Odd moisture readings

[Nick Penchuk]

I bought two black mesquite peppermill blanks. My MiniLigno meter indicated that the moisture content, reading thru the wax at the end of the blanks, was about 18%. Knowing that this is pretty stable stuff, I cut off the corners on my table saw to make the roughing that much easier. The I took another set of readings. One of the blanks shows the same 18% where all four corners were cut off. The other blank shows 18% at the end of the growth rings on both sides, but about 40% on the concave and convex sides. I have never seen anything like this. Does anyone have an explanation? Thanks.

[Richard Madison]

Concave sides?

[Nick Penchuk]

No, sorry, when I said convex and concave, I meant the crown or top of the growth ring arc and the underside.

[Jim Underwood]

Perhaps the moisture escaped out the endgrain more quickly than the side grain.

[Curt Harms]

Would the wax somehow affect the reading? I dunno.

[Ryan Baker]

Don't try to measure through the wax. I have often gotten unreliable or inconsistent measurements through the wax. Maybe it is conductive enough to be a problem.