Since you'll be burning this wood in a couple of seasons, you'll have zero problems, but take a piece inside the house and let it get up to house temp a couple hours. Then split and re check the moisture content. I'm sure you know that these meters are calibrated to read at 68°.
About 4 hours total from dropping to stacking but I have no travel time as these were all 60/70 yards behind the house. I know I don't work all that fast but then what's the hurry. This wood is for 3-4 years from now.
I have the same meter and have done some of the same dead standing oak ( none here ) . I've taken a round inside and tapped it open the next day and only seen a couple tenths difference. What I did experience cutting and handling some of this dead standing oak is some of the larger trees the wood from closer to the stump is wicked heavy . You don't really need a meter to know the heavy as heck stuff isn't gonna burn too good nor as well as the nice light rounds from further on up the tree. These trees don't necessarily die overnight either. I have two in my back yard that are missing bark on one side but the tree is still struggling and leafing out on some branches from what little water runs up and down the other side.. Between the gypsy moths and the drought last year I may have a couple of oaks that died last August. I'll know this Spring. I may need a bigger saw as a couple of them are real old white oaks.
Better get that new bigger saw now before they run out. Heck, even if those trees aren't dead this year, they will be some day..
I did some trail maintenance and some cutting late this afternoon and as I went by hemlocks I noticed the top half of every single one of them has no leaves. In all my days I never saw caterpillars eat eastern white pine and hemlock until the last two years.
And, you can see the brown egg masses everywhere. Grumble grumble. Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk
billb3 , yes, that's how standing dead trees work, regarding the wicking of the water. I use that all the time with dead standing trees around here. It really does depend on where the round came from on the tree. If it's in the bottom 10 feet, oh yeah, it'll be too wet to burn anytime soon. Above that, yeah they usually are much drier and many times burnable same day. Once a tree it's dead, the turgor pressure that the cells use while living, don't work any more. So water can only pull up a little bit when a tree it's dead. I mostly wanted to point out the proper way to use a moisture meter, so that newbies to MM's use them correctly.
A perfect example for those that ask if a meter is worth it. Instead of this wood going into stacks to "dry" for 3 years needlessly, it can go service right away.
I checked with General tool to see how their meters are calibrated and for what temp. They sent me a copy of the spec. sheet for my meter. And said it works in a range of temps.
Yes, they operate in a wide range of temperatures, but they are typically calibrated to work at 68°. The delmhorst brand are calibrated to provide correct readings from 50-90° those are pricey though. Point number 3 on this chart 8 Ways to Check Your Moisture Meter’s Accuracy And this is the temperature correction chart. Species Correction Table Less expensive ones like most of us use, don't have that wide of a window of proper operation. Spending $500 on a MM for firewood use is a bit excessive, especially since it's just a reference to back up what we know happens after it has been css'd a while. I was a biology major, and work with our engineering department, so I'm a stickler for using tools as they are intended.
