My stupid wood is still too high in water content after 2 years !

[weatherguy]

I think your MM is off, the store bought kiln dried should be about 10 points lower so I'm betting the wood your measuring is actually 20-25%.

 

[oldspark]

I think your MM is off, the store bought kiln dried should be about 10 points lower so I'm betting the wood your measuring is actually 20-25%.

What did I miss, who has the kiln dried wood reading high.

 

[davey]

Here are the pictures right side up

 

[oldspark]

davey-drying wood is a straight forward procedure, single rows in an open area is the best way to stack it, here in Iowa I dont have to top cover but thats up to you, I do belive single rows dont need to be covered as much as multiple rows, moisture gets inbetween the rows and takes longer to dry due to lack of air movement.

 

[Ashful]

I do belive single rows dont need to be covered as much as multiple rows, moisture gets inbetween the rows and takes longer to dry due to lack of air movement.

I think you're onto something there, oldspark. Perhaps this is the key factor in so many of our dead-horse debates.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Well the wood definitely looks seasoned, so I would suggest that you sift through it all and do a lot of testing, some of it has to be ready to go, then I would restack it all properly..... You got your work cut out for you but do it now, sooner than later. Also while your doing that, re split the bigger ones, that will help also for the future

 

[basod]

Davey appears from the pictures this is a damp area - neighbor's roof has a good bit of moss.

The "stacks" as they sit now are more piles and are not going to dry very effectively. It's hard to judge the amount of space you have and the layout/access points from the pictures.
If your stacking skills aren't there yet you may be best served by building a couple wood racks from some 2x4's and getting all the shorter stacks neatly spaced and about 5-6' high.
The lower parts of stacks will always be a bit more damp, and that's basically what you have now - a bunch of lower stacks in varying degrees of incompletion

 

[Woody Stover]

What did I miss, who has the kiln dried wood reading high.

Post #34.

 

[oldspark]

Post #34.

OK thanks missed it twice, well his MM might be wrong but no guarantees with kiln dried wood, the fact that it reads lower then his own wood might indicate he is getting good readings.

 

[jharkin]

If he is reading the outside of kd lumber and it got wet recently it could be off....


Other thought for the OP is that most meters are calibrated for Doug Fir and you need a conversion chart to figure the actual moisture - many high density hardwoods will be lower than the meter reading says. Had some locust that read 23 on the meter, and the table tells me that's actually 19.

 

[oldspark]

"I have been checking the moisture on fresh splits. I took a reading from some of that kiln dried wood you buy in a store and it measured 20%"