# Moisture Meter ??? #2



## jimmythewoodworker (Feb 24, 2012)

Thanks for giving me some great ideas for a good moisture meter. Since this is a new area for me, I'm curious just how accurate the meter is for providing %moisture in bowl (>4"-5" depth) or large spindle blanks (>3" square). Sorry for the somewhat naive question..........................Jimmy


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## Mike Mills (Feb 24, 2012)

I’m not sure what you are trying to gauge. If the bowls are 4-5 deep do you mean 4-5 thick? If thick you need to turn them first to about 10% of diameter of final thickness and let them dry (then use the moisture meter in 4-8 months). This is usually 1” or less thick unless the bowl is very large. At 5” thick it will take several years for them to be dry enough to finish turn and they will probably be cracked.
Same on the spindles, at 3” I assume they were sold dry or you will have to turn them and set back to dry. I assume it would probably take around a year for 3” to air dry enough for a final project if they are green.
When I have ash or hickory I rive out some and thrown in a bucket for handles in the future.
Hopefully other has better estimates.


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## jimmythewoodworker (Feb 24, 2012)

Mike Mills said:


> I’m not sure what you are trying to gauge. If the bowls are 4-5 deep do you mean 4-5 thick? If thick you need to turn them first to about 10% of diameter of final thickness and let them dry (then use the moisture meter in 4-8 months). This is usually 1” or less thick unless the bowl is very large. At 5” thick it will take several years for them to be dry enough to finish turn and they will probably be cracked.
> Same on the spindles, at 3” I assume they were sold dry or you will have to turn them and set back to dry. I assume it would probably take around a year for 3” to air dry enough for a final project if they are green.
> When I have ash or hickory I rive out some and thrown in a bucket for handles in the future.
> Hopefully other has better estimates.



My "issue" is that I buy many blanks from various sources that indicate "air-dried" but no indication of the actual moisture content. Some are obviously quite dry when I turn them but others appear to contain varying amounts of water. Thus I would like to have some idea of the dryness before I start turning. 

Yes on the question whether I mean thickness

Jimmy


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## Mike Mills (Feb 25, 2012)

The ones I use would not help with your problem. The pins are only about 1/2" long so I would guess the max thickness would be 1-1/2" in order to get a fairly accurate reading near the center.


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