moisture %

[bruce56bb]

receieved my new moisture meter from harbor freight(thanks msg and bb)today, now a question. what is considered wet firewood?and do you take the wettest readings from a split or avg them out? i resplit a piece of oak and have readings from 6-35%.
thanks in advance
bruce

 

[BrotherBart]

I go with the inside reading. 35% is the max reading on the meter so moisture is going to be hissing and boiling water out of the ends real fast.

 

[Corey]

When I stab mine with the moisture meter, I can get readings all over the map. The only reliable way I have found is to take a piece of your seasoned wood, split it freshly, then take a reading at the center (length and width) of the fresh split face. That will show you the wettest part of the wood. I have never seen it below about 15-20% Even in wood that has been cut and stacked for years. The very outside ends and faces will show a drier reading and it will show up fairly quickly after the wood is cut, but is not a true representation of the moisture locked inside.

Corey

 

[bruce56bb]

oops......looks like i don't have as much wood to burn this winter. the oak split i was measuring was from a tree that had been down for about 2 years and was split and stacked last fall. the coffee bean and locust that were cut and split at about the same time have readings in the low 20s. i guess spike was right that white oak needs 2 years to season

 

[Todd]

I saw a piece in half and take a reading. My red oak and maple went from pegged at 35% when first split this spring to 15-20% now. Some of my white oak is still a little wet and is a little over a year old.

 

[Roospike]

I just helped my next door neighbor cut some wood . He up brought about 25 OAK logs 12'-14' long and around 2-3' wide from his lower 40 , the oak logs had no bark and looked a little rotten on the out side. Went to cut them and they were SOLID hard and heavy! No cracks on the inside of the logs so i asked hom how old the logs were sitting down there and said "o' bout 15 years" Holy he(( ! i said . Just unreal the shape they were in and after splitting that still didnt look seasoned. Dat oak B sum tuff stuff.