Well I aint no xpert but common sense tells me that weather the wood is shorter or smaller diameter it is gonna dry faster if it is stacked in the same manner as a larger piece. But to further muddy the waters, how about the effects of your locations relative humidity on the drying time and even the lowest possible percentage of moisture you can even achieve in a stick of wood?
With oldspark and Backwoods Savage I'm not worried about it devolving into a flame war-- they are both great people and upstanding citizen. This place would be pretty boring if everyone agreed about everything.
no you must split the piece and measure the moisture right then and there with the meter smack in the middle. Measuring the moisture on the outside of the wood any place will not tell you the moisture inside the piece the split could be 14 percent on the outside and 35 on the inside
Just to have some fun: If moisture in wood really moved like a straw, then any cut wood, placed on end, would drain very quickly just from gravity and dry out in no time; thus, we should all be stacking vertically and not worrying about wind or sun.....
Uhhh... Capillary action (sometimes capillarity, capillary motion, or wicking) is the ability of a liquid to flow in narrow spaces without the assistance of, and in opposition to, external forces like gravity. The effect can be seen in the drawing up of liquids between the hairs of a paint-brush, in a thin tube, in porous materials such as paper, in some non-porous materials such as liquefied carbon fiber, or in a cell. It occurs because of intermolecular forces between the liquid and surrounding solid surfaces. If the diameter of the tube is sufficiently small, then the combination of surface tension (which is caused by cohesion within the liquid) and adhesive forces between the liquid and container act to lift the liquid. In short, the capillary action is due to the pressure of cohesion and adhesion which cause the liquid to work against gravity.[1]
Yes...but that isn't how a straw works, and the comparison was to a straw. A straw, liquid falls right out, very quickly, unless you seal the top. I did say "just for fun".... Point being, straw is a lousy comparison.
It's a comparison that assumes the readers here know the difference between the action of a straw and capillary action, the latter being something intuitively understood by many working with wood - or at least having done the grade school "science experiment" where you put a piece of celery in water with food coloring and saw how the color rises up the stock of celery against gravity. I tend to think the average readers here are above average in common sense and intelligence so they will understand the straw analogy (the tubes hold lots of water) while grasping that the wood fibers are microscopic and therefore subject to capillary action too.
Yeah that should be the plan if you want to know where you're at on the moisture content. If it has been split stacked, top covered and drying for three years you probably don't need to bother checking it otherwise you do. Are you planning on burning this wood in your stove this year?
no sir i'm not. Just wondering before I sold a load. I didn't know the correct way to test it. Knew some of you guys would. Thanks!
okay then you're all set, split it, check it smack in the middle and see what you got. Also go ahead and check it 5-10 different spots around toward the sides and edges, ends, to get an idea of the difference in the moisture content
I have a decent sized outdoor pit so I don't worry about it. Buddy of mine is helping, and by helping I mean doing the work, putting a wood burner in my garage. Just want to make sure I do things correctly. Your help is why I dig this site!! As I look at your specs, how well does that electric splitter work?
My electric splitter does a heck of a job for what it is, beats the heck out of swinging a maul, at 340 bucks it won't break the bank. I split all my wood with it. The bad thing is that particular model is no longer available, but there are others out there that are similar they just cost a little more. That's why we hang out here to help each other out and shoot the bull
