Hello all,
So it is going to be my first year with an EPA stove, third year burning, first year bought wood that was probably crappy, second year scrounged all the wood and I know it was crappy. This year I have two main stacks, each about 3 cords, one c/s/s last winter, the other sometime late spring through this summer. So I decided to get a moisture meter to see what I should be burning.
One of the main things I found right away, even silver maple, which is supposed to be fast seasoning, split and stacked this last winter, some of it was still 30 percent. See the problem is that I had rented a splitter and because of limited space and to split and stack 3 cords in one weekend, I don't know about you, but this is a lot of work for me. So some of the bigger splits (quite large) are at 30 percent, most of the average to small splits are at 15 to 20 percent, so the point here is don't split too large unless you have two good summers to season the wood. Interesting to note that a piece that was hitting 32 percent left out in the sun for an hour then went to 22 percent.
The next main thing I found after awhile is I could tell as soon as I split a piece whether it was going to hit over 20 just by feeling it. I think you may have to do this from experience, but a couple things are if you split a large split and the inside is a lot cooler and you can really almost feel the moisture, it is going to be 30 percent, and even a little softer than the outside wood.
Another thing I found was that if you check the middle of a split that was split a long time ago and it is over 10 percent, the middle wood is almost certainly going to be over 20. All the seasoned wood's outside mc was in the 6 to 8 percent range.
Lastly, it of course depends on what kind of wood it is, some of the walnut that is so dry on the outside it is dusty was still at 30 in the middle of a split. I remember when cutting this walnut the water almost flowing out of it.
Sorry for the long rant, just wanted to share my experiences. Also, this was a 30 dollar unit from Lowe's and I am really happy with its function and accuracy.
So it is going to be my first year with an EPA stove, third year burning, first year bought wood that was probably crappy, second year scrounged all the wood and I know it was crappy. This year I have two main stacks, each about 3 cords, one c/s/s last winter, the other sometime late spring through this summer. So I decided to get a moisture meter to see what I should be burning.
One of the main things I found right away, even silver maple, which is supposed to be fast seasoning, split and stacked this last winter, some of it was still 30 percent. See the problem is that I had rented a splitter and because of limited space and to split and stack 3 cords in one weekend, I don't know about you, but this is a lot of work for me. So some of the bigger splits (quite large) are at 30 percent, most of the average to small splits are at 15 to 20 percent, so the point here is don't split too large unless you have two good summers to season the wood. Interesting to note that a piece that was hitting 32 percent left out in the sun for an hour then went to 22 percent.
The next main thing I found after awhile is I could tell as soon as I split a piece whether it was going to hit over 20 just by feeling it. I think you may have to do this from experience, but a couple things are if you split a large split and the inside is a lot cooler and you can really almost feel the moisture, it is going to be 30 percent, and even a little softer than the outside wood.
Another thing I found was that if you check the middle of a split that was split a long time ago and it is over 10 percent, the middle wood is almost certainly going to be over 20. All the seasoned wood's outside mc was in the 6 to 8 percent range.
Lastly, it of course depends on what kind of wood it is, some of the walnut that is so dry on the outside it is dusty was still at 30 in the middle of a split. I remember when cutting this walnut the water almost flowing out of it.
Sorry for the long rant, just wanted to share my experiences. Also, this was a 30 dollar unit from Lowe's and I am really happy with its function and accuracy.
