Went "hunting" this weekend

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albertj03

Minister of Fire
Oct 16, 2009
560
Southern Maine
Hunting for standing dead dry trees anyway. Combined with my wife's family we have 30 acres with lots of hardwood, lot of poplar and a lot of pine. I always get out in the fall looking for standing dead trees and had a nice score on Saturday. Got into some nice maple, red oak and cherry. I know where there some good beach so that will be next. Thought you guys would enjoy the pictures. The cherry is punky on the outside but solid and dry for the most part. Should make ok shoulder season wood. Can't wait to get out again next weekend.

Usually wouldn't stick the pins in the end of the wood but this was right after I cut it.

Red Oak
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Cherry
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Maple sugar I think
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More Maple
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Wow perfect, low moisture and not punky, you did good. :) I now see a little punk on the outside but no biggy.
 
oldspark said:
Wow perfect, low moisture and not punky, you did good. :) I now see a little punk on the outside but no biggy.

Yeah the cherry is punky on the outside so I'll burn it early in the season. Rest of it is nice and solid.
 
Nice find!! Nothing beats being able to burn your fresh cut wood the same night.
 
That makes some nice instant firewood, I still have some standing dead pine that I need to cut down just want to make sure I can get it under cover right away. That looks like red or swamp maple you have there, one of my staple hardwood trees on my small lot.
 
Gearhead said:
Nice find!! Nothing beats being able to burn your fresh cut wood the same night.
You got that right.
If I didn't have access to standing dead wood (that's ready to burn) I wouldn't be heating with wood. Got no room to hang on to years worth of wood while I wait for it to dry. I just let it dry out in the bush and go get it when it's good and ready.
 
OK.... Now you've done it... Now I do want a Moisture meter. Standing dead that tests consistently less than 20 percent!

I know that alot of people on the forum are using the inexepensive harbor freight mm but I am wondering if there are any units that can be purchased in Canada at a retailer for a similar price?

I think I will ask for it on my Christmas list :)
 
lowroadacres said:
OK.... Now you've done it... Now I do want a Moisture meter. Standing dead that tests consistently less than 20 percent!

I know that alot of people on the forum are using the inexepensive harbor freight mm but I am wondering if there are any units that can be purchased in Canada at a retailer for a similar price?

I think I will ask for it on my Christmas list :)
If you find one, let me know. Cheapest I found was $80.00 at Canadian Tire.
 
albertj03 said:
Usually wouldn't stick the pins in the end of the wood but this was right after I cut it.
Even though the wood was fresh cut the meter is still going to measure lower than actual moisture when you take a reading on the end grain.

A meter basically checks the electrical resistance of the wood. The resistance across the grain vs. parallel to the grain is always higher.

Split one of those pieces and give it another try, I bet it's higher than you thought.
 
lowroadacres said:
OK.... Now you've done it... Now I do want a Moisture meter. Standing dead that tests consistently less than 20 percent!

I know that alot of people on the forum are using the inexepensive harbor freight mm but I am wondering if there are any units that can be purchased in Canada at a retailer for a similar price?

I think I will ask for it on my Christmas list :)

The one in the picture is from Amazon.com. It's a 4 pin meter and only cost about $15 +shipping. So far it has worked very well and seems to be sturdier than the last one I bought that broke.


CountryBoy19 said:
albertj03 said:
Usually wouldn't stick the pins in the end of the wood but this was right after I cut it.
Even though the wood was fresh cut the meter is still going to measure lower than actual moisture when you take a reading on the end grain.

A meter basically checks the electrical resistance of the wood. The resistance across the grain vs. parallel to the grain is always higher.

Split one of those pieces and give it another try, I bet it's higher than you thought.

I did split some of the maple and cherry and got readings that were about the same.
 
CountryBoy19 said:
albertj03 said:
Usually wouldn't stick the pins in the end of the wood but this was right after I cut it.
Even though the wood was fresh cut the meter is still going to measure lower than actual moisture when you take a reading on the end grain.

A meter basically checks the electrical resistance of the wood. The resistance across the grain vs. parallel to the grain is always higher.

Split one of those pieces and give it another try, I bet it's higher than you thought.
I dont agree with that but I can go out and check it out tonight.
 
oldspark said:
CountryBoy19 said:
albertj03 said:
Usually wouldn't stick the pins in the end of the wood but this was right after I cut it.
Even though the wood was fresh cut the meter is still going to measure lower than actual moisture when you take a reading on the end grain.

A meter basically checks the electrical resistance of the wood. The resistance across the grain vs. parallel to the grain is always higher.

Split one of those pieces and give it another try, I bet it's higher than you thought.
I dont agree with that but I can go out and check it out tonight.
I guess YMMV but I always check with my multi-meter and nails driven to a known depth. When I was messing around with the multimeter method I tested the difference between fresh cut ends and fresh splits and there was a noticeable difference (about 20-30% increase in resistance on the ends, which would read as a lower moisture).
 
CountryBoy19 said:
albertj03 said:
Usually wouldn't stick the pins in the end of the wood but this was right after I cut it.
Even though the wood was fresh cut the meter is still going to measure lower than actual moisture when you take a reading on the end grain.

A meter basically checks the electrical resistance of the wood. The resistance across the grain vs. parallel to the grain is always higher.

Split one of those pieces and give it another try, I bet it's higher than you thought.

I use a moisture meter all the time and I never noticed much difference between the end grain or splits either, providing they were both freshly split or cut.
Where I notice the difference on an individual spilt is the measurement between outer layer and the inner core of a round. The outside can either be much drier than the inner core, or sometimes it can be much wetter in the case of seasoned logs that are laying on their sides and sitting in the rain.
You are bound to get a more accurate reading if you can stick the pins in further, and generally you can stick the pins in further on the ends of the grain then in the side.
 
No solid facts as to why you would get that type of reading that I can think of, fresh cut=split
White Ash blown down in storm this summer 39% on end and 39% split
Dead mulberry 24% on end and 24% split
Black Walnut blown down in storm this summer too high to read on end and too high on split, I think this is over 45%
 
That oak looks like it has been standing dead for a while.
Even without the moisture meter it looks like a lot of the three or four year dead standing that I've had.
Can dry out rather well when remaining vertical.
Dead standing oak is one of my favorites, although it does seem to dull a chain a bit faster.
I've had good luck with those later this year than anything found horizontal.

Cherry looks a bit greener, though and I find cherry can have quite a bit of punk at the end of it's life, especially branches that have died off first. It can be a bit messy but a few seconds with a ( I have a little Makita) battery vacuum cleans up spills in the house.
 
Albert, that is some fine wood you got. That red oak looks great. I would not worry about that punk on the cherry as it will still burn good and give you much heat. The soft maple will dry out quite fast and split very easy. That is the stuff I like to split with the axe, or at least I used to do it a lot. Now I use the hydraulic splitter. By the way, that maple split into kindling works great too and is easy to do, especially using a splitter.
 
SKIN052 said:
lowroadacres said:
OK.... Now you've done it... Now I do want a Moisture meter. Standing dead that tests consistently less than 20 percent!

I know that alot of people on the forum are using the inexepensive harbor freight mm but I am wondering if there are any units that can be purchased in Canada at a retailer for a similar price?

I think I will ask for it on my Christmas list :)
If you find one, let me know. Cheapest I found was $80.00 at Canadian Tire.

I also ordered mine online - big shortage of (cheap) choice at the retail level here. With the shipping, taxes and currency change, it ended up costing around $40.
 
Can't wait to see how the Super 27 likes this wood.
 
op_man1 said:
SKIN052 said:
lowroadacres said:
OK.... Now you've done it... Now I do want a Moisture meter. Standing dead that tests consistently less than 20 percent!

I know that alot of people on the forum are using the inexepensive harbor freight mm but I am wondering if there are any units that can be purchased in Canada at a retailer for a similar price?

I think I will ask for it on my Christmas list :)
If you find one, let me know. Cheapest I found was $80.00 at Canadian Tire.

I also ordered mine online - big shortage of (cheap) choice at the retail level here. With the shipping, taxes and currency change, it ended up costing around $40.

Watch for the CT one to go on sale. I picked mine up for $40.00. Uses those little watch type batteries though, rather then the typical AA, which does not excite me. Now that I am hopefully at least 3 years ahead, I don't use it much anymore.
 
op_man1 said:
SKIN052 said:
lowroadacres said:
OK.... Now you've done it... Now I do want a Moisture meter. Standing dead that tests consistently less than 20 percent!

I know that alot of people on the forum are using the inexepensive harbor freight mm but I am wondering if there are any units that can be purchased in Canada at a retailer for a similar price?

I think I will ask for it on my Christmas list :)
If you find one, let me know. Cheapest I found was $80.00 at Canadian Tire.

I also ordered mine online - big shortage of (cheap) choice at the retail level here. With the shipping, taxes and currency change, it ended up costing around $40.

I found mine at Home Hardware for $35.00 and it works fine.
 
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