moisture meters

[Rod swartwood]

Hi new on here looking for a little info. 1.How important is having a moisture meter ?:confused: 2. how good of a one do I need ? what do you people suggest.
thanks advance for any help you can give a newbie. :)

[Allen Neighbors]

I've never owned one, so I'm interested in what the others have to say, also.
Welcome to the forum, Rod, it's a grand place!!

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Woodcraft has one on sale now. Sonin Digital Moisture Meter. Reads from 5 to 40%. I don't own one either, but I am interested in it's applications and value.....

[David E Keller]

I've never used one. I generally wait until my rough outs are not cool to the touch and seem to stop losing weight. I'd love to have one, but there seem to be too many other gadgets that are higher priorities at the moment.

BTW, welcome to the Creek.

[Michael James]

Welcome to the vortex.........! and no help here on moisture meters.... Heard of them though.....:cool:
Michael

[Karl Card]

I have one, at one time it was an expensive one but many hand helds are out there now that are not expensive. The cons are that you have to stick the pins in the center of the piece of wood because the center dries out last, secondly it leaves holes in the wood. My opinion is that the average person doing turnings may not need one except for maybe some logs or ???? but the person who does alot of flat work may use one more. I have one and I have never used it but at the same time I do have problems with not knowing if some of my stuff is dry or not. You will probably get alot of various answers but personally I think if you learn the characteristics of green wood vs. dry wood I feel like you will do a good job of knowing what you got. Just an opinion and doesnt make it right or wrong...

[Terry Achey]

Rod, I have a Delmhorst Model J-Lite (see Woodcraft ~ $145) that I used primarily for checking my air dried flat lumber. I've also used the meter to check moisture content on some extra heavy (thick) turnings after DNA bath and 3 week drying process. Surprising how some thicker pieces retain moisture quite long. But, I have seldom found the need to check mioisture with the meter for a typical bowl turning roughed out to about an inch and then air dried (after DNA bath) for about 3 weeks.

I personally wouldn't spend the money for a meter used just for checking roughed out bowls. checking moisture on furniture lumber is more critical. Hope this helps.

Terry

[Willard Foster]

I bought a Ligna (or something like that) from rockler last year for just over $100.00. I bought it because I was making a couple of shaker rocking chairs.

I wanted to ensure that the rungs were drier than the legs. I was using air dried stock that I harvested two years before. The moisture meter gave me more confidence that the moisture levels were correct. The rungs measured 6% and the legs 12.

The one I have has two pins that are pressed into the wood. As you press in, a switch (lacated between the pins) powers the unit up.

I will admit it's not a "must have", but I am glad I spent the money.


Good Luck,

Bill

[Scott Hurley]

Moisture meters will only measure the very outside of the wood. If the blank is very thick, it won't be very accurate. I weigh each blank on a scale that reads in grams. Once they stop losing weight, they're dry.

[Rod swartwood]

thank you for all the info. Looks like my money would be better spent on a scale instead. any thoughts on those.:D

[Ken Glass]

Rod,
Mine just pooped out Monday after only 6 months use. it was a cheapie HF one. I just ordered this one from Amazon.com for $28. It's inexpensive, but has .1 Grams, .1oz and .01lb's scale, and has a S.S platform and cover to protect the buttons, so I thought, what the Hey. It has a small footprint at 6"x7"x3-1/2" and a 15.4LB capacity. It should be here next week, and I'll let you know how it does.

[Kirk Miller]

I have one and hardly ever use it. If I ruff something out, it normally sits long enough that it is dry by the time I get back to it

[Karl Card]

Moisture meters will only measure the very outside of the wood. If the blank is very thick, it won't be very accurate. I weigh each blank on a scale that reads in grams. Once they stop losing weight, they're dry.


If a moisture meter will only measure the outside of the wood, I have to ask why they put pins on them? Lingnomat also even has one with long, very long pins to get to the center of thicker wood.

I can understand that the meter will only read what is at the end of the pen but I dont quite understand how it will only read the outside of the wood.

[Neil Strong]

I have three moisture meters:

1. Put the wood to your face. If it feels cool it's still green. If it feels the same as air temp then it 'could be' seasoned. If in doubt go to Meter 2.

2. Whack two bits of it together. Clunk!... at least one of them is still green. Clack!... both of them are seasoned or close to seasoned. The exact sound varies between species. If in doubt, go to Meter 3.

3. Weigh, date and put aside. Repeat until the weight stabilises at current humidity levels.

4. If you can't be bothered with 1 to 3, just cut to size and put aside for a number of years. If a softwood, that could be less than a year. If a hardwood, like Australian desert acacias, that could take 10 to 20 years...:D

.....

[Ken Whitney]

Harbor Freight makes a cheapie moisture meter (about $12) that uses pins. I just picked one up and it MAY be useful for monitoring rough out drying.

It reads 0% on my dry rough outs, and appears to read progressively smaller % moisture values as the rough outs dry (I'm using DNA soak).

As already mentioned, a digital scale and a pencil are probably more useful to track drying progress.

[Rob Holcomb]

I have a cheap HF moisture meter that I use for flat work. The thing to remember about the meters is they all read differently. That's why I opted for a cheap one. I had some kiln dried oak that I knew was at about 8% in my shop. I used that as my gauge for rough wood. When that would get to 8% in my shop, It was good to work with. When I turn, I don't use a meter. I use a digital kitchen scale that I bought at Walmart. I use the DNA method of drying roughed out bowls and when my piece weighs the same for a few days, It's ready for final turning.