Should I be Surprised!!!???

[NordicSplitter]

About 3 months ago I got a log load of mixed Pine. Red Pine, Yellow Pine, Norway Spruce and Evergreen. They said it was all cut in March therefore hardly any sap, which is fine by me. I went ahead and bucked it all up and then split a little more than half of it and stacked it along the side of my garage on a sidewalk. 21' long x 5' high and two rows 18" each. Roughly 6.5 face cords. I got that done about a month ago and I went out to check the moisture content with my meter. Put fresh batteries in it and I was shocked! 15% here, 11% there, 16% in back and 8% in front I wasn't planning on touching it until Fall of 16'....but now...who know's!!?? Should I be surprised at such low readings or no? Thoughts appreciated....

 

[northpa]

About 3 months ago I got a log load of mixed Pine. Red Pine, Yellow Pine, Norway Spruce and Evergreen. They said it was all cut in March therefore hardly any sap, which is fine by me. I went ahead and bucked it all up and then split a little more than half of it and stacked it along the side of my garage on a sidewalk. 21' long x 5' high and two rows 18" each. Roughly 6.5 face cords. I got that done about a month ago and I went out to check the moisture content with my meter. Put fresh batteries in it and I was shocked! 15% here, 11% there, 16% in back and 8% in front I wasn't planning on touching it until Fall of 16'....but now...who know's!!?? Should I be surprised at such low readings or no? Thoughts appreciated....

i think the resident experts will tell you it's impossible but i have historically gotten fresh cut sugar maple to way less than 20% cutting in april burning perfectly in october. and yes i resplit and test the inside. i've got a crapload of wood just because i like getting wood but same year burning is fine for most species, read all the co-op university studies on wood moisture

 

[gzecc]

About 3 months ago I got a log load of mixed Pine. Red Pine, Yellow Pine, Norway Spruce and Evergreen. They said it was all cut in March therefore hardly any sap, which is fine by me. I went ahead and bucked it all up and then split a little more than half of it and stacked it along the side of my garage on a sidewalk. 21' long x 5' high and two rows 18" each. Roughly 6.5 face cords. I got that done about a month ago and I went out to check the moisture content with my meter. Put fresh batteries in it and I was shocked! 15% here, 11% there, 16% in back and 8% in front I wasn't planning on touching it until Fall of 16'....but now...who know's!!?? Should I be surprised at such low readings or no? Thoughts appreciated....

Pine seasons fast, unfortunately it burns fast too.

 

[NordicSplitter]

Pine seasons fast, unfortunately it burns fast too.

Plan on using it for shoulder season.Maybe by the Fall of 15'.....That would be fine by me....

 

[tsquini]

You have to check the inside moisture content. Did you split it in half before testing? Pine dries fast. 11% and 8% is really low.

 

[Rossco]

No suprise. Look at SeanM's thread, Pine Snag @ 17% freshly cut.

 

[fossil]

If you didn't split it and check the moisture in the center of a freshly split inside face, then you're only measuring the outside couple of millimeters of the wood. Not representative. Rick

 

[NordicSplitter]

If you didn't split it and check the moisture in the center of a freshly split inside face, then you're only measuring the outside couple of millimeters of the wood. Not representative. Rick

Some of the rounds were as big as 20" across. Got about 12 splits out of those. They are coming in at 15-20%. Just didn't expect it to dry out that fast...