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moisture meters

I am in the need of a moisture meter for exotic woods. Most of the woods that I use are round 6/4 spindles. I use a lot of the figured maples, cocobolo, ebonies, and rose woods. I build custom pool cues and have found that much of the woods I have been getting is not as dry as stated. After talking to the people at Wagner I now know that I can't use the newer pinless meters as they will only work on flat work. My question to you folks is, in your opinions, which of the brands of meters would you recommended for these types of woods? I don't want to have to spend a fortune but at the same time I need one that is accurate and won't just fall apart. Any help would certainly be appreciated. Dick

Reply to
rhncue
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"rhncue" wrote in news:68Q0c.3591$ snipped-for-privacy@fe3.columbus.rr.com:

I have been very happy with my Delmhorst J-2000 digital meter. Delmhorst is an established name in the moisture measurement industry (not just for wood, but for other materials as well). My colleagues in the Forestry Department here at Iowa State have Delmhorst moisture meters still in good calibration after 30 years of fairly routine use. There may be some correction figures available for exotics; mine has built-in correction for about 20 normally encountered species. If possible try the meter out before you buy it. Lignomat and Wagner both make pinned meters, and likely are also quie good units, but my experience is that Delmhorst are used widely in the industry. Good Luck! Cheers, Rob Wallace, Iowa State University

Reply to
Robert S Wallace

Had you considered taking them down in a 150 degree oven? The things I've overdried have behaved very nicely.

Aren't the pieces flat before you turn them, or are you buying dowels?

Reply to
George

Actually I buy both dowels and turning squares. Most of the maple comes in 1" dowels 31" long. Some in 6/4 square and some boards. I don't want to have to invest in two meters 1 - pin and 1 - unintrusive. The maple dowels are critical as they are turned down to a half inch or less with no finish and must not have more than .005 ths. run out over the length of 29". The exotics usually are squares or boards and usually only air dried. Once entering the shop they are turned round with a slight taper and left to hang so as to dry a little quicker. Dick

Reply to
rhncue

Might want to push for a known over dry condition. One additional thing _gentle_ heating (to get the RH down) does for you is give you a bit of a "set" or compressed condition to the fibers. Of course too quick a "set" is called honeycomb, and that is very bad. Wood never fully recovers from a set regardless of further cycling.

If I were doing cues, I'd be splitting/drying my own billets of hard maple to get the grain running as straight as possible. Then maybe I'd have to give up my excuse that the cue was bent. If that's Columbus, OH, you should have hard maple available green.

Reply to
George

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