Amazon moisture meters

[sams93]

Has anyone had any success with any of the cheaper wood moisture meters on amazon/ebay or similar.

Mostly they seem to be available for around the £20 mark, which seems reasonable. They mostly seem to be aimed at the 'fire log' market, I wondered if they would be adequate for general woodworking.

 

[SamG340]

Yes should be fine if you're not too fussy

 

[sams93]

Yes should be fine if you're not too fussy

I'm not fussy - I am worried as to whether I am being fussy enough

 

[Tony51]

I use mine to compare that's to say if a known piece of wood reads 10% and so does the new piece the same than it's fine any divinations can then be taken into account.
Tony

 

[Richard_C]

I bought a cheap Silver line branded one in a DIY store, about £18 if I recall. Aimed at the wood burner market but fine for my needs which is mostly checking woodturning blanks or part turned items as they season. Might not be accurate but indicative. Indicated 10% might be 12 or 8, who knows, but it's not 30. I doubt large pieces are wholly consistent internally anyway so claims of better accuracy might be spurious in real life.

 

[porker]

I've got one for checking logs. Seems OK. Not sure about absolute accuracy but relative accuracy seems fine. I usually split a log and test straight away although with experience you get to know (at least with firewood) what is dry and what isn't from the weight, colour and the sound when you knock one against another.

For woodwork I am assuming they would work OK but as mentioned above a large blank may vary depending on how deep inside you are measuring