moisture meter

[honeycow]

Happy Happy Summer to all!!!!!
Can anyone advise me on purchasing a moisture meter for lumber? We have a portable sawmill and I have quite a bit of lumber sawed and air drying but I really would like to know how dry it really is. Any info you can pass along such as types, prices, accurateness, sources..... would be helpful. We would also be checking wood that has been cut and split for firewood. Thanks for your help. Connie

[workin for wood]

I prefer the magnetic moisture meter over the pin type. The pin type is less reliable as it is reading moisture closer to the surface rather than in the center of the board. We all know that if a board isn't dry all the way through, it will at least be drier at the surface and especially in the ends. The pins won't penetrate all the way to the middle, and then on top of that who wants to poke holes in their wood? I'm calling the other one magnetic although that may not be quite acurate, but anyhow it measures by density. Less water is less dense. It will give you a number and you will cross reference that number in the book that comes with the meter. The book is a list of species of lumber which you match your meter number to and thus end up with a moisture content. Pretty darn accurate. You do not measure a pile of boards, just one board at a time...and you don't want a piece of metal under that board as you measure or you damage the meter, in otherwords don't place the wood on your saw and then the meter on top of the wood. Always take batteries out of meter when done, like with most other things of course. That's about all I can offer.