Used my new toy on the wood piles.

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stanleyjohn

stanleyjohn

Minister of Fire
Mar 29, 2008
506
southcentral Ct
I just got my Lcheapo cen-tech yellow moisture meter today and gave it a try!Here are some of the results i found.Random samples in my covered (Tarps)wood piles,6 months to 2 years old gave readings averaging around 13% +/- 3.The cord of seasoned oak i got a few weeks ago and stored in my wood shed read 20% +/- 3.New wood i have been cutting(some dead others fresh) and storing in the wood shed i got readings 35+ for the fresh stuff and a mixture of readings 15% and up on the newly cut dead stuff.The seasoned oak i got only know that it was cut about a year ago!some seemed abit wet!dont know where this wood has been sitting the last year,most likely not covered!maybe this explains the higher reading i got compared to my covered stuff.On the scale of 1 to 35% (which the meter covers!what is considered very dry to burn,ok to burn,and not dry enough to burn.
 
Jay777 said:
Where were you putting the probes?
Click to expand...
Poking hard from the surface on the woods ends or in the split seemes to give me may best readings.I tried drilling holes for deeper measurements but found my readings mostly over 35% which i find hard to believe!
 
stanleyjohn said:
Jay777 said:
Where were you putting the probes?
Click to expand...
Poking hard from the surface on the woods ends or in the split seemes to give me may best readings.I tried drilling holes for deeper measurements but found my readings mostly over 35% which i find hard to believe!
Click to expand...
So it's right when it tells you the numbers you want to see, but wrong when it doesn't? :)

I split mine and pegged the 35+ bar repeatedly, even when reading 12% on the outside. The insides of the "seasoned" pieces were a rich tan color, not grey.
 
Yep. Been using that little yellow bugger for two years and if you peg it, it's wet wood.

To answer the question, 20% wood burns great in an EPA stove.
 
Jay777 said:
stanleyjohn said:
Jay777 said:
Where were you putting the probes?
Click to expand...
Poking hard from the surface on the woods ends or in the split seemes to give me may best readings.I tried drilling holes for deeper measurements but found my readings mostly over 35% which i find hard to believe!
Click to expand...
So it's right when it tells you the numbers you want to see, but wrong when it doesn't? :)

I split mine and pegged the 35+ bar repeatedly, even when reading 12% on the outside. The insides of the "seasoned" pieces were a rich tan color, not grey.
Click to expand...

I think woodmaster hit it right on the nail!I will split a few splits and take a quick measurement in the inside.
 
Don't do it, you're not going to be happy when you see 35%+ inside of that "seasoned" oak. ;)
 
So what i seem to be hearing here is that looks are decieving!The outside seems much drier than the inside.All the wood that i have has aready been split or is not split because of its small size.Will the surface test give me an idea whats in the heart of the wood beast?If not is splitting again the only true way to find out.?
 
stanleyjohn said:
...All the wood that i have has aready been split or is not split...
Click to expand...

Yeah, mine's in pretty much the same condition. Rick
 
I have never found any correlation between the end or side measurements of a split with what it is in the middle.
 
Woodmaster answered this question in the third response. Now we're just having whatever fun we can with the thread. Rick
 
fossil said:
Woodmaster answered this question in the third response. Now we're just having whatever fun we can with the thread. Rick
Click to expand...

Ya!! I felt like Mr Science using that cheap moisture reader and sampleing the wood!Ive done a bit of searching on other threads and feel abit like a heel now for not doing that first.Enjoy!! May the dry wood be with you :lol:
 
stanleyjohn said:
May the dry wood be with you :lol:
Click to expand...

Use The (Maul) Force Luke!

Now you know what Darth Maul was all about.
 
Moisture meters can be very deceptive. Pin meters measure only to the depth of and between the pins.

Average air dry time (23% - 27% average moisture content) of 1" red oak in the mid-north US is 2-5 months; 2" red oak estimate is 6 - 20 months. Drying time depends on air circulation, temperature, time of year, and other variable environmental factors. Drying the wood in a shed, other factors being equal (assumed good air circulation), will reduce the time by about a factor of 3. These times are based on lumber, with at least 3/4" between layers of stickered lumber. Stacked splits likely will take longer due to reduced air flow through the stack. USDA "Drying Hardwood Lumber" (2000).
 
Yeah, the more I used with my meter, the more I realized I'm going to have very little wood to use for this winter. Hell, if I stick to what it's telling me, I might not have wood ready for another 5 or 6 years!

I'm starting to think the only way I might have my oak ready for burning NEXT year is if I run it all through the chipper/shreader this year!!!

Anyone have a feel for how long it takes for soft maple to season?
 
fossil said:
stanleyjohn said:
...All the wood that i have has aready been split or is not split...
Click to expand...

Yeah, mine's in pretty much the same condition. Rick
Click to expand...

That's what I have in common with the pope. We're either here or somewhere else.
 
fossil said:
Woodmaster answered this question in the third response. Now we're just having whatever fun we can with the thread. Rick
Click to expand...


I tell ya......Red/White oak can be nasty..........it looks dry....... the ends are cracked.....hmmm....it's been stacked for 10 months....let me get my maul.......wack...wack.......ah S*** lookee here
damp and smelly.......


WoodButcher
 
how much did you pay for that puppy? My el cheapo meter has given me the same results. I think I paid $25 for it
 
Soft maple dries very quickly, 1 year is max but it can be dry in 6 months with sun and wind.
 
These cheap moisture meters are just a rough guide, not the most accurate, but if they peg the meter you know it's too wet. I have found over the last couple years on my cheap meter anything 25% and under burns good and doesn't sizzle. Oak takes the longest to dry for me, I still get a few splits over 2 years old at 35%.
 
yeah probaboly true, but to measure moisture its not a very complicated process. Its very simplistic really. The only thing that I can see different with moisture meters is whether or not you ahve to manually split a piece first to get an accurate measurement. My buddy has a $100+ meter and my $25 meter read darn near what his did. That is how I calibrated mine
 
My tools are old, though more sophisticated and expensive, I use my body. (It takes a lot of wine and patient aging to get this technique down). I knock on the ends of the splits in the stack. Wet wood tends to thud, dry wood will give a nice tone, like a marimba. Then I feel the wood by weight, look at it for good checking on the ends, split it, feel for the coolness of moisture by pressing it against my face. If it is dry, the split face will feel no cooler than the unsplit one. Then pour a glass of wine and start the fire and observe. If it's sizzling on the ends, recalibrate the tester. If it's burning well, reward the tester. :)
 
I have a red oak in my yard- it's an otherwise mostly uncommon tree near me-

I've taken out a few damaged limbs, and they were big enough for small stove-wood. Cut 'em to length, let them dry in the sun under a roof for a year and a half, and they STILL sizzled and hissed moisture in the stove. Totally different from white ash, which is OK to burn soon, or cherry or maple which take some time, but are nifty in a year or less.

I know in concept that Red Oak is good firewood, but I concluded that that's only if you have a LONG time to let it dry-- otherwise, you're better off leaving it standing or having someone use it to make wine-aging barrels for BeGreen's above-mentioned purposes
 
Wet1 said:
Yeah, the more I used with my meter, the more I realized I'm going to have very little wood to use for this winter. Hell, if I stick to what it's telling me, I might not have wood ready for another 5 or 6 years!

I'm starting to think the only way I might have my oak ready for burning NEXT year is if I run it all through the chipper/shreader this year!!!

Anyone have a feel for how long it takes for soft maple to season?
Click to expand...

Just tested my big-leaf maple yesterday. stacked in long row with only top covered and drying for 6 months. Large splits and round tested 30-35%--and the smaller splits averaged 22%.

In comparison, the row of douglas fir next to it came in way better. Nothing over 22%.

I`m using an Extech moisture meter. and resplitting and checking the inside for accurate readings.
 
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