The Forestry Forum
General Forestry => Drying and Processing => Topic started by: Bruno of NH on April 15, 2018, 01:58:02 PM
Is this meter any good ? (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36349/20180415_121615.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1523815047) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36349/20180415_121626.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1523815063)
I have 2 and they seem to be OK
They both give the same reading on the same board.
The meter is indeed fairly accurate. For $100, it will tell you a rough idea of the MC.
The "problem" with this meter is the resolution. If the "8" light is on, this mean the MC is 7.0 to 9.0% MC. And then the "10" light means 9.0% to 11.0% MC. Or does "8" mean 8 to 10? Also, you have to make species and temperature corrections manually or mentally. You need the instruction booklet to make corrections.
With the short needles and the lack of a plug to plug in a hammer probe, you cannot measure core MC on most pieces of lumber. That is, you are measuring surface MC.
So, I think their more expensive meters and probes are more useful for many people.
I have a SDM pinless meter from the Lignomat folks, more expensive, but it seems to do a very good job, it has 1/4" and 3/4" depth options and is species specific.