Is this the wettest (firewood selling )autumn you have known !

[Mr. Ed]

I used the spiky one on fresh split and across the grain and along the grain and on freshly cut endgrain and they all gave much the same number. I cut across the grain on purpose to give the posh meter a nice flat surface, in an attempt to remove a variable. And yes, the sticks are still quite heavy and yes they make a good thwack when you hit them together and they weren't grey but still a bit shiny, but I don't trust my instincts - I can't tell you how much trouble I've got into by following them throughout my life . . .

 

Oh, and the wood itself is young ash - left cut in lengths for three years (I was busy) and then cut and split this last summer

 

Edited January 18 by Mr. Ed

[Paul in the woods]

Did you push the pins in as deep as you could? 

 

They could both be wrong of course...

 

Edit to add, the 32 reading sounds most likely as that is around 25% wet basis, so part seasoned.

Edited January 18 by Paul in the woods

[Mr. Ed]

39 minutes ago, Paul in the woods said:

Did you push the pins in as deep as you could? 

 

They could both be wrong of course...

 

Edit to add, the 32 reading sounds most likely as that is around 25% wet basis, so part seasoned.

Thanks Paul - in fact the 32 is the max reading of the Wagner! It so happens we have a flue man here doing a different flue and he's also given me a very stern telling off about the amount of creosote we've added to the flue he did just a couple of years back. I think I know what did it, as well - I used a whole metre bag of stuff that the cheap one had at 19%. 

[GarethM]

Whilst this isn't the best for calibration, I regularly stick the moisture meter into the underside of the wooden chair in the house.

 

Anything other than below 19% and the meter is fit for the bin.

[Mr. Ed]

14 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Whilst this isn't the best for calibration, I regularly stick the moisture meter into the underside of the wooden chair in the house.

 

Anything other than below 19% and the meter is fit for the bin.

 

Wouldn't help with this one that seems to be under-registering! 

[Paul in the woods]

Have you tried a fresh battery and trying a fresh cut log?

 

I expect there's always going to be a duff one from time to time. My cheapie seems surprisingly good, I use it to test the moisture of fresh cut and split logs and then again when seasoned so I'm comparing it to itself.

[Dan Maynard]

7 hours ago, Mr. Ed said:

 

 

So, I've managed to get in trouble (only for our domestic) by believe a cheap meter off the interthingy. Which one would you trust? The one that cost £15, or the one that cost £300. I wonder... By the way, the Wagner only reads up to 32%. In other words it's maxed out

 

 

 

 

 

Weigh the log then dry it in the oven if you want a bulletproof method of calculating moisture content.

 

I think ash is only about 25% when green, 32 sounds too high. This is why people say you can burn it green, but actually it's better seasoned.

[slack ma girdle]

8 hours ago, Mr. Ed said:

 

Do you season in billets for ease of handling and then saw them, or use/sell them like that? I see lots of photos of cold European parts of the world doing it like that, but assume that they have very long burners. 

 

 

 

I use billets because I don't need expensive handling machinery to move potato boxes/vented log bags.

A 3' billet can be cut in 6,9,12,& 18" logs, which is all the sizes i sell.

Billets mean more manual handling,  but it suits me.

[slack ma girdle]

8 hours ago, Stere said:

Was the tunnel second  hand or free for £500?

 

Bargin for one that size....

 

Cover alone costs about that much?

The frame was second hand, and i bought new plastic .

It was a storm damaged frame, so a couple of the hoops were unusable .

[Paul in the woods]

16 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

I think ash is only about 25% when green, 32 sounds too high. This is why people say you can burn it green, but actually it's better seasoned.

The Forestry Commission list green ash as 32% moisture wet basis, the stuff I've cut comes up around 35%.

 

https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/fr_bec_wood_as_fuel_technical_supplement_2010/