any one use a moisture meter?
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jimosufan said:
Last year our first burning wood and not having our wood seasoned a full year I did (every two weeks) but this year I checked once.
zap
I have an old mini ligno meter that I use occasionally. Wood is below 20% for this season, all is good.
I bought one and find it useless or I dont know how to use it properly. Alive tree I can skin a little bark off and stick prongs in real easy and yep its green 38% or so. My split oak I would have to beat it in with a hammer to get a reading. I can only get the prongs in 1/8 inch or so. reads3% I know thats not right only been split 3 mo.. Was going to do some more expermints but must have left on and battery was dead. So will get another battery and try later.
Cpt
Cpt
I have the cheap Harbor Freight one and it works great for me. Most important the first year you burn, like Zap said. I found Cherry to be a great first year wood, it is miracle stuff on how fast it drys. I have some now I only split about 3 months ago reading 17 percent. I also find it important on Oak since it can take 2 or 3 years to season. You have to resplit it and check it, otherwise it is useless. After you get a year or more ahead it becomes less important. But it is good to have a reading when you are not sure. I like to have the driest stuff possible going into my stove.
I have one that I won from bio heat USA woodpile contest. Seems to work great. Not really a need but fun to mess around with.
Yes, I have one. Yes, I use it from time to time. Yes, I find it to be a useful tool. Yes, I think, when used properly, it yields useful information. When I split a piece of wood and stab the probes into it, I'm mostly interested in whether it reads >30% or <30%. I'm not out there measuring wood moisture every day, or every time I split a piece of wood. More like when I first get some new wood, or I'm about to put some older wood in the shed for next season. I think, as I said, that a moisture meter is a useful tool...but not something to get all wrapped around about. Rick
LOLI have split the wood a lot smaller ( 2" 3" few 4" ) than usual , hoping it will season enough to burn. I have MM need to experment with some more. I caint stick prongs in the ends of the Oak splits. Will try when I get back home. I will have plenty over a year next season.
Any suggestions on how to get prongs in to get a decent reading will be apreciated.
Always wanted to go to Alaska
Cpt- of Va
Any suggestions on how to get prongs in to get a decent reading will be apreciated.
Always wanted to go to Alaska
Cpt- of Va
Never had one . . . never will.
I just make sure my wood is cut, split and stacked at least a year prior to burning . . . although I'm now two years ahead in the burning cycle and working on Year 2012-2013's wood supply.
I just make sure my wood is cut, split and stacked at least a year prior to burning . . . although I'm now two years ahead in the burning cycle and working on Year 2012-2013's wood supply.
A MM is a great tool to get a good reference regarding drying conditions at your drying location. Educated wood burners with years of experience really don't need it. For a newbie, getting to that knowlege level is faster using a MM.
IMO, with all the work burning wood requires, a mm is a great tool to have when deciding which to burn.
Realize wood will season at different rates depending on size, species, shade, partial sun, full sun, tight stack, double stack, a lot of variables.
I have a double stack of oak that took 3 yrs in the shade. I'll never do that again!
IMO, with all the work burning wood requires, a mm is a great tool to have when deciding which to burn.
Realize wood will season at different rates depending on size, species, shade, partial sun, full sun, tight stack, double stack, a lot of variables.
I have a double stack of oak that took 3 yrs in the shade. I'll never do that again!
I've only been burning wood for 4 years and I don't have a moisture meter. I cut/split/stacked this winter's firewood in May when our wood permit season opened. So it has only been seasoning 4 months, it is black oak, doug-fir, incense-cedar and ponderosa pine. I'd be interested to find out the moisture content and since I don't have a moisture meter, I'm going to try the multimeter method instead. We get nice dry hot summers and the stacks have good airflow, and I split small. Interested in seeing where I am at since it is all I have got... Figure I've got two more months before the burning commences...
I have a MM and use it all the time as I'm usually only 1 year ahead on my wood supply and like to test the different stacks from time to time to figure out whats best to burn when.
I think other factors come into play with the seasoning rate of oak or any wood for that matter.. I'm in Central NJ and bought a cord of fresh split red oak last fall.. Stacked it loose in a sunny and open area of the yard single rows and splits are small/average 3 to 4" side.. Just grabbed a larger split, re-split it and tested with MM = 25%.. smaller split reading low 20's..
When I got the wood last year readings were around 35% and that wonderful red oak smell was very pronounced. Much less so now. I'm thinking this long hot dry summer must have had something to do with these results versus last summer where we had very little sun and a good amount of rain and clouds in the northeast.. No question this oak would be perfection with another year under its belt but I'm thinking it will be nice 4 months from now as well..
I think other factors come into play with the seasoning rate of oak or any wood for that matter.. I'm in Central NJ and bought a cord of fresh split red oak last fall.. Stacked it loose in a sunny and open area of the yard single rows and splits are small/average 3 to 4" side.. Just grabbed a larger split, re-split it and tested with MM = 25%.. smaller split reading low 20's..
When I got the wood last year readings were around 35% and that wonderful red oak smell was very pronounced. Much less so now. I'm thinking this long hot dry summer must have had something to do with these results versus last summer where we had very little sun and a good amount of rain and clouds in the northeast.. No question this oak would be perfection with another year under its belt but I'm thinking it will be nice 4 months from now as well..
maybe your problem is sticking it in then ends. You resplit it and just push in lightly with the grain on the inside of the split. No hard pushing.cptoneleg said:
To get an accurate reading you need to split a split in half and get the inside reading. The outside or ends will dry faster and give you a false reading. You also don't need to drive the pins all the way in, my instructions say 3mm.cptoneleg said:
Never had one. Never used one. No plans on ever buying one. Once you learn what dry wood is you have no worries. The only way to have dry wood is to get it cut, split and stacked well before the time you need to burn it. Best is 2-3 years minimum time.
Sorry Dennis, but your statement needs correcting. It should read The BEST way to have dry wood is to get it cut, split and stacked well before the time you need to burn it. It certainly isn't the "only" way.Backwoods Savage said:
I've never had to store my firewood for 2-3 years and yet I'll bet my firewood is drier than yours, but of course you really have no way of telling how dry your firewood is because you don't have a moisture meter, do you? ;-)
Your advice is still good (especially for Easterners).
Sorry Carobn. When I wrote "only" I did not consider kiln drying.
As for which wood is drier, yours or mine, you are right. We'd have to have them side by side. However, the moisture meter is still unnecessary. Just get the danged wood dry and burn it.
In addition, I have some wood that I cut last winter that almost rivals some of our 6 year old wood for dryness. It all depends upon the tree, state of life or death of said tree and how it is handled after it has been cut. I recently moved some of the older wood pile and forgot there were a few pin oak splits in there. Heavy stuff! Should be just right for burning on a below zero night in January.
As for which wood is drier, yours or mine, you are right. We'd have to have them side by side. However, the moisture meter is still unnecessary. Just get the danged wood dry and burn it.
In addition, I have some wood that I cut last winter that almost rivals some of our 6 year old wood for dryness. It all depends upon the tree, state of life or death of said tree and how it is handled after it has been cut. I recently moved some of the older wood pile and forgot there were a few pin oak splits in there. Heavy stuff! Should be just right for burning on a below zero night in January.
I was using a HF MM. I too found it difficult to stick the prongs into oak and get good measurements. I worked it though and found the relative numbers interesting... however a couple weeks ago I stuck the prongs into a split of ash and, well, the prongs liked the ash better than the MM it seems as they broke off - whole end of the plastic MM along with the two prongs. Seems they 'design' of the MM is such that the solder of prongs to the circuit board was much of the structure holding it together. Cheap is.. well, cheap eh?
Anyway - I did find it useful to know. However I'm almost 2 years ahead now so I hope to not need to worry about it anymore and thus I don't plan to buy a replacement. I'll try and maintain the "stay ahead and let it age for a couple years" policy and just hope for the best. IF I ever find myself having to buy wood close to burning season I likely would buy another (better quality) MM just so I could tell how bad what I am purchasing really is (and perhaps not close a deal).
Anyway - I did find it useful to know. However I'm almost 2 years ahead now so I hope to not need to worry about it anymore and thus I don't plan to buy a replacement. I'll try and maintain the "stay ahead and let it age for a couple years" policy and just hope for the best. IF I ever find myself having to buy wood close to burning season I likely would buy another (better quality) MM just so I could tell how bad what I am purchasing really is (and perhaps not close a deal).
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