I am thinking about purchasing a moisture meter and would like some suggestions. I don’t need the best, but also don’t want the cheapest; I don’t want to waste wood due to moisture excess. Woodworking is only a hobby so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Mike
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I really like my Delmhorst J-Lite. It's a pinned model, very good quality, and you can add accessories on later if you want, such as longer pins or a remote electrode for reaching into big stacks of lumber. I paid $99 for mine when Amazon put it on sale last year.
I recently got the Delmhorst with digital display and hammer probe, and it came with a nice case to keep it all together. I chose a pin type meter for a couple of reasons: (1) pinless meters apparently require a pretty smooth surface to work accurately and I work with a lot of rough lumber, and (2) the hammer probe enables me to take very deep readings to see what the moisture gradient is, which is especially useful when dealing with lumber that is less than a few years dead. The 8/4 madrone I cut this spring is 15% near the surface and 27% almost an inch down. It was interesting hammering the pins down and waching the readings climb a couple percent with each blow. Moisture gradients are something you should be aware of and I'm not sure how well the pinless meters support that awareness. Maybe someone else does.
Brian
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