Yep sounds like your meter is not right, every time I have ever checked a meter in the palm of my hand it goes up to 34 35%. I can't check the Harbor Freight meter cuz the batteries are almost dead, I stopped using that because of those little batteries, much easier to pop in a 9-volt.
Was your first test on wood that sat on top of your stack and the second with wood from deeper in it? The top row can dry much faster because they get the direct sun on the entire piece heating it up that much more. But then rain can negate much of that advantage. All depends.
If you split it open and check it inside, a reading of 20% is good 15% is real good, 25% will burn but not very good
Well stated! One thing to add, go for average just not middle of the split. An inch or two in on each side and middle, add them up and devide by 3.
Well looks like i have at least 2 cord in the 11-15% range and at least one cord of hickory that is like 30% I do have at least three more cord to check. Lol I wonder how dry a dead standing tree can get?
there are many factors that will affect this, Like the size, species, surroundings...I burned a lot of dead standing last year with varying results. I cut quite a few 12"+ oaks the last couple years and was very surprised to find the first 7-8 logs off the stump were still wet enough for water to squeeze out of the wood when splitting them. One of the worst trees had half or less of the bark still on it and no branches at all. Just one stick standing straight up.
I have had standing dead, ash tops and pecker poles at 12% I split open a 20" white oak round that was sittin in a guys driveway for 3 or 4 years that was 20%
Yes, dead standing is the way to go if you need more wood for the current year, but yes, the first 6-8 feet of trunk will typically be too wet unless the trunk was cut away from the stump. The roots will wick moisture up the trunk to a certain point. Do you have any elm that's dead standing? Dead standing elm that has lost all of its bark and cracking vertically, will yield a lot of usable wood even that same day. With so much dead standing elm like this around here, I feel obligated to cut some down each year and put in my stacks to keep it from falling and rotting.
Might just depend on the size of the splits you're measuring. I got some Mulberry this spring, and I took the moisture meter to it a week ago...I used it on several different fresh splits - all from the same Mulberry tree - and got wildly varying results. Anywhere from mid thirties to "so wet the meter laughed at me, and refused to display a number." Any chance you took a reading from some smaller diameter splits last year, and some fatties this year?
Pyro24 not only do I try to take 3-4 pieces off the top before selecting a couple to check but since I'm splitting it smaller anyways I grab the largest piec I can find easily.
While I was splitting today I dragged up a couple of pieces of Red Oak from my pile downstairs to check them with the MM. These are representative of most of my wood for size and I was careful to get pieces that had full bark on them. After splitting they both read 19% on the freshly split inside and 14% on the outside. So the one year plan that I'm on is working for me, the numbers don't lie.