Review on Digital Wood Moisture Meter - Pin-Type Moisture Detector For Building Materials, Firewood, Walls, Floors, And Paper - Yellow Dampness Tester For Water Leak Detection by Dave Hess

Just got this yesterday and have been trying it out on different species of wood in different conditions. When I used it to check the spruce 2x4's in my workbench (in a dry basement), I couldn't get any reading. At first I thought the meter might be defective. Then I realized the moisture content of the wood was below 6%, which is the lower limit of the meter.I verified this by moistening the surface of the 2x4 with a damp sponge. Then I checked that area with the meter, and it read around 25% moisture content. I re-checked periodically as that spot dried out, and sure enough, the readings gradually dropped. Next morning, again, the meter gave no reading. Which means the 2x4 was, in fact, below 6% moisture content.Another thing to remember is that the meter only measures moisture content at or near the surface. Pressure treated wood will dry from the surface (obviously) and can read 8% at the surface while the interior is still at 20% moisture or more.To illustrate this point: I checked a live tree on my property by poking through the bark into the sapwood. The meter went off-scale, above 60%. Then I poked the prongs into the face of a cut where I had cut off a branch a few years ago. The meter gave no reading, which means under 6% moisture content. Same tree. Vastly different results.The moral is: don't assume the entire piece of wood is at the moisture content from your surface reading. If your piece of wood has been equilibrating for several months under stable moisture conditions, the inside MC is probably roughly the same as the surface MC (for wood pieces the size of dimensional lumber). But for large pieces like cut tree trunks, it can take a year or more for the moisture content to equilibrate, as the moisture from the surface evaporates faster than the moisture from within the wood can migrate out.This is why experts recommend waiting 6 months or so before staining a new deck. The surface of the wood can dry quickly, and a week after installation you might measure a surface moisture content of 8%, while the interior is still 20%, so don't be fooled into thinking your week-old pressure treated deck is now dry enough to stain.