The slab was air dried. I used my moisture meter and it measures 11%. My meter is the pin type and this is 2"stock that I purchased from Asheville Hardwareabout 4 months ago. I assume it was dry based on my measurement but I have very little experience with this non kiln dried lumber.
I do a fair amount of woodturning and generally if you are careful with the turning process and do not disturb the bowl while air drying, the bark will stay on and it is usually really strong in some places if you mess up returning and chip out the bark and decide to remove the remainder. Is this typical with flat sawn lumber as well? this piece had some sections where I could remove all of the bark by hand and some places where it had already fell off. There were only a few spots with bark that remained so I assumed it was the same as a bowl. i am an amateur and would like to learn from this experience.
How accurate are the probe type moisture meters? I know the probes only goes into the surface a about 1/8 of an inch and perhaps the wood is not dry on the inside.
Is there a way to know for sure?
I was trying this project because the wood was so inexpensive and thought it would be fun to make a natural edge table . I have some walnut scraps from another project that I am using to make the legs so the overall investment will be minimal, just my time. I have the leg base almost complete and may proceed and just watch the finished piece for a few months to see if the wood moves significantly. Worst case, i will have some nice looking firewood and I will still have the experience.