30 years of hoarding splitting and burning and I’ve NEVER used a MM. Ash, maple, locust, cherry I burn within a year of splitting and stacking it. Oak sometimes as well. That’s after the rounds have dried for a year as well. It’s not rocket science. When it looks and feels dry burn it
Welcome to the club, lots of great folks here sharing knowledge and humor. I have the mini ligno meter, that my dad used to check lumber. Hard to read over 20%. I will probably buy another that just has digital display. As stated above, it's a great tool to help you learn. Glad to have you join. Backwoods Savage has a great article in the resources section, Primer on woodburning. Check it out.
Exactly. They are a great tool to use. They are especially great to use if you are not 3 years ahead, or are trying to get there. You can see if that dead standing tree is ready or not, or how far along it is, or other wood that you've been seasoning. Now I've used a MM on split and stacked and top covered red oak that was 3 years seasoning. It was still well over 20% , more around 25-30% which is why it burned like crap, so 3 years isn't a guarantee that its ready. The only true way to know what percentage of MC your wood had is to use a MM. Otherwise you are guessing. It's an educated guess, but still a guess.
Since I’ve mostly hoarded a random range of stuff, from being on the ground to fresh cut, I know what stuff to leave alone and others I tend to check out the moisture % for fun. Like that plum I picked up today, it’s merely just curiosity that fuels the want to check. Wood dries differently in locations, but time wise its best to leave it alone. Other times I check % because I can establish a baseline. What was it today and what might it be when I use it after some time in the sun... Some of my wood I use for bbqing so I catch the benefit of finding some wood for that and see if it’s POSSIBLE to be ready. Lots of factors to think about but the clap of dry wood is hard to muster a replication, hard for it to lie. What you picked up and stacked the first day, should be a huge difference picking it up later depending on the wood. Sometimes you catch a lucky break and the wood seems low enough to be ready but I prefer my bbq wood around 10-14%, no need for extra moisture.
Welcome to the club. Lots of great folks here sharing knowledge and humor. Glad to have you on board.
I bought one when I first started burning 5 years ago and it quickly made me realize that the 3 year plan which became the 4 year plan was the most responsible and efficient way to burn. Not only does dry wood burn cleaner and put out more heat, it is easier to keep the stove fired and reloads are a lot quicker to get the stove dampered down. So definitely a good tool for the price for a new burner to feel out their needs. Don't use it much at all anymore except out of curiosity.
I use mine mostly out of curiosity. I also go to a fire wood auction and like to see the sellers face after he tells me it's seasoned and I whip out the MM and show him 25% or MORE. Just checked some cookie pieces from the GTG last year and they were 7-10%. A good tool for a new wood burner. EDIT. bear 1998 and I compared our meters at the auction and we were only about 1% apart on readings.
I too have never felt the need to have one. However, I've been involved in this wood burning for much longer that most folks on this forum have been alive. Over 60 years burning. I started at young age so do not have a problem with wet wood here. Some like to make fun out of the calendar use for drying wood, but it works! Yes, occasionally one will get some oak that is still a bit too wet to burn even after 3 years (and some also claim a year or less will dry the oak), but that is the exception, rather than the rule. Around my place, we do not live by exceptions.
Just don't try it on Mom's Thanksgiving turkey to prove that it's dry. We brine our turkeys so no more dry turkey at this house. I've also used it in a cake.
One more thing I should post about the mm is that too often we know people simply do not know how to use them properly. So what use is a tool if it is used wrongly?
They are pretty simple to use. Make a fresh split, then use it in that fresh split. Then again, if some of the directions were not in Chinese, or broken English at best, maybe more would use them correctly? Then again, too many people don't read the directions. I take a bit of umbrage with saying a MM is a tool only for those starting out with using wood as a fuel in stoves. I've been burning wood my entire life, I was probably 4-5 when I started helping with wood duties. Even at a young age I was very observant and would notice sizzling or not from wood we burnt. Nothing has changed in 1, 5, 30, or 60 years of wood burning. Water doesn't burn. With stacking and letting it sit, there's a lot of variables. How much sun, rain, wind, humidity, etc all come into play. However, as Dennis says, and it's completely true, most times letting a stack sit for 3 years will net you with wood that is ready to burn perfectly. The rule is that we need wood that is 20% or less MC in order for it to burn well and safely. Do whatever you need to to attain that.
The use of it wrongly is seen often by me since I will see the ads on Facebook and someone’s got the mm on the sawed end of the wood not the split and obviously not new cut. I do voice it to them but they’ll argue back “well my customers never complained”, mainly because your customers haven’t got a clue! However if it is end cut by a saw recently I would use that with caution since its only nipped off a small bit of wood and not the whole split down the middle. Better accuracy as testing near the ends is likely to be drier than the middle but not likely if it’s just been cut and split from a larger piece.
Split one and measured it with a moisture meter. Same hoard Bobby Maple got his from and the MM read 16.8%. Oak that we hoarded at the same time is reading 28%. ASNR!
Funny, I always use the analogy of the sound of bowling pins, but a baseball bat is a good one too. Yep, take two that you are pretty sure are dry, been standing dead for long time, bark is off, outside is grey, ends are cracked like a spider web & knock them together. Then do it with not so dry pieces of the same species if possible. You will notice a difference. Even then, different woods sound different. Some ring pretty good when they're still green. In time, you know by looking (color, checks/cracks in the ends), listening and the way they feel when you pick them up (weight compared to a green piece). If you're not sure, stand one in front of the stove just inches away and see if it starts steaming from the endgrain or splitting at the ends, when it gets hot. (don't leave the house while doing this. Sorry, had to be said). Short answer for your question about the moisture meter. They are prone to error, mostly on the operator side but also the cheap ones really aren't very good at all and the reading varies greatly depending on species. Given my work, I have several professional (expensive) versions and hardly ever take one out for firewood use. Even then more for curiosity than anything.
