Moisture Meters

Either will give you a rough estimate of moisture content for 4/4 lumber. Neither will tell you anything useful for turning stock, though, in my opinion.

I'd save my money and buy a good scale instead. For boards, cut a sample. Weigh it. Put it in the microwave oven using a very gentle defrost cycle, short time, repeat, etc. until it stops losing weight. Then:

(wet_weight - dry_weight) / dry_weight * 100 = the original moisture content in percent.

As for turing, rough turn or turn to finish green depending on what you are doing. Weigh it, dry it slowly in a paper bag, reweigh every so often. When it stops losing weight, it is at equlibrium moisture content and is stable. In much of the US, emc is somewhere around 10 to

12%. With a thick blank, neither meter can tell you anything about the core of the wood. And, that is where your problem is if you are going to have a problem.

Bill

I have a pin model and have used it on bowls more as a matter of interest than necessity. I found that soaking the bowl in dishsoap solution (and maybe Anchorseal) will cause very inaccurate readings. Billh

Hi Bill, I'm wondering how you determined that the soap solution or Anchorsealed bowls caused inaccuarte readings using your meter and in what way were they wrong?

Thanks,

Bertie

You were using a cationic surfactant - LDD. Of course it conducted electricity better.

made the water wetter, thereby interrupting the normal capillary draw ofthe water from the fibers. With anchorseal, a suspension of wax in water,which, of course requires some surfactant to keep it (non-polar) insuspension in the (polar) water, you're doing something similar, only thewax is the bag.

Bill,

Thanks for answering my question.

Now I understand what you meant and why you felt the reading was not accurate vs the possibility of the wood maybe being less dry after adding the LDD or other surface treatmeant that could slow drying.

I havent used a meter to check any of my work but I have tried several methods of drying green turned bowls. My best results have been with roughing out, then coating with paste wax, and storing until they are dry. I just go by how they "feel" and look after a few months or so but I would like to experiment with a meter also and can see where it would be helpful at times.

Thanks,

Bertie

Hi again Bertie,

I tend to put the roughed bowls in a large paper garden waste bag with shavings and it works quite well for me although if you aren't careful it can promote mold growth. I have recently tried using Anchorseal on the entire bowl and some on the end-grain only to see if that might lessen the cracking in some bowls that have both heartwood and sapwood. In some of these the heart is getting a bit past its prime so nothing may really help but I'm experimenting.

Our club had a seminar by Al Stirt who uses a 50% solution of Anchorseal and water applied to the endgrain if I recall correctly for the drying process. He cautioned that in some hot, dry places diluting the Anchorseal is a bad idea.

Have you tried the weighing method to check for dryness? Basically weigh the bowls at intervals and when the weight is close to constant for a several intervals it is dry.

Billh