Picked up a moisture meter today at Harbor Freight (and one for my brother for Christmas) thanks to you guys on this forum. I never heard of such a thing before reading of it here!
I've been playing with it on my wood piles. Interesting stuff! I have some red oak that was standing dead 3 years, CSS 2 years that is measuring 14%-19%, depending on the size of the split. Bigger splits, over 6", are a little higher, 17%-19%, but, all of it has measured below 20%. I found one, a small split around 3" that measured 14% on a fresh split.
My cedar kindling measures 14% and in my fresh CSS, I found some sugar maple that was a blow down and CSS in October that is 32%.
Everything I split and tested in the shed for this year was under 20%. Oak, beech, maple, elm... all good to go, as expected. I knew the oak was dry, as it ignites in a flash when I throw it on the coals.
My neighbor just bought some "seasoned" firewood this week and was curious how seasoned it is. We split a few and found 20%-34%. He's splitting it up smaller and bringing a good stack inside to dry.
Best $15 I've spent in a long time!
I've been playing with it on my wood piles. Interesting stuff! I have some red oak that was standing dead 3 years, CSS 2 years that is measuring 14%-19%, depending on the size of the split. Bigger splits, over 6", are a little higher, 17%-19%, but, all of it has measured below 20%. I found one, a small split around 3" that measured 14% on a fresh split.
My cedar kindling measures 14% and in my fresh CSS, I found some sugar maple that was a blow down and CSS in October that is 32%.
Everything I split and tested in the shed for this year was under 20%. Oak, beech, maple, elm... all good to go, as expected. I knew the oak was dry, as it ignites in a flash when I throw it on the coals.
My neighbor just bought some "seasoned" firewood this week and was curious how seasoned it is. We split a few and found 20%-34%. He's splitting it up smaller and bringing a good stack inside to dry.
Best $15 I've spent in a long time!
