I don't trust moisture meters

Lightly press it into the fleshy part of your palm. What does it read?

Enzo's Dad said:

This was a reading from wood in my wood shed since last July. I split 4 pieces and got the same readings.

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been there for a year or just a few month? What type of wood?

Enzo's Dad said:

A year and 2 months.....ash

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seems right to me.

Enzo's Dad said:

Thought it seemed to low

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Ash is one of the fastest drying types of wood.

Fresh cut ash usually is low 30s to high 30s for moisture content.

Enzo's Dad said:

Yeah but to get down to 15.5

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sounds right to me. Probably won't get much lower.

That's exactly the same MM as I have. I did the palm thing reading these posts and mine was 30.2. I'm guessing I/we need some more seasoning!

I do think it is fairly accurate.

I have some ash, cut in January, split to 4-5" in April and it's 14%. The dead elm I pulled out of a ditch this spring will wait till next year.

If the splits feel fairly light, burn it!

Up at the top of a covered woodshed, ash, 12+ months, that doesn't surprise me one bit. It would surprise me if the splits on the bottom were as dry. I started stacking mine right up to the metal roof after I discovered this phenomenon. I wish my shed was all roof... Everything up there is probably golden.

Enzo's Dad said:

I don't trust moisture meters

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There's no need to. Assuming you know what you're doing visavis firewood processing and storage they should only confirm what you already know.

Bigg_Redd said:

There's no need to.

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Right on. Burning a few pieces in your stove is the best way to prove the MM is accurate.

Enzo's Dad said:

A year and 2 months.....ash

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That seems right to me. I split some Ash in late July last year and my MM (same as yours) had it between 19 and 21% in November. It was split small and stacked loosely in a favorable area but Ash dries quickly in my experience. BTW... Great stack!

Soundchasm said:

Up at the top of a covered woodshed, ash, 12+ months, that doesn't surprise me one bit. It would surprise me if the splits on the bottom were as dry. I started stacking mine right up to the metal roof after I discovered this phenomenon. I wish my shed was all roof... Everything up there is probably golden.

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Yep. Last year I thought I had a stack of 18% oak in only 1 year. Turns out the top two courses were but as you picked down it got much much higher!

A friend of mine who supplies me with green rounds started selling split wood. He was advertising 13% moisture content based on a piece he measured after 9 months on top of the stack! I quickly let him know he needed to check a fresh split! He was a bit bummed when the wood was still high 20's.

I got the same meter, I had some cherry last year that was split and stacked for (3) years, it registered 11%, I thought the meter was playing games until I through the splits in my old stove, It was like burning newspaper. I also with the same meter hit some oak that was (2) years old and it kept registering 26%, I thought it was high, I threw a couple splits and had the boiling steam effect come out the end grain. I trust my meter.
The key to using it properly is just like in your photo, fresh split face, find the grain length and put the probes in parallel.