Deacon, nice score. I have never seen hedge, but would love to check it out. The closest wood to hedge I have seen is locust. By the way, hopefully you realize the MM is supposed to be used on a split piece on the inside, not on the ends of the wood.
It can be used on the end on a fresh cut. But typically it's more accurate on the inside of a fresh split.
I have always heard it gives a false reading on the end due to the the way the rings of the tree run. Supposedly It doesn't allow the electricity to flow properly between the two pins, thus distorting the reading. But what do I know. I clang two pices together and get a audible reading.
Unless you have a very high end woodworker's MM, I doubt that it matters. For firewood purposes you just need to get to the part of the wood that would be the wettest (i.e. the inside).
Your correct, but it was a fresh cut & the grain just grabbed me. Split one small piece today ( actually they are all smallish) MM did the same... Started around 7-8% then just steadily went down to 5% ish then zero. I suspect that I can't get a valid reading below 5%
