Is tear out always something you should be able to overcome or can it simply be the result of wood that has decomposed or dried too much?

couldn't get this to stop tearing, no matter how champ of a chisel or new of a carbide cutter I tried. When checking moisture it only read 3% when other dry items in my shop usually read between 8 to 12% relative humidity. Doesn't seem like I could get anything sharp enough to keep these end grains from crumbling apart. I'm suspecting the wood and am thinking lesson learned on buying wood from eBay.