Wet Wood test

[MissMac]

Try testing the calibration of your moisture metre, if it has that function. On mine, there is a place to stick the prongs on the outside of the lid, and there's a small range of readings you're supposed to get when you do this. I test mine every year to make sure it's good for testing wood. Look in your manual or on google to see if you can test your calibration. Sounds like this might be the next step. I think your MM is off.

 

[Touch0Gray]

Are the meter probes parallel with the grain or perpendicular? That is wet wood. Your meter is a lyin' dog faced pony soldier!

which way SHOULD the probes be aligned?

 

[Grizzerbear]

which way SHOULD the probes be aligned?

With the grain....as in running down the length of the piece of firewood

 

[jetsam]

This is not for the tl;dr crowd, but if you are interested in how moisture meters work, this will answer all your questions (and probably cause you to throw your moisture meter out and use your old multimeter from now on). You also get bonus stuff like temperature and species correction charts that can make your moisture meter significantly more useful.

(broken link removed)

 

[ShawnLiNY]

Wood cutter , go to lowes , HD or tractor supply and buy 2-3 packs of compressed wood bricks or logs . Use those only and see what stove does

 

[Touch0Gray]

With the grain....as in running down the length of the piece of firewood

Thanks

 

[Woodcutter Tom]

Thanks for all the comments. I have totally lost confidence in both of the two moisture meters. Neither have a way to be calibrated.
I just got outbid on a General MMD4E today. I probably buy one of those.
My TackLife states to measure cross grain; not with the grain. I thought that the SBI manual stated that also.

I purchased two bundles of 'kiln dried' wood today. That was a total waste of money. I cut to size for N/S loading and split some of the pieces. Made MC readings. Readings were all over the place. From 0 to 22 -23%. Pieces that I did not split registered 0% on SBI. Some that I did split also registered 0%. Like I stated, I do not trust the meters that I have. I loaded the stove and as you can see this was not much better than the wood I tested with yesterday.

I also bought a bundle of the compressed wood blocks. (the compressed sawdust) I will experiment with those tomorrow.

FYI: when I stack my wood in the summer, it is covered on top and down about 1 foot. The sides are open for air flow. This summer I plan on a home-made kiln as described here somewhere.

 

[Grizzerbear]

@Woodcutter Tom.....next time try splitting a piece of your firewood and give it a good wiff on the fresh split face. If it has pronounce smell to it, its too wet in my experience. This may not work on all species of wood but from what im familiar with....oak,hickory, a lil pine now and then.....its the most reliable measure. I have had wood that rang like a pujols homer when knocking against each other that was still in the upper 20s on the mm. Same with checked ends. Just a idea until you get a new mm.

 

[jetsam]

Follow the manual because the meter could be designed to correct the displayed moisture reading to assuming parallel or perpendicular probe placement.

 

[Touch0Gray]

@Woodcutter Tom.....next time try splitting a piece of your firewood and give it a good wiff on the fresh split face. If it has pronounce smell to it, its too wet in my experience. This may not work on all species of wood but from what im familiar with....oak,hickory, a lil pine now and then.....its the most reliable measure. I have had wood that rang like a pujols homer when knocking against each other that was still in the upper 20s on the mm. Same with checked ends. Just a idea until you get a new mm.

An old timer (had a chainsaw shop down the road from us, till he died 30 or so years ago at 87) used to either bang 2 of the pieces together and listen to the sound or cut into it and grab a handful of chips and pressed them to his face. I bought a moisture meter to check the dryness of the slabs I cut. They will NEVER see the inside of the wood stove.

 

[Woody Stover]

An old timer...used to either bang 2 of the pieces together and listen to the sound or cut into it and grab a handful of chips and pressed them to his face.

I've had some that sounded dry when banging them together, but weren't. I've felt a fresh split for coolness, or pressed my lips against it, but I'll file that chips technique away for future use.

 

[bholler]

An old timer (had a chainsaw shop down the road from us, till he died 30 or so years ago at 87) used to either bang 2 of the pieces together and listen to the sound or cut into it and grab a handful of chips and pressed them to his face. I bought a moisture meter to check the dryness of the slabs I cut. They will NEVER see the inside of the wood stove.

Yes you can do that. And experienced burners can get a pretty good idea from techniques like that. But it is not as accurate or fool proof as a properly calibrated moisture meter used correctly

 

[begreen]

I've had some that sounded dry when banging them together, but weren't. I've felt a fresh split for coolness, or pressed my lips against it, but I'll file that chips technique away for future use.

I have always relied on basic wood tests without a meter. After decades of wood burning I finally bought a moisture meter out of curiosity last year. It told me what I suspected. The wood was dry enough to burn. I checked 1 yr and 3 yr split doug fir out in the shed. Both pieces came in around 17-18%. In summer I tested as low as 16%.

 

[Das Jugghead]

I had roughly a cord and a half of walnut I cut, split, stacked, and dried over the summer that I burned throughout the first part of the heating season. No sizzling, very little smoke, and damn near match light. Wood piles were covered with clear plastic which worked well until we had that wind storm move through the area about a month ago and ripped the plastic on the second wood pile thereby soaking all of the cherry I had there.

I am currently burning oak I cut, split, and stacked late in the summer. No sizzling and very little smoke. This pile was next to the AC compressor covered with a thick clear plastic (10mil?) with a five gallon bucket ducting hot air off the compressor and through the top of the wood. This oak pile might have gotten a full month of sun and air off the AC compressor before the AC was turned off for the season.

Bottom line if the wood is bubbling and sizzling its wet - the fact that it goes out after a while and re-ignites when the door is opened only reinforces that assessment.

 

[ShawnLiNY]

Thanks for all the comments. I have totally lost confidence in both of the two moisture meters. Neither have a way to be calibrated.
I just got outbid on a General MMD4E today. I probably buy one of those.
My TackLife states to measure cross grain; not with the grain. I thought that the SBI manual stated that also.

I purchased two bundles of 'kiln dried' wood today. That was a total waste of money. I cut to size for N/S loading and split some of the pieces. Made MC readings. Readings were all over the place. From 0 to 22 -23%. Pieces that I did not split registered 0% on SBI. Some that I did split also registered 0%. Like I stated, I do not trust the meters that I have. I loaded the stove and as you can see this was not much better than the wood I tested with yesterday.

I also bought a bundle of the compressed wood blocks. (the compressed sawdust) I will experiment with those tomorrow.

FYI: when I stack my wood in the summer, it is covered on top and down about 1 foot. The sides are open for air flow. This summer I plan on a home-made kiln as described here somewhere.

Any improvement with the compressed wood products?

 

[Woodcutter Tom]

Regarding the compressed wood product..... I placed three of the pieces in a single layer on a bed of hot coals yesterday. They started to burn OK. My concern is that they never seemed to give off a lot of heat. There were flames from the 'bricks', but not the strong flame that comes from wood. The bricks would expand a bit. After a while I added some wood on top of the bricks. It was cold, and I wanted some heat. Throughout the day, as I would spread out coals, there were chucks of the brick that I would break up. These would glow and start to flame again. I am not a big fan of the compressed wood.
My concentration now is dry wood. I have gone through some of my 'stash' and have pulled out some Shag bark hickory. Some pieces seem very heavy and I try to avoid those. The hickory seems to burn better than the walnut and I do not see as much bubbling at the ends of pieces. This some but not as much. Also there is smoke, but not as much.
I am also pulling wood from outside that I believe is older. The ends seem to have more cracks. These are smaller pieces which fit N/S in my stove. These seem to be burning better.
I had kept track of where all my wood came from and where is is stacked. But when moving it around, some of the documentation got messed up.
I am planning for a kiln this summer so that I can have good wood next year.

 

[GM80owner]

If the ends of your wood are checked up (cracking) try the soap test. Finger smooth some dish liquid over the cracks on one end and blow on the other. If you get soap bubbles you got wood ready to burn.