(03-22-2024, 05:43 AM)fishhh4 Wrote: It's probably not US-made. I have the GENERAL pinned one from Rockler. I have never compared but it seems to be accurate. I will tell you one thing though. The battery that came with it sure lasts a long time.

At Rockler

(03-22-2024, 09:31 AM)Willyou Wrote: Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that moisture meters work by sending a current through the wood and that more moisture carries current more easily. In other words, the current follows the path of least resistance. So, it doesn't matter that the wood is drier near the surface, the current will find its way to where there is wetter wood. Therefore, you are getting a reading of the wettest wood even though the pins (or pinless) are only touching near the surface, True??

(03-22-2024, 05:10 PM)Willyou Wrote: I understand what you are saying. But one thing I know for sure is that current will follow the path of least resistance. I think I can reason my way through what you say this way. Yes. If you slice through a piece with a moisture gradient, you will indeed get different readings; higher for the wetter piece and lower for the drier. However, if you use a short pin or pinless meter on a freshly cut chunk of wood you will of course, get a very high reading. When it is partially dry, a somewhat lower reading. And, when it is totally (by what ever standard you use) dry, the lowest reading. My understanding is that the current, seeking the path of least resistance, has an arc as you say, that goes as deep as it can to find that path. As the wood dries at lower levels the resistance gets higher and the meter readings get lower representing a proportion of some sort (maybe not an average) which represents the degree of gradient. I think that even when the meter readings reach what ever standard you choose to use for dryness, there is still a gradient as it will never be totally dry.

I'm not sure what your third paragraph shows except that there is a gradient. The long pin meters will, of course, get the pins closer to the path of least resistance and give you a better reading on the center of the wood, but assuming that a short pin or pinless meter is well designed to measure or interpret the gradient, it should work as well. I should have said in the last sentence of my question above that I think the short pin or pinless meters are interpreting the current through the gradient and giving a reading accordingly. I guess that is the challenge and the reason for cost differences.

This is what I've been told.

(03-23-2024, 01:49 PM)Willyou Wrote: Hmm. So. Since you are unwilling/unable to give further clarification, I will assume you also don't know. Thanks for trying.