Those of you with moisture meters, or knowledge of studies done... anyone have a feel for moisture content of green wood of any species you've checked? I also wonder if certain species just do not retain as much water as other species... if it varies quite a bit.
I’m no expert but so use a moisture meter to check my wood before burning. I think the cheaper moisture meters like I use are somewhat limited in their range and not too accurate for measuring green wood. I have to admit I haven’t measured green wood in years since I know I can’t burn it. As far as species that have less moisture and this is a guess locust and ash seem to fit that bill. To me poplar appears to have mucho moisture since it weighs paper like when it’s dry
Ash trees, even if healthy and not eab affected, seem to hold less MC in then when green compared to other species. Oaks hold a ton of moisture when green.
As creek chub said, many meters on the market won’t measure that high. They’re mostly designed for measuring lumber. Many species are dryer than others. Beyond that there’s a myriad of environmental issues that come into play. Like how much water is available in the first place. Seasons etc. Just like cutting a live Christmas tree when you’ve had a serious drought. It’s gonna be really thirsty and may dump it’s needles anyway I’ve been amazed at how much water a little pine can suck up with no roots when they’re dry.
If your split loses 1/3 of its weight and is currently: 0% it started at 50%, 10% it started 65%, 20% it started at 80%.
Here you go. The percentage varies greatly. Not a single one is 100%.. https://www.researchgate.net/public...ure_Relations_and_Physical_Properties_of_Wood
You have picked a topic which can receive very different answers based on each persons experience. I do consider the issue of moisture content and "retaining" moisture important because each of my loads is 1000 pounds and I prefer to carry "wood" not water. "Ordinary" moisture meters are only accurate up to 30% moisture is my understanding and so "ordinary" moisture meters only measure "dry" wood moisture. I only transport standing dead seasoned high moisture wood specie like elm, black ash, and sycamore... otherwise I would carry too much water home. Sugar maple, white ash, sugarberry/hackberry, hornbeam, bitternut hickory, green ash, white oak, hickory do not retain moisture too long and so I transport these home green. These specie are listed in order from quickest drying to slowest drying based on my wood pile. Many would disagree with this order based on their own experience and wood pile. Some wood specie are so wet and take so long to dry I never transport them home like cottonwood, basswood, aspen... Red oak is a tough choice. Red oak takes a long... time to dry but is a VERY abundant firewood source here in NE Iowa and so I do stack red oak but limit how much of my pile is devoted to red oak to avoid an entire pile of wood not dried. Even standing dead and seasoned red oak takes a long time to dry. I have no experience with soft maple other than box elder which did not retain moisture.
They are dry basis measurements. So a piece of green wood may weigh 25 lbs and have a dry basis moisture content of 150%. That means that the mass of the water is 1.5 times that of the wood. So with that you have 10 lbs of wood and 15 lbs of water. Drying that wood to 20% moisture content would result in a 12 lbs log with 10 lbs of wood and 2 lbs of water. Water can be measured using either dry basis or wet basis. There are videos on YouTube explaining the difference between the two...
Thanks for the reply, I didn't know this was a method to measure moisture content. The thing new that I learned today...
You’re welcome.. I’m not sure where it started, but is routinely used to monitor fire danger and model fire behavior. There isn’t a tool that will measure the moisture content of the wide variety of grasses, bushes and trees out there. But by taking samples, one can get a “wet” weight and then dry the sample in an oven to evacuate all of the water and get a dry weight. The two weights are compared to determine dry basis moisture content. This moisture content will vary throughout the season and greatly affect fire danger in areas that live fuels tend to carry fire such as huckleberry, scrub oak or many conifer species.
I almost always find that green wood has a ton of moisture, like in the 50’s percent. It drops to about 30 percent in short time. Then the next 6-12 months+, you creep to a smudge below 20%.
I visited a railroad crosstie plant one time and got see the creosote preservation process. One thing I remember was the amount of water that was removed from the ties before the creosote was pressure injected. I can’t remember the amount but it was impressive
