buzz, here in Ct Lowe’s carries one in stock. The operative word is 1 and finding an employee that knows where it is can be daunting. But that’s the easiest place to pick one up and it works fine. I’ve had the super cheap models from Amazon and while they work the longevity just wasn’t there. And just to note, you don’t have to sink those pins all the way in the wood like some YouTubers do. None of them are made for that abuse.
Picked one up yesterday afternoon from big box -orange roof store. They had a half dozen or so hanging on the display. Put a battery in it quick this morning and poked into some oak slabs I have drying for a table project , it says just over 14%. I didn't have time to compare it to the other one from e-bay I have but will try them both tonight to see how they match up. Thanks everyone for the input on this.
HD had one,,,,or six? That’s cool. When I was looking they had them listed as a special order or something along those lines. I.E not getting one that day.
Yes they had a bunch hanging there of both the pin style and one that you could use either with pins and it was also pin-less. I opted for the pin type. I checked their website before I went there and they showed 2 in stock , there were a lot more than 2 hanging there. That proves that what shows online might not always be correct. I have also had it go the other way as well , showing in stock but actually when you get there they are not in stock.
I see you want a mm for firewood and woodworking. It's definitely recommend a pinless for the boards. But the really cheap pinless are not accurate. I recommend the DR Meter one like one I have. It was $50. I've tested it against my pin type Ryobi phoneworx one and it reads the same. Also this ones been treated vs ones that are $200-300 and they found basically no difference in the readings. "[Pinless Wood Moisture Meter] Dr.meter Upgraded Version Inductive Pinless Tools Intelligent Moisture Meter Digital Moisture Meter for Wood (Range 4% - 80% RH; Accuracy: 0.5%), MD918 - - Amazon.com" The phoneworx by Ryobi is pretty slick if you want to take pics are catalog the moisture readings. Actually making lumber, that might be a great thing."Measure Meter | RYOBI Phone Works" Measure Meter | RYOBI Phone Works But the pins will leave marks unless you go in the end grains.
Well I finally checked the cheap moisture meter I had compared to the General MM7 I recently picked up at my local store. I am surprised that the numbers were within 1% of each other. On slabs I have drying in the basement the ebay special shows 12% and the generalMM7 is at 11.6 % . Much closer than I would have guessed. Going to leave the cheap one in my toolbox that I bring to cut with me cutting and the other I will leave downstairs so I have one in the house for wood projects. Just wanted to pass this along. Closer than I thought they would be .
