark, especially in a shaded, wet area...
Then again, was it a healthy, living tree, or was it standing deadwood?

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I had the same thought-they were standing, healthy trees a few months ago. Actually when I was cutting it the sap was flowing and the chips that the saw was throwing were soaked.

Just an update--I thought my meter must have been off. I borrowed one from a friend and it gave the same readings as mine within .5%. I did play around and spit several pieces a few times and got some readings of 23%. Still not what I would have expected. It burned OK in the fire pit, but there was some moisture coming out on one piece--not enough to hiss or snap though. At any rate, this isn't wood that I plan on using for well over a year, but it just seemed weird.