# Moisture meter



## arkie (May 5, 2012)

Can anyone comment on inexpensive moisture meters? Are the $50 ones worth having or am I looking at a lot more for something worth having? This would be for checking wood drying in my shop. I don't have a sawmill or kiln so I'm not producing in quantity.


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## Mike1950 (May 5, 2012)

I asked this same thing a while ago. Advice was you get what you pay for. I was cheap and stubborn. $15 meter works fine-but if I do not take expensive 9 volt battery out it goes dead in couple days. Spent the price of meter finding this out. Shopping for a new one. :dash2::dash2::dash2::dash2:


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## DKMD (May 5, 2012)

I picked up the General brand meter from Lowe's, and it's served me well in a very similar capacity. I've had the same battery in it for about a year, and I fired it up last night with no issues.


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## BangleGuy (May 5, 2012)

I bought this one from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-MMD4E-Digital-Moisture/dp/B00275F5O2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336228685&sr=8-1

and it seems to work just fine. One thing to remember is that these meters do not provide a reading below around 5%MC. I would guess the accuracy drops off around 7%MC. It is a good 'rough gage' for MC. 

For accuracy, the best way to do MC tests is to whack off a small sample piece of wood, weigh it on a 0.1 gram scale, dry it in the oven, and then reweigh the sample. 

%MC = (pre-weight - post weight) / (post-weight) OR water weight/dry sample weight

I own this scale, but it seems to drift a lot:

http://www.amazon.com/US-Balance-Digital-Jewelry-Scales/dp/B0016LLAQ0/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336229224&sr=1-9

I'm :wacko1: about MC!


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## brown down (May 5, 2012)

BangleGuy said:


> I bought this one from Amazon:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-MMD4E-Digital-Moisture/dp/B00275F5O2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336228685&sr=8-1
> 
> ...


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## Molokai (May 5, 2013)

I have on question about moisture meters, for those who use it. I dont own one but i am thinking of buying it. How that thing works?
Do i need to cut the wood open, and measure in the middle where the wood is wettest or it can work from the surface? I have my wood drying in 2 inch squares.
thanks for answers in advance


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## Mike Jones (May 5, 2013)

Out of sheer ignorance and good luck, I bought an inexpensive Wagner pinless moisture meter more than ten years ago. I might not use it _every_ day, but close to it. I chose the pinless because I didn't want to poke holes in my wood rough-outs. I had been told that pinless type meters were not good for turners because we are always trying to read MC on round surfaces, and the plate of the meter must be in full contact with the wood.

Wagner says it will read accurately on 1/4" of surface, and on some species, up to 3/4" deep in the wood. That, I figured was good enough for me. In practice, it works better than that. I usually don't need extremely accurate readings...but I definitely need to know if my workpiece is within a few percentage points all across the body, and at the foot, tenon,and rims. With the pinless, I can sweep across the face of a piece and see the changes in MC as I pass over the differing grain, I can see when there are pockets of (high) moisture around knots, pith areas, or where the rough-out was left thicker.

Here is a link to an article regarding the meter that I bought... http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/wagnerl609rvu.html


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## ironman123 (May 5, 2013)

I have one (General) from Lowes also and it looks like that same one from Amazon. It has served me well for the 4 months that I have had it.

Ray


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## brown down (May 6, 2013)

ironman123 said:


> I have one (General) from Lowes also and it looks like that same one from Amazon. It has served me well for the 4 months that I have had it.
> 
> Ray



I use the same one, $50 at woodcraft and compared them to their $300 one and $150 one and were right on the money as far as percentage wise so it was a no brainer for me!


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## Molokai (May 6, 2013)

i wanted to buy the 12 dollar one from China. Those 50 dollars are also made in China and they put only stickers and resell them for 50 dollars
:rotflmao3::rotflmao3:


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