Moisture Meters (which one)

[JckDanls 07]

OK.. So I just took ownership of 3 Pecan trees... I had them cut up into 12-16 inch logs ... One tree was dead...Another half way there.. and the third still produced nuts ...

My question is about Moisture Meters for monitoring the wood... I see some meters have probes and others don't... Which one would work better for this application ? From what I am reading it doesn't sound like ether is gonna work very well to read moisture inside the log until it is split and then a reading taken on the fresh split ??

Anyways.. looking forward to everybody's opinion on them...

 

[bill ace 350]

Get a cheapie with prongs from harbor freight.

Other wise judge it by weight appearance and sound.

Seasoned wood lighter than green wood.

Look for cracks in the ends and bark falling off.

Two pieces hit together should make a sharp sound.

 

[old sarge]

Here is the meter I have used for years:

 

[Chasdev]

I think mine, from Amazon, cost under $30.
It has two pointed probes and you carefully stick both into the end of a fresh cut piece.
The probes on mine bend pretty easy but also bend back into a usable state with little effort.
Most folks get a shock seeing how "not dry" their seasoned wood really is.
Warning, these gadgets are the bane of the chainsaw jockey and the jockey will vaporize upon seeing one approaching their fresh cut "seasoned wood".

 

[jcam222]

I am going to buy a meter of some kind as well. The harder thing to figure out is where you want the moisture to be. I’ve been reading on this the last few days and the info is all over. I’ve seen some recommending moisture in the 20’s for fruit wood and lower for nut woods. Others recommend much drier for all. One national competition pit master I know swears he cooked next to Mixon at one contest and Mixon used freshly cut peach.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Mixon used freshly cut peach.

Now I will agree with this if just using for smoke... I will be using the Pecan in a stick burner ...

 

[bill1]

I think I've brought this up before and it was controversial, but here goes again...
Green wood is harder to start, but once your fire is going, what's the issue? It will burn a little slower, because you're needing to evaporate all the water inside, and that steam does enter your cooker, like using a water pan. But unless you're convinced water pans ruin food, or you're trying to do blacksmithing instead of cooking, I don't see an issue. For a given temperature, the same thin blue smoke is still there, just maybe camouflaged a bit by the whiter steam.

I even prefer green wood for the fire pit once it's going...it sizzles a bit for an added auditory enhancement.