I split open a 2 year old Cherry split today!

[Hiram Maxim]

I split a 7"x7" cherry split that was cut, split, & stacked Summer of 2008.

Covered each Winter and gets plenty of sun light but not as much wind as the main pile does.

I was shocked at the amount of moisture still present on the inside of the split >:-( (to the touch)

Of the two pieces the smaller one sounded like a baseball bat when dropped from 4 ft.

Anyone have a link to a decent moisture meter?

Cheers,Hiram

 

[fossil]

Oh gosh, Hiram...go to the Gear forum and do a search. Moisture meters have been talked to death over there. I have one I think is nice, but it's not one of the cheapo's. I use it from time to time. I'm going to move your thread over to the Gear forum, hope you don't mind. Rick

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Oh gosh, Hiram...go to the Gear forum and do a search. Moisture meters have been talked to death over there. I have one I think is nice, but it's not one of the cheapo's. I use it from time to time. I'm going to move your thread over to the Gear forum, hope you don't mind. Rick

10-4 Rick, Hope all is well.

 

[billb3]

I see that a lot with bigger splits of cherry and oak.
At the old house with the big Jotul I'd have fewer cold coals in the morning with smaller splits.
Hard to prove without instruments and lots of data but it sure did seem I used less wood with 4-6 inch splits rather than 6-10 inch splits.
I always figured it was some combination of moisture in the center , increased surface area and who knows what else.
Now with a real small firebox I stick to the width of my hand at about 3 to 4 inches.
It's more splitting, but it seems to yield better results.
(and I don't have to do all this chimney cleaning that some seem to have to keep doing)

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Bill,

Good information!

It seems like trial an error and I will be using my BK this coming Winter so add more the the learning curve.

Your stove is a non cat?

Thank you,Hiram

 

[vvvv]

i wonder if vertical stacking might have made a diff?

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I would be shocked if 2 year old cherry would not be ready to burn, almost no matter what sized the split. I find it drys faster than almost anything. If you split those big pieces I'll bet you will have no problem this winter. I doubt you even have to do it. I got a cheapo Harbor Frieght MM. I think is does a decent job. I would be curious of your readings.

 

[savageactor7]

Hiram I would wait until the BK owners weigh in before re-splitting or making any changes. I follow there threads and iirc they use way bigger splits to achieve those 12+ hour burns. Our splits are small like billb3's and they work out better for us. I'm thinking once you score a moisture meter you'll be more pleased with that cherry than you are now so don't panic.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Hiram I would wait until the BK owners weigh in before re-splitting or making any changes. I follow there threads and iirc they use way bigger splits to achieve those 12+ hour burns. Our splits are small like billb3's and they work out better for us. I'm thinking once you score a moisture meter you'll be more pleased with that cherry than you are now so don't panic.

savageactor7,

No panic here :cheese:

I have about a cord of Cherry by the front door that gets good sunlight but not the best wind. That's where that not so dry wood came from.

I have approx. 9 cords on the West side of the house that are about the same size splits. These however seem much dryer when split again.

It might just be a matter of transfering the wood to that side of the house where its really windy.

I hear what your saying with the other BK guys......Check this out!

 

[pybyr]

quality moisture meters are expensive, and I'm still skeptical of whether the low priced ones really provide a reading that's anything other than relative, regardless of whether they have a digital readout... so- so far, I own none of the above.

There was an interesting post somewhere here on Heatrh about using a decent quality ohmmeter, in a multimeter, to get resistance readings in ohms and then taking that and using it to determine % moisture. That's basically exactly how moisture meters work, except that they have some algorithms inside that do the math (and quality moisture meters have some additional data provided with them, or even calibrations, which let you account for temperature and wood species)(which is one of the reasons I don't buy the idea that the $30 or less ones give you more than a relative guess). I keep meaning to try to re-find that multimeter thread, and give that a try.

 

[oldspark]

I find the cheap harbor freight moisture meter is plenty good enough to tell you what you need to know, have been burning wood for a while and just wanted to know how fast some of the wood was drying I cut this spring and found the reading to be in line with what I excepted. Also someone tested one and found it to be good enough for any wood burners needs.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I agree, you can see the difference in moisture reading and it is in line with what I would expect. If I were a carpenter drying wood I might something more exact, but for fire wood I the the Habor Frieght meter is fine. Now that I am far enough ahead I am sure I will use it less.