In another recent thread, the subject of moisture content in my wood came up. Someone suggested using a second moisture meter because they thought my moisture meter couldn't be reading accurate because I was getting too low of a reading (12-15%). I am measuring wood that was seasoned outside for at least 12 months. It was then brought into the basement, where it has been there for at least an additional 10 months. I don't know if wood dries out more in the basement. I bought a second cheap moisture meter. I split a couple of pieces and took measurements with the new meter on the freshly split face. One was maple and the other was birch. I got reading of 11% and 12%. I used the old moisture meter I had on one of those pieces and it was within 1% of the new meter. My older meter says it measures within 3% and the new one says it measures within 2%. If I'm 2-3% off, I don't care that much. I just want a general idea. Is the problem that I am using cheap moisture meters?
Depending on wood species I can get readings in the 8-12% range. bear 1998 and I compared our meters and they were about 1% different +/-. I don't rely on mine for much more than a ballpark idea.
I have two meters. I bought a cheepo" one from ebay and questioned it's readings being low on some wood I am drying in my basement for some woodworking projects. So I went out and purchased another from a big box store with an orange roof. Much to my surprise the readings were extremely close. Both right around 10%
I’m getting readings from 11% to 15%. I should measure the stuff Ive had seasoning outside for about a year and compare, but we’ve had so much rain. It’s covered, but I don’t know if all the rain would make a difference.
Those readings aren’t out of an acceptable range. I too just use mine to get an idea of mc and don’t rely on 99.5% accuracy.
This is in the FHC "resources" section and really shows the differences in local, as far as what % you can "air dry" down to during any given month of the year...it really varies month to month, especially in some locations, overall I found this article/chart very interesting... Equilibrium Moisture Content of wood in outdoor locations
Same here , I am not relying so much on the number but more of a guide as to what direction the number is going and at what rate. As long as it continues to go down then I am good with that. Just after milling and stacking the numbers have gone down rather rapidly but now that it has been sitting for a while those numbers don't drop nearly as fast bu do continue to decrease just at a slower rate.
