Moisture Meter opinions

[Mike Davis]

I remember buying some walnut one time and one of the guys was using a pinless meter, he kept saying the wood was wet and everybody was laughing at him. All the pin meters were saying 8% but his pinless was saying 26% or something in that area...

When I got it home and cut into it water ran out.

Haven't trusted a pin meter since then.

 

[Jeff]

I remember buying some walnut one time and one of the guys was using a pinless meter, he kept saying the wood was wet and everybody was laughing at him. All the pin meters were saying 8% but his pinless was saying 26% or something in that area...

When I got it home and cut into it water ran out.

Haven't trusted a pin meter since then.

I kind of suspected that the pinless meters were perhaps more accurate because of the way that they detect moisture vs a pin meter. With a pin meter the pins can only penetrate the wood surface a little bit and the %moisture is a resistance reading across the tips of the two pins. The pinless meters also come with a significantly higher price!

 

[Mike Davis]

The pins work fine IF you make a new cut into the board. Either cut one edge at least an inch off or cut the 3-4 inches of the end off.

 

[Jeff]

Haven't trusted a pin meter since then.

The pins work fine IF you make a new cut into the board. Either cut one edge at least an inch off or cut the 3-4 inches of the end off.

Has that method restored your trust in a pin meter? I thought pin meters were used to get a surface reading from the face of a board.

 

[Mike Davis]

Has that method restored your trust in a pin meter? I thought pin meters were used to get a surface reading from the face of a board.

That is the standard practice and in theory it works, in practice it fails if the board is not in equilibrium. In other words- if the board is lower or higher in moisture at the center than on the outside the meter will give a false reading. Being aware of that shortfall you can compensate by getting to the center or at least away from the outside of the board.