Wood moisture meter?

[henry d]

Any pointers to good makes?

Planning to buy in limbs at some stage so it will be necessary for them but also to check "kiln" dried logs.

Many thanks 👍🏻

[oowee]

I seriously would not bether. I bought one and did not bather after a few months. You will know when they are dry. To test it you need to chop it up and you can see it when you do it. Most stuff you will in anycase keep for a year before you chop it up. 

Not sure why you would want to buy limbs unless they are very cheap. Even then mostly they can be collected for free. Too much work to turn them into firewood. If its available very local or on my land I might collect but then the volume is still small if not I won't bother. Here firewood is £60 a dumpy.

[henry d]

Very cheap and local 

It's getting more expensive now due to transportation costs and every man and his dog are getting stoves installed. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by henry d

[islandgun]

I bought a cheap one on amazon £15-£20 a year ago which i use regularly no problem, properly dried wood [less than 20%] has a ring to it when dropped on concrete

[Ultrastu]

I have a protimeter  mini .

Its served me very well for over 15 years going strong  

Timber when air dried for at least a year (kept outside but under cover ) should reach around 16 - 18 %   to get it lower it has to be brought into a heated and moisture  reduced environment  (ie in your house ) and depending on the thickness and species  of wood can get down to 10- 12 % . To get much below  10 % you would have to kiln the timber 

Not a lot of point for burning .

[henry d]

30 minutes ago, Ultrastu said:

Not a lot of point for burning

Point taken, during my search I found lots of high end carpenter websites, mostly American, but as you seem to say anything around 15% should do us. 

[Windswept]

I picked up a cheap moisture meter from Lidl several years ago and find it useful as I fell and process all our firewood which is our main heating source.

I like to check the odd fresh log and use it to check progress, ideally some firewood should be seasoned for a couple of years but I've been getting the moisture down in just a year by careful stacking.

Be aware that firewood is measured on a wet basis but most moisture meters are meant for construction and measure on a dry basis. If the meter is reading 25% dry basis that'll be 20% wet basis.

[chesterse]

I have a Brennenstuhl one which is excellent  and has different settings for wood and concrete. Don’t recall it being very expensive. I bought it after I got caught out burning wood which was too damp. Cost me £900 for a new chimney liner as the old one was completely blocked up with sticky tar - expensive lesson.

As mentioned if the wood is stored in a shed for a year then there should not be a problem anyway but it’s a useful tool as a double check.