how to know I am getting good wood

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tmckenzie

New Member
Sep 5, 2011
14
upstate new york
Well, time to stop burning pellets and get to burning wood since it is getting cold quick. I bought a couple of cords of so called seasoned wood in the fall, no where close to being able to burn but a few pieces of it. I have found another guy selling wood he claims is 2 years old. I am going to get a face cord to try this weekend. I do not have a moisture meter yet, so what is the best way to tell if I am getting good wood?
 
There is a post on here somewhere about using an Ohmmeter (which is what a moisture meter is). Anyhow it essentially says that anything 3 ohms or less is good to burn and less than 20% moisture. Split a piece of wood and place the probes about 1" apart on newly exposed wood with meter set at 20m. I tried it on some of my known seasoned and unseasoned wood and it seemed right in line with the claims. Clarify that by 3 ohm or less I am actually saying more resistance. You want the meter from open up to 3.
 
Sometimes you can tell by knocking a couple of splits together. A sharp sound is good, dull thud is not so good. This test isn't foolproof though. The weight should tell you something, too. Dry wood is "surprisingly light." Then toss some of it onto a hot bed of coals and see what it does. If it takes right off, at least the outside of the splits is dry. If it's slow to catch and water bubbles out of the ends, not so dry. Some of my less dry wood hisses a bit, but it burns OK...
 
rwhite said:
There is a post on here somewhere about using an Ohmmeter (which is what a moisture meter is). Anyhow it essentially says that anything 3 ohms or less is good to burn and less than 20% moisture. Split a piece of wood and place the probes about 1" apart on newly exposed wood with meter set at 20m. I tried it on some of my known seasoned and unseasoned wood and it seemed right in line with the claims. Clarify that by 3 ohm or less I am actually saying more resistance. You want the meter from open up to 3.
Was that a ohm meter or a megger, I have a chart for a megger but I dont remember a post about using a regular meter. People will really think we are nuts if we start megging out our wood. :lol:
 
I bought 3 cords of "seasoned" wood this year as it is my first year of burning and didn't have a stash yet. It wasn't as seasoned as I had hoped. When burnt it hisses a wee bit and some of the larger pieces will show a few bubbles at the end. The moisture meter said moisture was around 25% in the middle of the splits. I stacked a cord in my basement and pointed 4 fans at it. I hooked up my dehumidifier too. Seems to have helped a little bit as the moisture has gone down a few percent.

What I think the wood sellers mean is "green" wood - split today......"seasoned" wood - split yesterday. Also, the wood guys go by when the tree was cut down, not by when it was split. Alot of them will have a huge pile of tree length logs laying around for a year or two and will split them all in the fall, then begin to sell them. Wood in log length will rot before it seasons.

Another thing to watch out for is if the wood is in a huge pile "seasoning". The wood on the outside will season okay but the stuff in the middle will never see airflow or sunlight, and will be as green as the day it went in.

Moral of the story...if you have to buy wood, buy a moisture meter. They are $30 at Lowes. Go look at the wood before you buy it. Split a big piece and measure the middle. If the larger pieces are less than 25% in the middle, thats about as good as you're going to get.

The alternative is to get your own wood and stack it neatly. Its time consuming and hard work but at least its free and good exercise! And you'll know exactly what condition it is in.
 
I did the same thing... my first year I bought a few loads of 2 year 'seasoned' red oak that a year later is still not fully seasoned. Seems like I hear a lot of people buying 'seasoned' wood, with the quotes. Seems that guys who sell wood have an entirely difference definition of seasoned than guys who burn wood.
 
ryanm527 said:
I did the same thing... my first year I bought a few loads of 2 year 'seasoned' red oak that a year later is still not fully seasoned. Seems like I hear a lot of people buying 'seasoned' wood, with the quotes. Seems that guys who sell wood have an entirely difference definition of seasoned than guys who burn wood.

To focus on the heart of the matter, don't waste time on discussing "seasoned" unless you're talking about dinner. Meaningless.

Instead focus on wet/dry and MC (moisture content). Unless you've got time to burn. $10 buys you a moisture meter at Harbor Freight.

And ...

If you stack the wood near the stove for a few weeks or longer (keeping surface temps below 180 F.) it'll lose lots of moisture.
Not too hard to get MC down to single-digits, depending on size and time. Come January, moisture driven off is a very good thing.
 
Find out the type of wood.
Some dries faster & you may have a better chance of getting a load of dry wood.
If it's red oak, 2 to 3 years to dry well in your area.

1 or 2 year old wood?? Ask the question has it bet CSS (cut, split & stacked) for 2 years?
Some call wood that's in tree form & been cut last year , then last week it was CSS, 1 year seasoned. (We call that 1 week seasoned)

If possible get a sample stove load from them, do a test burn, then you'll know for sure.
In most circumstances, figure you need to buy wood now for next season.
Good luck
 
rwhite said:
There is a post on here somewhere about using an Ohmmeter (which is what a moisture meter is). Anyhow it essentially says that anything 3 ohms or less is good to burn and less than 20% moisture. Split a piece of wood and place the probes about 1" apart on newly exposed wood with meter set at 20m. I tried it on some of my known seasoned and unseasoned wood and it seemed right in line with the claims. Clarify that by 3 ohm or less I am actually saying more resistance. You want the meter from open up to 3.
Using a multimeter: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/44360/
 
tmckenzie said:
Well, time to stop burning pellets and get to burning wood since it is getting cold quick. I bought a couple of cords of so called seasoned wood in the fall, no where close to being able to burn but a few pieces of it. I have found another guy selling wood he claims is 2 years old. I am going to get a face cord to try this weekend. I do not have a moisture meter yet, so what is the best way to tell if I am getting good wood?
This is a trick question. Without a moisture meter and or years of wood burning experience the only way you know your getting good wood is to (drum roll please)...................... order it now and properly stack it for two years. They you'll know you have good wood.
 
gzecc said:
tmckenzie said:
Well, time to stop burning pellets and get to burning wood since it is getting cold quick. I bought a couple of cords of so called seasoned wood in the fall, no where close to being able to burn but a few pieces of it. I have found another guy selling wood he claims is 2 years old. I am going to get a face cord to try this weekend. I do not have a moisture meter yet, so what is the best way to tell if I am getting good wood?
This is a trick question. Without a moisture meter and or years of wood burning experience the only way you know your getting good wood is to (drum roll please)...................... order it now and properly stack it for two years. They you'll know you have good wood.
We will let you be the one to tell all the newbies to wait 2 years to burn, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Plus the fact if you think all woods take 2 years to dry I have a rocket ship I want to sell you.
 
oldspark said:
gzecc said:
tmckenzie said:
Well, time to stop burning pellets and get to burning wood since it is getting cold quick. I bought a couple of cords of so called seasoned wood in the fall, no where close to being able to burn but a few pieces of it. I have found another guy selling wood he claims is 2 years old. I am going to get a face cord to try this weekend. I do not have a moisture meter yet, so what is the best way to tell if I am getting good wood?
This is a trick question. Without a moisture meter and or years of wood burning experience the only way you know your getting good wood is to (drum roll please)...................... order it now and properly stack it for two years. They you'll know you have good wood.
We will let you be the one to tell all the newbies to wait 2 years to burn, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Plus the fact if you think all woods take 2 years to dry I have a rocket ship I want to sell you.
That's true, but if you don't know the species, what are you going to do, guess? What kind of rocket? How much?
 
gzecc said:
oldspark said:
gzecc said:
tmckenzie said:
Well, time to stop burning pellets and get to burning wood since it is getting cold quick. I bought a couple of cords of so called seasoned wood in the fall, no where close to being able to burn but a few pieces of it. I have found another guy selling wood he claims is 2 years old. I am going to get a face cord to try this weekend. I do not have a moisture meter yet, so what is the best way to tell if I am getting good wood?
This is a trick question. Without a moisture meter and or years of wood burning experience the only way you know your getting good wood is to (drum roll please)...................... order it now and properly stack it for two years. They you'll know you have good wood.
We will let you be the one to tell all the newbies to wait 2 years to burn, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Plus the fact if you think all woods take 2 years to dry I have a rocket ship I want to sell you.
That's true, but if you don't know the species, what are you going to do, guess? What kind of rocket? How much?

We have a "Bridge to Nowhere" location for sale, has trees fire wood :)
Funny thing about "a bridge to no where", after it's built, "nowhere" becomes "somewhere"
Lot of "cabin fever" symptoms showing up lately. {Smile} :)

With some searching you can find burnable wood.
tmc's OP "I bought a couple of cords of so called seasoned wood in the fall, no where close to being able to burn"
already has some for next year, looking for help this year.
Marginal wood will burn, you have to burn hotter, more wood & clean the chimney more often, but doable (I did it for years :) )
 
bogydave said:
gzecc said:
oldspark said:
gzecc said:
tmckenzie said:
Marginal wood will burn, you have to burn hotter, more wood & clean the chimney more often, but doable (I did it for years :) )

I agree. Not ideal but manageable. The vast majority of people burning wood are using wood that isn't at 20% or lower.

Occasionally, we read a post here from some one who found a supplier who actually had seasoned wood but it is a rare occurance.

Back to the OP question... how can you tell - moisture meter is really the only way short of throwing it on the fire to be sure.
 
I do note that the splits in my stacks that have been seasoning for at least a year start to take on a grey color. The year old pieces are grey on the ends that are exposed. For stuff that's been seasoning for two years, the whole split is greyish, even the ones in the middle of the stack.
 
It's funny the different questions buyer's ask. My 14 y/o son sells firewood to save to buy a car when he's 16. Of the 10 plus cords he's sold this year, only one buyer actually knew the correct questions to ask. Most folks only want to know the length, price, and will it be stacked when delivered.
 
Good wood usually has a nice tan from lying outside butt naked.
 
tmckenzie said:
Well, time to stop burning pellets and get to burning wood since it is getting cold quick. I bought a couple of cords of so called seasoned wood in the fall, no where close to being able to burn but a few pieces of it. I have found another guy selling wood he claims is 2 years old. I am going to get a face cord to try this weekend. I do not have a moisture meter yet, so what is the best way to tell if I am getting good wood?

Welcome to the forum tmckenzie.

He claims 2 years old but what does that mean? Tree cut 2 years ago? Cut to length 2 years ago? Split 2 years ago? It does matter. Wood generally will not dry until after it has been split and most sellers split just before delivery because it means less handling for them. So, if it has been split 2 years ago, I'd grab it fast. If not, well.....


And there is no longer any doubt in my mind that it does depend a lot upon where you live for drying times and even moisture content of the wood. Oldspark likes to laugh and chide about burning his oak so soon but we'll still stick with the 2-3 years around here. Mostly it is 3 years for oak. Fastest is soft maple at 6 months. Most wood is a year. And these are all times after it has been split. Then it still needs to be handled correctly. Stack it outside in the wind. Let Mother Nature work for you.
 
From what I read, I best go over to lowes and buy a moisture meter and split it and check it before I buy it. Thanks for all of the advice. I would love to be able to cut my own wood and properly dry it. But with working 12 hours a day and sometimes 7 days a week, it is next to impossible to do so.
 
tmckenzie said:
I did not have time to go get a meter, but I did get some nice dry black walnut and red oak. What a difference good dry wood makes.
You are lucky, the list of people who bought crappy wet wood on here is endless.
 
CTYank said:
ryanm527 said:
If you stack the wood near the stove for a few weeks or longer (keeping surface temps below 180 F.) it'll lose lots of moisture.
Not too hard to get MC down to single-digits, depending on size and time. Come January, moisture driven off is a very good thing.


That sounds good in theory but not in practice. Not many people can stack a cord of wood in the living room next to the stove- or have wives that would allow it. You can't really stack much wood right next to the stove anyway. And what are you suppose to be burning in the stove to keep it hot and running while the green wood sits there for a few weeks drying out?

By "keeping surface temps below 180F" I suppose you mean the surface of the stacked wood and NOT the surface of the stove. Just want to clarify that lest someone get the idea they have to keep the stove cool--ya just never know what people are going to think.
 
tmckenzie said:
From what I read, I best go over to lowes and buy a moisture meter and split it and check it before I buy it. Thanks for all of the advice. I would love to be able to cut my own wood and properly dry it. But with working 12 hours a day and sometimes 7 days a week, it is next to impossible to do so.

You'll just have to do what you can to make it through this winter. But buy NOW for next winter. Two years worth would be great if you can afford it and have the space to store it. If you can get two years ahead, each succeeding year you'll only have to buy one years worth.

You might also consider buying bio-blocks for this year to either burn exclusively while you give the other wood a year to dry, OR, the bio blocks would make a great supplement to your cord wood that is not quite dry enough yet.
 
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