Moisture meter results

[PaulinNY]

I bought a moisture meter on recommendation. I have several piles of wood cribbed on end and on pallets. I try to cover them but one of my tarps came up short on a pile. The difference in moisture is up to 10% higher with the uncovered wood. My wood has been seasoning for a year now and am reading 20% on average with the covered wood. I just wanted to share my results. I've seen this mentioned before.

 

[BSD]

20% sounds high. we split some wood this summer about 2 months ago and its down to 15-17% moisture already. It's on pallets, under cover but open sides. There is only a 2-4% difference with the same wood thats just sitting out in the elements.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Are the measurements being taken inside the wood after it is split or on the outside surface ?

10% difference between wood stacked in the dry and wood exposed to all the elements for the year doesn't seem out of line.

Wood air dried to 17% in 2 months makes me wonder, how dry is it in Ct ?

 

[BSD]

I have a moisture meter that I bought at a pro-paint store. the readings have been in the middle of the stick as far as I can push the probes in ~1/4". It was pretty dry here for a while, but its been wet lately. I've found very little moisture difference in wood we split 8 weeks ago versus 12-16weeks ago. I'm thinking it dries out fairly quickly to about 16-17% and then slowly dries out down to <10%? Does that sound about right?

 

[Husky137]

You are not going to get any sort of accurate result by measuring moisture content on the outside of a chunk of split firewood. If you want true MC, take a few pieces and split them again and measure the inside, otherwise you are really just measuring topical moisture. Remember, moisture meters are designed to measure MC in lumber, a relatively thin product compared to firewood.

 

[BSD]

I never thought of resplitting it. Now you've got my curiosity up, I will have to see if I can get out to the wood pile tomorrow and split a few samples to see.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I bought a moisture meter on recommendation. I have several piles of wood cribbed on end and on pallets. I try to cover them but one of my tarps came up short on a pile. The difference in moisture is up to 10% higher with the uncovered wood. My wood has been seasoning for a year now and am reading 20% on average with the covered wood. I just wanted to share my results. I've seen this mentioned before.

That makes for a good argument to keep it covered if possible to improve the drying times. Anything that will help makes for a warmer house in January.

 

[PaulinNY]

covering

Ill have to go out in the morning and split a few pieces as well. My wife was poking fun at me the other day when i was on the porch "analyzing wood samples". She said come inside before you hurt yourself professor! Its an important issue though. I do make efforts to cover my piles which is a bit of a pain. Im working on my 5th pile right now. I was using black plastic on a roll from Lowes last couple of years. The price of firewood this year as it is i went and bought tarps.

 

[Mr. Obvious]

I have had some 16 inch long cherry rounds stacked for a couple of years. Never got around to splitting them. The smaller ones are about 6 - 12 inches diameter stacked like regular split firewood on top of the bigger pieces about 16-24 inches diameter with a 2 foot wide plastic tarp along the top.

I took some 8 inch pieces the other day and split them by hand to burn a few. They tested 13-14% in the middle with my lignomat meter.

 

[porta mill]

moisture meter

I have been reading this thread and was wondering moisture meters everyone is using ? I would like to get one but spending several hundreds of dollars is not an option. I was Wondering if the lower to mid priced ones are worth the money ? pined no pin?

 

[PaulinNY]

Meter

Got mine for $20 or so on Ebay. 4 pin model if that matters any.

 

[Mr. Obvious]

Here is what I have. I got mine locally for 95. 115 is still a decent price. If you have a wood species that isn't in 1 of the 2 catagories, you can send them a sample and they will bake it for you and tell you what you need to know.

http://www.lignomat.com/MoistureMeter/moisture_pin_meters_mini.ED.htm