Moisture Meter

[LoneStar]

Can anyone recommend a good moisture meter ? I'm afraid to use half the wood in my shop, not knowing if it will crack when I'm done.
Dont need anything fancy, just looking for the cheapest I can spend for a reliable tool.

 

[justturnin]

I picked up a $10 General at lowes. It does ok but does not read deep into the wood, maybe 3/4" but it should give you a general idea.

 

[barry richardson]

I bought mine pretty cheap from Penn State. 29 bucks I think. It works fine. If I were getting another one, I would make sure it turned itself off automatically after a few minutes. Mine doesn't, and I'm always forgetting to manually turn it off, so the next time I go to use it, the battery is dead:sad: And 9v batteries aint cheap!

 

[kweinert]

I bought mine pretty cheap from Penn State. 29 bucks I think. It works fine. If I were getting another one, I would make sure it turned itself off automatically after a few minutes. Mine doesn't, and I'm always forgetting to manually turn it off, so the next time I go to use it, the battery is dead:sad: And 9v batteries aint cheap!

While remembering to turn it off is probably a better option, they do make rechargeable 9v batteries. I've never seen them in stores, only online from a Google look. As I recall they may be a bit pricey but it still might be worth looking at.

(an Amazon example)

Ken

 

[Mike1950]

Bought a cheap one off of ebay- thing went dead even when it was turned off. Have the cheap lowes one now- It is ok.

 

[DKMD]

I picked up a $10 General at lowes. It does ok but does not read deep into the wood, maybe 3/4" but it should give you a general idea.

I've got the same meter, and I've been happy with it. You can't beat the price. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but close enough is good enough for me.

 

[woodtickgreg]

General has a couple of new meters out, one pinned and one pinless. I think the pinned one is about 40 or 50 bucks. I have heard good things about the generals. I too have the penn state meter, I am not too convinced of it's acuracy? I would like to compare it with a general side by side. general seems to be improving their meters?

 

[davidgiul]

A caveat is that you need to take in consideration the thickness of material If not you will get different readings. I have my doubts about the prong meters. The prongs damage the wood and the meter will only tell you what is going on in the vacinity of the prong. Wood dries at different rates over its length and width
As a means of calibrating the meter, find the oven dry weight of the species of wood you want to measure. Subtract ODW from the same volumetric weight of wood in question. Divide that weight by the weight of wood in question. Multiply this number by 100. This is the moisture content of the wood in question
Sorry about the lengthy reply

 

[woodsmith]

I also bought a General Meter (MM1E) from the internet cost was $29 plus shipping. Had I known Lowes had a $10 meter I would have started there, but this does give me readings and a place to start. My ERC being air dried for over a year is showing about 7,8,9 % and some red oak, 1in thick cants from a mill, fresh cut, DEAD, shows the gambit, 13 to 30%, so I think I am getting readings that are worthy of using. Good luck!

 

[LoneStar]

Thanks for the input guys. If $10 will get me a decent meter, looks like I'm heading to Lowes
And thats in my budget even !

 

[del schisler]

Thanks for the input guys. If $10 will get me a decent meter, looks like I'm heading to Lowes
And thats in my budget even !

they aren't $10.00 now they were that's what mine cost. The same meter is at harbor freight also general brand. I have another meter. I think it is close enough or give you a idea . I add a couple percent's and see that is in the ball park or can be used. I figuer anything under 10 percent is good .