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Moisture meters. I bought mine at Harbor Freight a few years ago but I just took a look and they don't list one anymore. eBay is nasty with them. Come to think of it, anymore eBay is nasty without them.
Who knows. I never heard of anybody getting a firewood meter calibrated. They beat the heck out of just knocking two splits together. Or following the advice in Morso stove manuals and putting soap on the end of a split and blowing through it to see if it makes bubbles on the other end :lol: .
I know you are going to try that. Everybody does and lies and says that they didn't. Hide behind the woodpile when you do it so the neighbors don't go around saying they saw you blowing on your wood. :coolsmirk:
Or following the advice in Morso stove manuals and putting soap on the end of a split and blowing through it to see if it makes bubbles on the other end :lol:.
That's odd....here is the link I posted a while back for the super cheap meter I use. Apparently it is currently not available or has been discontinued....
I wouldn't bet my life on the number mine gives. I think it gives a relative number. If you measure all the firewood you have, you will see differences. If you measure the demensional lumber in your shed you will see a difference from the firewood. If you measure your dry fingers you will get a different number. If you measure your wet fingers you'll get another number. I use it as a reference tool. I know which wood is the driest, and I know the oak needs more time!
Optimum is supposedly in the 15-20% range, but usually the drier the better, down to about 10% or so. At that point you start needing to be careful to avoid over-firing... Essentially wood won't burn until the part that's on fire gets down to 0% - the part that's burning dries the adjacent bits, and so forth, and any heat used to dry the wood is heat that isn't available to heat the house... However the stoves are designed to deal with wood that has some moisture in it, and if it is to dry, you can get issues with the load igniting too fast and attempting to all burn at once giving a high peak that exceeds what the stove can handle, instead of burning more gradually and releasing the heat over a span of time... Pallet and construction wood is noted for this, which is why one should use caution in burning it.
Optimum is supposedly in the 15-20% range, but usually the drier the better, down to about 10% or so. At that point you start needing to be careful to avoid over-firing... Essentially wood won't burn until the part that's on fire gets down to 0% - the part that's burning dries the adjacent bits, and so forth, and any heat used to dry the wood is heat that isn't available to heat the house... However the stoves are designed to deal with wood that has some moisture in it, and if it is to dry, you can get issues with the load igniting too fast and attempting to all burn at once giving a high peak that exceeds what the stove can handle, instead of burning more gradually and releasing the heat over a span of time... Pallet and construction wood is noted for this, which is why one should use caution in burning it.