Moisture content after 6-7 months

Out of curiosity I just resplit and checked a piece of red oak and a piece of hard maple that have been stacked in the wind and sun for around 6-7 months and found the moisture meter off the charts. Granted this is a low budget moisture meter but I also felt the moisture with my hand. The only way I would burn this now would be an emergency situation and thankfully my shelter is ready to burn. I expected the oak to be wet but the maple surprised me! I used the Cen-Tech moisture meter with the LED bar graph display which apparently is not made any more. I know it's a piece of junk but the moisture was definitely high..

Ray

I had a red oak round about 10 inch diameter, 16 inch long unsplit since april 2010 and just for curiosity i split it and check it with the mm and it was still 38%

If you do not split it you can forget the idea of it drying anytime in the foreseeable future. My little pic over there is a 35" red oak and even after split it will not go in the heater for 3 years.

Got a piece of known dry wood. What does the meter read for it?
Either way 6 months for oak isn't much time for it to loose much moisture.
Maple though should at least be in range of the meter to read.

The maple was definitely quite damp as felt by my hand Dave.. This wood will not go into my shelter until after this burning season so it has plenty of time to season..

Ray

Hard Maple doesn't dry very fast either does it?

He RESPLIT it to check for moisture.

Surprisingly no! I expected it to be much lower and like I said it's in the wind and sun a very large part of the day..

Ray

This doesn't surprise me at all.. I think I will be leaving the oak in the wind for another year when I move this wood into the shelter next spring!

Ray

I think that's the right call on the oak. I have two year old white oak that I MM'd a few weeks ago; approx. 8in piece resplit measured at ~24%. Some smaller pieces, less than 6in, came in around 19%. In comparison, I have a some ash that's a bit over 1yr CSS that came in between 16-19%. This is the first time I've had ash and I'm really liking it.

Yeah the ash is an exception to the rule with a low moisture content out the starting gate.. I have lots of ash in this years burning wood.. It tends to leave a fluffy ash behind but otherwise a good wood!

Ray

Hard maple *should* be good to go after a year or so. Oak a lot longer. I split some silver maple back in early April of this year. Picked some of the splits up the other day to check & see how dry they were. Well, I'm burning some right now. Wish all wood could dry that quick. It is burning beautifully in my insert as i speak. Used to call it "garbage" wood, but I like it more & more each year.

Yes silver maple dries very fast in fact it's a great shoulder season and kindling wood.. Hard maple is a much different animal for sure.. Both are good for different reasons..

Ray

You're right about that! I wish that I would have gotten some more of that silver maple when I had the chance. Still had my little Ranger truck when I got it off of CL. I bought a new F-150 a couple days later with an 8 ft bed. Wish I had it the night I got that wood. It was gone when I called them a few days later after I got the new truck.

Oh well no use crying over missed wood! The new F-150's are very nice and I still have a 97 F-150 XLT 2 wheel drive with the 4.2 V-6 I bought when it was 2 years old..

Ray

IMO, oak and hickory are the longest-to-season woods, I give it three years if I cut it in the green. I'd put hard maple in second place, I like to give hard maple two years to season. Most other species will dry out quickly, within a year or so, if the conditions allow.....

let's get a picture of this wood Raybonz if you get a chance
Thanks

Ray, you no doubt can tell by now if the wood is ready to burn or not even without a MM. But to many it is a real eye opener to see how much moisture is in the wood and how long it can take to get rid of it. Pity the poor folks who buy oak this fall and expect it to keep them warm this winter.

We also wish you good luck with that storm taking aim at you Ray. Be safe and keep the wood handy.

Thanx Buddy my oldest daughter is sleeping over tonight so tomorrow the shelter tarps are going back up and extra wood being brought in.. Just hope we don't lose power for any length of time!

Ray

Not much to see more of a feel sort of thing.. Bottom line it is damp and that tells the story however I am not relying on that wood this season..

Ray

Here's how I got started down the wood burning road...
My dear cousin gave me his woodstove (the retired one) when he got tired of the mess and hooked up to a propane stove heater. Conditionally that I clean up his "woodpile". When he cleared his land 17 years prior, they took down about a dozen old Chinese Elm trees. SEVENTEEN. Some of those old chunks still threw mist off the saw when I blocked them down to size. I'll bet I knocked 15 cords out of that pile before I finally hauled off the last.

The rest of this story may belong in "the gear" forum. I went through two rebuilds on a homemade log splitter. The last log was the last log was the last log from that pile. It had more diameter than my sons had height, at least 40 inches (okay, I'm stretching just a tad, two of three boys were bigger than the log). I drove it through the splitter (horizontal) at full rpm, while standing on top of the log and swinging a 15 pound sledge to drive it through the wedge. The log popped, the wedge snapped off and the frame of the splitter fell from the tractor. It's a miracle my boys allowed me to put another stove in the house.

And the point of my story is, I couldn't burn what I split, still, without a summer season. Did I say 17 years? It took me six years to clean up the pile, some of that stuff was over twenty three years fallen before it was run through my stove. I cleaned my chimney once a month, religiously, or with regrets when I had to climb up on the roof during a snow storm.
(and yes, I'm familiar with the term "stubborn dutchman". I prefer strong willed as the term of endearment) And I'm older now, and more seasoned, but I'm rather certain the German blood still runs through my veins. But there's no pics. I guess it didn't happen. (I'm really glad there weren't any pics) Just DON'T hand my boys crayons and paper.

So yes, I would believe your summer seasoned oaks my still be a little ripe.

please don't burn that nice shelter- even in an emergency!

After all that hard work I hope it is the best stove you will ever own! I take the easy way out I just write a check lol.. How about a pic of the stove that damn near killed you?

Ray

I can see the red oak being wet still but the maple surprises me. And with the setup you have with open space for drying you'd think it would be ok by now. Any reservations about your firewood guy? assuming thats where it came from

Nope I buy green and he makes no false claims.. The way I see it is I expect green wood from any woodguy. The only exception would be buying kiln dried then I would expect it to be dry but I am too cheap to pay for that!

Ray