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Moisture Meter Recommendations Wanted

T

Ted Mellin

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Apr 4, 2010
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Am in the process of buying a moisture meter and would like some input as to what type and brand to buy. Any and all input is appreciated. My budget for this is around $100. The use would be to check the moisture content of bowls that have been roughed out and drying, so to know if they are ready to be completed.

thanks - Ted
 
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Ted, you may want to buy a scale, weigh it every week and when you have the same weight several days in a row it has stablized, i do have a hf moisture meter, i use it mostly out of curiosity
 
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Ted, My recommendation is the same as Charlie's. Forget the meter. You can get a dandy digital scale from the post office for $40 or less. Get the larger scale. I got the smaller one that is rated for only 10 pounds, and frequently have heavier stuff now. I think the larger one is rated for 40 pounds.
 
Ted:

Excuse the ganging up... maybe it'll swing the other way.

I too bought a HF moisture meter and it seems to work fine...I think it is in a draw below my lathe ...... but my postal scale really tells me what is going on. I'll just leave a slip of paper in the bowl blank with the date and weight.

TL
 
I have been using a $17 10lb. digital scale until it gave up the ghost. I'm going to take it back and get another one. You don't really need to weigh the wood on a schedule. Simply set your blank aside for a few months, and when you wonder if it's dry, start weighing it at random intervals until it stops losing weight.
 
Don't bother to get a meter until you also have a hygrometer to measure relative humidity. Does you little good to curse a piece that keeps registering 17% when the humidity is so high it can go no lower. Of course, a piece at 6% in the winter will be double that come May, too. Absolutes (meter readings) aren't really that meaningful.

Don't weigh until you have some deformation which indicates you are far enough below the fiber saturation point to make it worthwhile. If it makes weight next week, X and "ready when you are." It'll cycle with the RH from there on out.

Meters are great to decide whether to build loose when your lumber's very dry, or tight when it's very green, but turnings are not really dimension work.
 
Yep, I have a older meter I used for furniture work, but I've yet to use it on turnings.
I got a digital scale on sale at a kitchen supply store, and it does double duty for turnings and making bread. I think it was $20 or so....weighs up to 40lbs I think.
Just the ticket.
 
I have actually been thinking about one also. I'm starting to buy some of those short blanks that come covered with wax. I assume they are green and treat them that way. However I would kind of like to actually have some idea. These are about 2" square and I don't want to wait 2 years to turn them if I can help it. I stack my wood sort of in a this is dry this is wet and this is drying sort of way and it would be nice to have a better idea of where this wood stands.
I kind of need to stay on the cheaper side and don't really want to stick big pins in the pieces so pinless would be better.
 
I've a fairly good pin type I picked up several years ago (long enough to have had to replace the battery once!), but use it only to figure out how wet a log half is. The problem with any of these is that they only measure surface, or close to surface moisture. If I'm worried about a rough turned piece, I'll use my digital postal scale (goes to 50 lbs by tenths of an ounce). They are vastly cheaper than a moisture meter, but I wouldn't want to put a log half on one.
 
Ted Mellin said:
Ok - you guys have convinced me. Just got thru ordering a digital postal scale. thanks
Click to expand...

Free advice, don't store plastic bags nearby or your neighbors might start tongues wagging....
 
Hi Ted,

I own a used Delmhorst J-4 moisture meter that seems to work quite well when I need to check moisture content. I am also a strong advocate of keeping track of the weight of roughouts especially if you attempt any of the accelerated drying techniques (like microwaving...).

A quick check of eBay has revealed that several Delmhorst moisture meters are available (for about the next hour). Auction1, Auction2.

These devices are also used in the television business: I saw an episode of NCIS featuring the lead character (Gibbs) using a J-4 as radiation detector.😀

Good luck on your quest!
-Allen

Allen Alexopulos
www.lathescapes.com
 
Ok, moisture meter

I was given the wagner moisture ( L609 model)meter 6-7 years ago and love it. It is pinless. I was under the impression it read up to 1" in depth. IN the 2009 Klingspor catelog they are $179, and the writeup says 1/2". My manual that came with it says it penetrates depending on the model from 1/2",3/4"or 1" (depending on the model. They had listed in the ? and answers " L601-3. L612/712 measures boards AS NARROW as 2 1/2", L607,607DD measures boards 2" in width, and L609 measures boards AS NARROW as 1". Then a question is asked about"what thickness can I measure. ans="You can accurately measure boards as thin as 1/2" and up to 2" in diameter."
It reads the% moisture that would occur in Douglas Fir. You go to thier chart for different wood's conversion. For example if the meter on red oak reads 10% it is really 7%, if cottonwood, 10% reading is actually 14%. 10% read in hickory is really 5% and so on. For my purposes I just read a one time green turned bowl over days to weeks and when it has stablized then finish it. Yes, Michael, it can change when the humidity goes up and down. It will go up over knots and crotch figure compared to the rest of the bowl, so I keep track (in my mind-not on paper) of similar areas.
For kicks I just read the followiing in some of my furniture
2-3" thick walnut lid of 19th century sea captains chest (ie I think it is now stable!!!) measures 7% (and is really 7%), 38 year old table leg of oak (not square shape)that is about 2" measures 12% (means 9%). I measured some 2" blanks recently obtained from a New Zealand turner (another story later) . One heavy one measures over 26% (as hi as the meter reads), 2 other lighter woods measured 16% (don't know the conversion.) I got some rosewood, purple heart (converts to 11-12%)canary wood, etc from a lumber yard 1-3 years ago and they all read 16-18% So this long answer is that it gives me a good quick guide. Downside is the cost, Gretch
 
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Gretch Flo said:
It reads the% moisture that would occur in Douglas Fir. You go to thier chart for different wood's conversion. For example if the meter on red oak reads 10% it is really 7%, if cottonwood, 10% reading is actually 14%. 10% read in hickory is really 5% and so on.

SNIP

I measured some 2" blanks recently obtained from a New Zealand turner (another story later) . One heavy one measures over 26% (as hi as the meter reads), 2 other lighter woods measured 16% (don't know the conversion.) I got some rosewood, purple heart (converts to 11-12%)canary wood, etc from a lumber yard 1-3 years ago and they all read 16-18% So this long answer is that it gives me a good quick guide. Downside is the cost, Gretch
Click to expand...

Short answer, it gives you some numbers. What they mean is up to you, and if they are to mean anything, you have to know which wood you have, have a correction for that wood, and have that wax/finish cleaned off.

We used to cross-check or calibrate the meters for new woods by the dry and weight method up at the university, so you can derive them for unknowns if you care to.
 
moisture meter

MichaelMouse said:
Short answer, it gives you some numbers. What they mean is up to you, and if they are to mean anything, you have to know which wood you have, have a correction for that wood, and have that wax/finish cleaned off.

We used to cross-check or calibrate the meters for new woods by the dry and weight method up at the university, so you can derive them for unknowns if you care to.
Click to expand...

I think most of us just need a ball park figure on when it is stable and not really need to know exact moisture. It says it goes thru finishes-not sure about wax and I have none to try on. I used it on my finished furniture and it went thru. There is some sealer on the rough turned , dried ,small bowls the N. Zealand turner gave me -I'll try it. Gretch
 
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