Science Proves Which Wood Moisture Meter is Best

Affiliate links to all the products shown in the video:
Orion 950: amzn.to/3SiYwkE @WagnerMetersMain
R/D: amzn.to/3UqHrrw
FLIR: amzn.to/4915eCO
TESMAN: amzn.to/3uk2YaO
Looking for the best moisture meter tester? Look no further! In this video, we'll showcase our top picks for the most accurate and reliable moisture meter tests. Whether you're a professional contractor or a DIY enthusiast, this video will help you find the perfect moisture meter for your needs.
0:00-1:09 Intro
1:09-11:12 Samples and Procedures
11:13-13:58 TESMAN Overview
13:58-18:13 FLIR MR55 Overview
18:13-21:21 R D Overview
21:22-25:39 Orion 950 Overview
25:39-27:37 Cooking Wood
27:38-30:05 Results
30:06-34:21 Conclusions

[@laurenkorn3984]

As a scientifically trained person I very much valued this video. Thank you and I'm certainly a new subscriber and fan.

[@JohnWCH]

So am I! There's dozens of us! Thanks for watching!

[@TimeAttack2003]

This is on par with Project Farm testing and greatly appreciated by everyone that watches both channels! Instant subscribe!

[@lockbreaker7961]

watching this i was really expecting to look down and see a couple tens of thousands of likes and a hundred thousand subscribers, but apparently not. very high quality comparison, i think im going to go with the R/D based on this video.

[@JohnWCH]

Nope. It's just me shouting into the KZbin algorithm void. So sincerely, thank you very much for watching!

[@steveward5917]

I learned something, that's what I was looking for. Very good test.

[@michelrea2403]

Great job dude 👊

[@electron4784]

Well done. Good scientific method. And just the information I needed for a purchase. Thanks

[@Bernieclark45]

Thanks for a very helpful video.

[@JohnWCH]

Glad it was helpful!

[@lifepopsicle8966]

Appreciate all the effort going into this video! Subscribed :)

[@JohnWCH]

Thanks for watching!

[@3mOffroadTeam]

Thanks for your huge efforts! Great video

[@JohnWCH]

Thanks for watching!

[@geoffrgadsden3612]

Great Job= well done!

[@youcanthide004]

Fantastic Video / Super comprehensive, I just ordered the R&D for a project. I am using HD 3/4 PT plywood for an open - trailer project and need to to know when I can stain it. Many Thanks Partner, you just gained a subscriber.

[@nathanrobbs4954]

Thank you for putting in an extensive amount of effort. And your time and money. I learned a lot! 💪👍

[@jameshiggins9864]

Very informative video, thanks for all your work and expense. Answered just about all my questions. Sounds like pinless is definitely the way to go. Now that that was established, it would be interesting to see several pinless models tested, but I suspect that you have other things going on in your life 😄. I'm now subscribed and I look forward to checking out your past and future videos.

[@fgmaglia]

Mate, best tech video I watched the entire year! Subscribed and following, no matter what. Thank you!!

[@CharlesHooper2001]

At the end of November 2023 I purchased a Klein Tools ET140 meter for about $42 and a Wagner Meters Orion 950 which was selling for about $600. The goal was to check red oak and black walnut boards that had been air drying for 15 years, but had to be coated with BoraCare to kill boring bugs. I was not sure of the accuracy of either meeter - in late February I tested the two meters side by side once the temperature reached 60 degrees. In short, the Klein Tools ET140 meter consistently measured the moisture content of red oak and black walnut boards at 7% to 8% lower than the measurement shown by a significantly more expensive Wagner Meters Orion 950. I left a review on Amazon for the Klein Tools ET140 showing the side by side comparison. Thanks for posting your video, I now have greater confidence in the readings displayed by the Orion 950.

[@JackStrangelove]

Thank you for the information. I was watching the other reviews, and you definitely hit the nail on the head when it came too comparing the instruments to one another and not the scientific method of which you performed. Thank you for taking the time and spending the money to help make my decision much easier.

[@JohnWCH]

My pleasure

[@tomdowser]

Full dorkness mode .......w00t! Enjoyed this a lot. Thank You!

[@JohnWCH]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Element9846]

Subscribed. Best test/study available on any topic on youtube because it was actually independently verified and followed calibration standards. This video got a like, and its an injustice that its only got 7,000 views. Hopefully that number increases. Thanks for taking the time, spending the money, and making this video happen. Theres no other video anyone needs to watch regarding moisture meters. Period.

[@JohnWCH]

Thanks for the kind words and thank you very much for watching!

[@leifnilsen6107]

🙏👏👏👏👏great video

[@robertp8839]

Commenting to get that algorithm going. Like your videos and your humor. Even if you're not John from Farmcraft haha

[@JohnWCH]

Thank you very much! Thanks for watching!

[@donaldbowman4221]

And, thank you for the effort and expense you invested making the video. Very nicely done.

[@JohnWCH]

Thanks for watching!

[@nickbombardier6169]

Thank you for testing these, I build custom furniture and have just started my journey into youtube and and social media to get my work out there. Ive been use the cheap amazon pinless version and have wondered how accurate it actually is. I have contemplated buying the orion but being a fairly new small business 600 is alot to throw down on a tool that only does the one thing. But after watching this video you have answered every question I had, and I will be setting aside some some funds for the orion. Thank you for such a detailed video and if you decide to part with your Orion maybe we can work a deal. But keep up the good.

[@JohnWCH]

It's gone already. FB marketplace scooped it right up. And thanks for watching!

[@alexschenck25]

Thank you!!!

[@JohnWCH]

No sweat

[@skipmsg]

Great vid John, Super comprehensive for the woodworking folks. I don't think there is any doubt they should buy a pinless meter, & the Orion model at that, if they can afford it. Unfortunately I think the jury is still out for the plain old firewood burning people. I'm still unclear if any of these are any good for checking firewood prior to burning. Do you still own the test oven? Could you perform another test on split wood, not dressed timber? I understand it would be outside the official testing standards & procedures but would be a better real world test for the average firewood consumer. Anyway hope you have one last firewood test left in you. Hope you post a 'firewood meter only' buyers guides soon. Great video regardless.

[@codycarse]

Should have included a pin and pinless model from ligno. They're the industry standard. So many pros use them.

[@amsluis]

Repeatability can be enough. I test rough turned bowls, and just note the number. If it's stable over a few weeks, it's done. The particular number is irrelevant. Any air drying to equilibrium can be done this way, and I would argue this is the most useful thing to know in the first place. I would be interested to see how the pin meters preform with the pins all the way inserted. I don't know what the user manuals for those products say, but in my experience you only get some accuracy when you hammer them in a good 1/4". Physical robustness is one of the most important things for pin meters.

[@JohnWCH]

Sure that would work and believe me when I tell you, I was giving those pins the business, when I was pushing them in.

[@boblee435]

Based on this study, I just ordered an R and D pinless brand ($30 on Amazon) for both furniture and firewood. I’ll check in later if it flails.

[@Mxslots]

Did it fail ?

[@RILRIL1]

For a woodworker, I'd argue that accuracy is much less important that repeability. Keep scraps of well dried wood in your shop, then compare the wood in question to those samples.

[@b.davidsantiagojr5161]

I really enjoyed watching this. My take away is you feel the R&D is best value and accurate. How close was it to the Orion as far as accuracy?

[@JohnSheerin]

He said the Orion was off by 3.66%, R&D was off by 16.18%. I interpret that to mean that the R&D could say a 10% moisture content wood was anywhere between 8.4-11.6% while the Orion would show it was somewhere in the 9.6-10.4% range.

[@markbooth3066]

Great investigation. I very much doubt it would have made any difference to the results, but to avoid the potential for criticism, I would have worn nitrile gloves while handling the samples.

[@donaldbowman4221]

While I love your sarcasm and truths, know that so many people use or have the General brand moisture tester, I would say it would have been nice to see how it compares too.

[@JohnWCH]

I really thought about it. I really did. But those pins made me so mad, I didn't want to give that company more money.

[@johnyan8417]

Would you please share the data collected? Thanks.

[@julianmora5624]

hi i have the rd, one thing i would like to understand is why the measurements change so dramatically, when you measure the same wood from soft wood to hardwood ,i know whar they are, BUT why the device measure so different values? try it on cedar for example, measure the both modes, and you see..thanks

[@brianpacker4824]

Thank you so much for making this video. You added to society. As wood gasification becomes way cheaper than gasoline (currently even), this video will explode.

[@user-ol2cs9wt4w]

What was the range of accuracy? Was best to worst only 10% different in the moisture content they reported?

[@JohnWCH]

Im not sure what youre asking exactly. But from what I measured, the worst performing unit to the best performing unit, was a roughly 2000% difference. (absolute error .6 vs. 6.35) in regards to accuracy.

[@romansj42]

What's model of scale

[@squicc]

this was great. would like more result data detail, as well as more models tested. you spent $2k on the oven, which is awesome. now you can make cupcakes, but what about Klein? Dr. Meter? General? etc...let's get a bake off goin here ;-)

[@squicc]

also, "that's not an oven!" 🤣

[@tonystites2134]

i would have liked to know how far off each meter was to your scientific method

[@GryptpypeThynne]

Great video. I have to admit the thing that made me subscribe was the split second Tom Segura though

[@JohnWCH]

Awesome

[@ludwigwagner7897]

I like your scientific approach to assess the accuracy and would have appreciated a higher focus on presenting result details. A table showing measured percentages against determined percentages from the oven drying procedure. For a fair comparison of the pin meter you could have put 6 metal pins in each wood sample to ensure that both instruments “see” the same moisture and having 3 sample locations tells you how homogeneous the moisture is distributed within the wood. A measurement difference between the instruments is then only due to difference in resistance measurement or applied internal calibration. All the pin meter does is measuring the resistance, which can be done with any simple multimeter, and converts it into percent moisture based on an internal calibration for different materials. Again, a detailed result table would allow conclusions on how good the internal calibrations were for different types of wood and if a recalibration by the user would make sense

[@AndersHejdenberg]

Just so I fully understand... when you say the Orion has a 3.66 percent error margin, does that mean that it could report between 9.64% - 10.36% moisture content when the actual moisture content was 10%? Or could the Orion report 6,34% - 13.66% moisture content when actual content was 10%? Or does it mean that the full range of potential error was 3.66% of the actual moisture content number?

[@elbuggo]

10.36% of what? The dried piece? That means the peace was 110.36% before drying? These calculations are confusing. I guess I have to read ASTM D4442 myself!

[@AndersHejdenberg]

@@elbuggo It's absolute moisture content, contrary to air moisture content which is relative to the air temperature (since different air temperatures can hold different amounts of water). So 100% air moisture is not that you are under water, but rather that the air cannot hold more water at this temperature. But with wood moisture content you weigh a piece of wood and then you put it in an oven. You take it out every four hours and weigh it again. Then you repeat that procedure until it hasn't lost any weight since the previous measurement - and at that point it is considered to have a 0% moisture content. So if the piece of wood weighed 100 grams before the oven procedure, and it weighs 90 grams after the procedure - then that means that the wood must have had a 10% moisture content before the oven procedure.

[@elbuggo]

@@AndersHejdenberg RE: if the piece of wood weighed 100 grams before the oven procedure, and it weighs 90 grams after the procedure - then that means that the wood must have had a 10% moisture content before the oven procedure. I don't agree. Your sample had 11.11% moisture content. The dry sample is 100%. I found the calculations in ASTM D4442.

[@AndersHejdenberg]

@@elbuggo Ah, gotcha - I though it was the other way around (which I suppose makes more sense now that I think of it). So 90 grams is 100%, which means that 10 grams would be 11.11%.

[@elbuggo]

@@AndersHejdenberg That's exactly right! 100g =111.11%!

[@rolandstockham1905]

One thing he did not test which seems to be a shame is calibration. The main distinction between cheap and expensive meters seems to me to be whether you can adjust for the woods density. The absolute moisture content is generally not the main issue in woodworking (more important in firewood). What wood workers need to know is is the wood going to be stable in the environment it will be in. So if you are building furniture that will live in a heated living space what is the humidity in that space and how does that compare to my stock? You can set that by simply measuring a piece of furniture that is in a similar environment. So I measure an oak table and the meter says it has 20% moisture. It doesn't matter if it is really 15 or 25% as long as the reading on my stock is the same the new wood should not move. That would be fine if I am building the new stuff out of oak but what if I am using oak for framing but maple for draws. This is where the species calibration is essential. To get an accurate comparison between different species you have to be able to adjust for their different densities. This is far more important than absolute accuracy.

[@JohnWCH]

In the "review" portion of each one of the units, I talked about literally what you're talking about and their ability to do what you're asking.

[@Bomba388]

With the repeatability on the tessman, just account for the error. Write on it or something to remember the number.

[@JohnWCH]

The machine was 30% +/-. It's a pretty big swing. You could sooner guess the moisture content at that point.

[@Bomba388]

@@JohnWCH I guess I must have missed something. My understanding was that it would be the same percentage off every time.

[@JohnWCH]

Nope it was not accurate in either direction.

[@sweedenburg]

Oh my, of all places to find a Mommy. I hope you didn't use a washcloth to clean out the oven! (It goes without saying, but the video is amazing.)

[@AA-gw6wd]

10 min in the video I am thinking this methodology is wonderful, but why not test a wider variety of meters? You already spent a ton of money on lab quality equipment? I’d love to see some of the more popular meters going head to head.

[@Coyotehello]

Protimeter Survey master, period, in my book at least. Note that moisture meter do not actually measure moisture, that is an important thing to keep in mind.

[@JohnWCH]

Thanks for watching

[@terrencepayne1371]

Am I the first to comment about how put the wood on a couch like like surrounded by the meters? 😂

[@JohnWCH]

Yes! Finally!

[@tedgunderson67]

Don’t talk about my wife like that

[@JohnWCH]

Sorry?

[@tedgunderson67]

@@JohnWCH “wood moisture meter”

[@JohnWCH]

My man!

[@keithgreene8136]

He talks too much. Bye

[@JohnWCH]

Go back to tik Tok.

[@beauhawkes3221]

Waving your hands around, moving around while you talk, and taking longer than necessary to convey the information are forms of echopraxia which is ignorance.

[@JohnWCH]

Echopraxis is mirroring. Hence the "echo". Go back to Reddit and try using big words to impress over there.

[@beauhawkes3221]

@@JohnWCH I came to this video in search of science based information, as it was asserted as being. What followed was an atrocity void of reason. By the speakers own words he attempted to "punch it up" in an effort to gain more appeal from his viewers, and at the expense of anyone actually needing the information he claimed to be sharing. He did this after taking advice from, presumably, his partner who advised him that it was boring and/or put the viewer to sleep. I came looking for information and was told that this video contained the best information on this topic on the internet. The speaker lied when he made that claim. Instead what he showed was that he is an androphobic epicene omega male who takes orders from an emotional feminine mind rooted in ignorance. This is something common to see on content creators' channels. They indeed mirror one another engaging mindless echopraxia and echolalia in an effort to satisfy their own emotional desires and feelings. Anyone taking advice from a mind rooted in ignorance will suffer the consequences of doing so. Did I learn anything from watching the video? No, I already knew everything that I just stated prior to watching the video.

[@ButtBandit9000]

[@JohnWCH]

Correct.