I recently added two accessories to my gear inventory:
1. General Moisture Meter. $30 at Lowes. I tested it on several pieces of wood both in the stack near the house and the big stash out in my wood lot back in the woods.
I got as low as 13% up to 27%. Yes, each piece was freshly split immediately before testing. I did get one reading that was 50%, maybe over since the thing started
beeping. But just a few inches away in the same split it was about 22%. When I tested the piece again a few minutes later I could not replicate the 50% reading.
This particular pallet was loaded with some beautiful water oak from a standing dead trunk that a neighbor gave me last winter. It has been split since February. I was hoping it would be ready this year. Not a spot of punk on any of it. It's about 2/3 a cord. Several tests from all over the stack yielded 17% to 23%. Higher readings coming from thicker splits. My hickory pile gave me surprisingly similar readings. These pieces felt much heavier, relative to size, but they also tested just under or just over 20%. Overall, four different pallets of oak and hickory tested good to go. Seems like I read something recently that this gauge probably measures about 5% high? Is that right? In that case, I am REALLY good to go.
2. Swisher Log Jack and Roller. $30 on sale at Tractor Supply. Really please to see how stout it looked as I assembled it. Heavier than I expected. I tested it on one long, down log out in the woods. It was about 12 inch diameter and about 20 feet long. Sort of rotted but still had some weight on it. This tool rolled it over very easily. I can see that in very wet, loose soil the support bar/stand could sink into the ground but that could easily be prevented with a small block of 2 x 6. I'll report back on this tool when I have a chance to give it a good workout.
So far, happy with both of these purchases.
1. General Moisture Meter. $30 at Lowes. I tested it on several pieces of wood both in the stack near the house and the big stash out in my wood lot back in the woods.
I got as low as 13% up to 27%. Yes, each piece was freshly split immediately before testing. I did get one reading that was 50%, maybe over since the thing started
beeping. But just a few inches away in the same split it was about 22%. When I tested the piece again a few minutes later I could not replicate the 50% reading.
This particular pallet was loaded with some beautiful water oak from a standing dead trunk that a neighbor gave me last winter. It has been split since February. I was hoping it would be ready this year. Not a spot of punk on any of it. It's about 2/3 a cord. Several tests from all over the stack yielded 17% to 23%. Higher readings coming from thicker splits. My hickory pile gave me surprisingly similar readings. These pieces felt much heavier, relative to size, but they also tested just under or just over 20%. Overall, four different pallets of oak and hickory tested good to go. Seems like I read something recently that this gauge probably measures about 5% high? Is that right? In that case, I am REALLY good to go.
2. Swisher Log Jack and Roller. $30 on sale at Tractor Supply. Really please to see how stout it looked as I assembled it. Heavier than I expected. I tested it on one long, down log out in the woods. It was about 12 inch diameter and about 20 feet long. Sort of rotted but still had some weight on it. This tool rolled it over very easily. I can see that in very wet, loose soil the support bar/stand could sink into the ground but that could easily be prevented with a small block of 2 x 6. I'll report back on this tool when I have a chance to give it a good workout.
So far, happy with both of these purchases.
