Dairyman said:
I cut 1" thick slices about 2" in from each end and one from the middle. This is a good enough sampling to get an average MC for a given split. Then I take my favorite kindling splitter (old meat cleaver) and chop these slices into chunks about 1" across. At this point I weigh them on a beam balance (reads in 1/10th gram increments) and record the weight.
I put the chunks on a paper towel on a dinner plate and run short cycles on the highest setting, allowing equal time resting to allow cooling. I'm not kidding, these things will get very hot on the inside and next thing you know they are on fire and you are sleeping in the doghouse with your very own microwave.
Just like with the way you've already been doing it, keep the cycling going until three full cycles fail to show any further weight reduction. Record the final weight and make your calculations.
BTW I see no useful purpose to use the counter-intuitive dry-basis calculation. Woodburners want to know the percentage of water that was in the original split, not as compared to the dry fiber weight. Although dry-basis calculations are the rule in the wood industry, all energy calculations in wood heaters must be done with a wet-basis MC expression. Even the EPA testers have to make this conversion if they use a moisture meter to get the MC of the test loads.
