Lowest moisture seasoned oak

[Blackdogbbq21]

Newbie to the group here.
Question for those of you who have moisture meters you use on your woodpile. What is the lowest percentage moisture you've seen on air seasoned oak? I know there are a ton of variables to how dry wood could be just trying to get an idea how old is too old for desired smoke flavor.

thanks

 

[SonnyE]

Well, like you said, there are a ton of variables. I do not have a Moisture meter. And for a number of years I did a lot of woodworking. I rather let my wood acclimatize to where I was using it.
Much of the wood in my shop was dryer than a popcorn fart. Because I keep my shop very dry, and I live on the edge of a desert, per sey. A Western finger of the Mojave Desert.
Often there are times we are in the low teens of RH percentage. And sometimes in single digits. Which are hell on the sinuses.
When getting ready to do something in my MES, which now uses dust from pellets, I will load my AMNPS and "roast" it in my smoker during a pre-heating/sterilizing run before actual use.
So my smoke fuel is dry and hot when the actual smoking begins.
Because I use "dust", I made my own pure Oak dust from some actual oak 4x4 dunnage. So I know it is really real oak.
Not a supposed 'blend', or a lie from some pellet mill somewhere.
But it doesn't require being quite so anal about the wood used to smoke meat.
You don't say where you are, so none of use have any idea of how dry your sticks get. That is, until it is setting in hot coals being burned up. At which point, the moisture content is meaningless. Unless it is so green it won't burn.

 

[dave schiller]

I have a very dry basement and the oak splits (1+ years of drying) register 0% moisture on my meter. Similar wood stored outside and covered registers ~6%. By contrast, a live cherry tree nearby registers 32%.