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Moisture Meter $10.00 at Lowe's this weekend

I bought one today. Yesterday it was listed as $19. Today it was $9.98. I doubt it's accurate but should at least give me some sort of idea or at least a relationship between know dry and wet. I think with some experimentation it will give me a decent idea of where wood is when I buy the kind that comes waxed.
 
Got four of them, one for me, one for a friend and two for the club raffle. Good buy and should increase raffle ticket sales.
 
Had to try a couple of stores but finally found one ... and it was DOA. Tried the included battery and two new batteries in it and no go 🙁

I will return or exchange - but only exchange if I can try the new one in the store before I leave.

-Dave
 
Just checking....make sure you hold down the power button for 4 to 6 seconds to turn it on.
 
Alan,
I found that out also, I bought one on Sunday and hadn't opened it and after the previous post figured I better check it. Sure enough it was "dead". But after playing with it a minute and then thought well I know some switches are different I found the same thing, you have to hold it down for a few seconds to turn it on and turn it off. Kind of weired, but it gives a good base line. I don't need to be exact, but if you check the furniture in the house and compare to what your working with you should be close enough for government work.
Bill
 
Doc,

When all else fails, read the instructions, eh? < vbg >
 
Oh, well, that's no fun! It takes all the panic and swearing out of life, well except for the kids...now those instructions I would have read. Well maybe not I didn't listen to my parents and I guess they are like instructions. :cool2:
 
Meter

I picked up two today. A Virginia Beach store had them listed as normally $29.98 with a new low price of $9.98. Apparently it isn't just a weekend sale, but a new everyday price. A pretty good deal if they are close to accurate. Even better when they tack on the 10% for military🙂 Thanks for the tip!

Regards,

Matt
 
Thanks for the tip.

At that price, I picked one up as a spare/accuracy checker for my mini Ligno E moisture meter. I believe I paid $120 for the mini Ligno E around 1978, or so.......so, can't complain about the price of this MMD4E unit.

When I got home, I cross checked the General moisture meter against the mini Ligno E......and found it to be very close to the same measurements.......within about 1-2 percent, so this is close enough to get a good idea of MC.

Some of you are aware that I originally did, but no longer rely on a moisture meter to determine when a roughed bowl has stabilized, but I've come to use it nearly every time to get a rough idea of what to expect for seasoning overall of any individual roughed bowl.

My local Lowe's told me they didn't have one of the General MMD4E meters on hand, but after I secured the Lowe's inventory number, they found they had 14 of them on hand........so, for anyone who intends to get one of these, use the following number for them to check their inventory: 78059

Use the inventory number, because some of the employees at Lowe's just don't have the knowledge to find one for you without it!

ooc
 

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Another tip about finding the moisture meters in Lowe's.....

Normally they are marketed in the "Tool World" part of the store (along with other General tools) in clear "clam shell" plastic packaging on product hanging hooks, but if these are sold out in this department, you may also want to check the plumbing department - my local store also had several units being sold there (and were already sold out in the Tool section of the store), since the "other" function of this tool is to check moisture in building materials....... i.e. If you've had a pipe leak (plumbing) you'll need one of these moisture meters to check out drywall, insulation, flooring, etc. - Don't give up if the meter appears to be sold out in the tool section, unless you've exhausted the possibility of them being sold in the plumbing dept., and even perhaps in the contractor/construction materials section too.

I am amazed at this meter - It's really quite the bargain now! I forked-out over $ 250 quite a few years ago to buy a Delmhorst J-2000 digital wood moisture-meter, and this little $ 10 meter seems to be fairly accurate when compared to the "commercial' Delmhorst unit in side by side comparisons in woods that are very dry to freshly cut spalted maple blanks with over 50 percent MC. The rate of "wetness beeps" this meter makes when reading the MC of the sample is also an interesting indication of relative level of moisture, even if you don't read the digital display.

Good hunting!

Rob Wallace
 
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Rob Wallace said:
Another tip about finding the moisture meters in Lowe's.....

I am amazed at this meter - It's really quite the bargain now! I forked-out over $ 250 quite a few years ago to buy a Delmhorst J-2000 digital wood moisture-meter, and this little $ 10 meter seems to be fairly accurate when compared to the "commercial' Delmhorst unit in side by side comparisons in woods that are very dry to freshly cut spalted maple blanks with over 50 percent MC. The rate of "wetness beeps" this meter makes when reading the MC of the sample is also an interesting indication of relative level of moisture, even if you don't read the digital display.
Rob Wallace
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear this. I happened by our local Lowe's and decided, What the heck. When I got it home, I read +/- 3%. Not very helpful for deciding whether to turn a piece, but perhaps it'll be better than the package says.

Dean Center
 
Thanks for the # Odie!
 
Dean Center said:
I'm glad to hear this. I happened by our local Lowe's and decided, What the heck. When I got it home, I read +/- 3%. Not very helpful for deciding whether to turn a piece, but perhaps it'll be better than the package says.
Click to expand...

You can move 3% on moisture content in less than a week on a rough turning. High or low humidity can make a change pretty quick. Not to mention that the act of turning is going to carry away moisture from the wood by convection as it rotates. Now add the heat of sanding which also energizes the water molecules, and you can be a couple percent away from rough by the time you complete a turning.

EMC or a couple points away is what interests you. Look to your meter then your RH to cross-check.
 
MichaelMouse said:
Not to mention that the act of turning is going to carry away moisture from the wood by convection as it rotates. Now add the heat of sanding which also energizes the water molecules, and you can be a couple percent away from rough by the time you complete a turning.
Click to expand...

This is a good point by MM.......

Turning creates heat, and that will act to remove moisture at the surface. If you use the common formula of leaving a thickness of 1/10th the diameter for your roughed bowl, the moisture removed overall in the roughing stage will be negligible, except for very small thinner roughed turnings. For larger diameter roughed bowls that are left thicker for seasoning/warping, some of the moisture at the surface will be removed quickly, but won't have much effect on the moisture of the interior, except that the interior moisture will migrate to the surface a little faster.....but when there is equal saturation, the short-term effect will revert to whatever your seasoning methods are. (Exactly how much influence the heat at the surface effects overall MC of a thick roughed bowl, would depend on how much MC there is, species/denseness, and how much heat the act of rough turning creates.......the latter directly influenced by the sharpness of your tools, how deep of a cut you take, and your skill in tool handling.)

If you are roughing a bowl with the intent of stabilizing the MC over time, you won't be sanding until after stabilization occurs......ie: your finish turn. However, it is true that sanding also creates heat, a factor which will further remove MC.

ooc
 
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However, if your rough turned bowl should fly off the lathe the air passing over it, is both a drying and a cooling process for the wood (but for the woodturner it usually causes a sudden increase in temperature). 😀
 
Thomas Stegall said:
However, if your rough turned bowl should fly off the lathe the air passing over it, is both a drying and a cooling process for the wood (but for the woodturner it usually causes a sudden increase in temperature). 😀
Click to expand...

Heh,heh,heh.......well, yeah......there is that! 😀

ooc
 
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