Klein Tools ET140 Pinless Moisture Meter

[Von]

As I've discussed elsewhere, I'm starting a journey of milling and drying some wood for a workbench. I bought a Klein Tools ET140 Pinless Moisture Meter off of Amazon for ~$40. I'll just cover initial impressions in this post and update the thread when I have a better feel for how it works.

For $40, I'm not expecting great accuracy, I'm mainly hoping it will deliver consistent results so I can track how well wood is drying over time and how close it's getting to standard moisture in my shop. So far I tested it on a bunch of wood in my shop and for a given species of wood, it seems consistent. Cherry, walnut and oak come in at 5-6%, maple around 8%, softwoods around 4%, and pressure treated around 10%. Since all these pieces have been in my shop for months if not years and given the meter measures using capacitance, I strongly suspect these differences are differences in the wood and not its moisture.

The meter has settings for multiple materials: Hardwood, Softwood, Masonry and Drywall. I used Hardwood for all the above measurements. As far as I can tell in the Softwood setting, it measures ~3-4% higher than in Hardwood setting - seems like just a potential source of confusion if I select the wrong one!

The "Hold" button is nice as it lets me put the meter on top of wood or between boards where I can't see the meter and then pressing the button holds the reading until I press Hold again. Measuring is pretty much instantaneous. According to the manual, it measures up to 3/4" deep. I didn't see any notable difference measuring 3/4" versus 8/4" boards of the same species.

So, overall I'm hopeful it will be a useful tool for tracking drying wood. I do note I don't have any hickory in my shop right now, which is what I'll be drying, so I need to bring some in to see what the meter measures for it once it acclimates so I have a baseline - I'm guessing it will be around the maple or higher.

 

[wtnhighlander]

Sounds like a good deal on a general purpose moisture meter, and it should serve well if you take some comparative readings for each species against a "known dry" sample. Meters designed specifically for lumber testing will have calibration presets for a variety of wood species, and will return a more accurate value.

And cost quite bit more, of course.

I've been getting by on the 'does it splash when cut?' testing method, even though I do own a meter similar to yours. 

[Mark J]

I think in addition to the measured value, the change in the reading over time is also important to record.  

[roughsawn]

I've never seen moisture levels that low. In the winter, when my humidity is the lowest of the year, I measure all the wood in my shop, and make notes in a notebook. Stuff that has been dry for 5 years, stuff that I bring in from outside, and my projects that I've built out of my milled and dried lumber. 

It routinely measures 7.5% to 8.5%. That is what I go by, because I know it is dry. I also have some 40 year old oak that I measure at the same time, and it's the same. If I have any that comes in at 9.5% to 10%, I resaw it, or plane and joint it...and let it sit for another week or two. Then check it again.

Seems to me that even kiln dried lumber doesn't have moisture numbers that low. Compare it against shop projects, and use that for a reference.

As a side note, that 8% lumber in the winter will measure 11% in the summer. A product of relative humidity. Just sucks it in like a sponge. I do just a small amount of woodworking during the summer...as there are fish that need to be caught.

Hope this helps Von.

[Von]

Well, I hit a big limit on this meter yesterday with the freshly milled wood - it just throws up its hands and says "wet" without any numerical reading. So, I think it's a dud for my intended purposes.

My friend ordered a different (and cheaper!) meter and, similar to what @wtnhighlander mentioned, it has eight different settings for different woods (one better not lose the manual with the mappings and, strangely, it has no mapping for oak). His meter was much more useful and actually gave a reading. I believe an exchange is in my future.

 

 

[Tom King]

It should be a good one with the Klein name on it.  I have an ancient analog Delmhorst that still works because I don't keep a battery in it, but you have to drive big pins in.  It would be a good comparison for the two of them.  I'll order one of these and compare them.

[Von]

On 10/11/2024 at 9:09 AM, Von said:

My friend ordered a different (and cheaper!) meter and, similar to what @wtnhighlander mentioned, it has eight different settings for different woods (one better not lose the manual with the mappings and, strangely, it has no mapping for oak). His meter was much more useful and actually gave a reading. I believe an exchange is in my future.

To tie off a loose end, I did order one of these meters and have been happy with it.

[fcschoenthal]

I must have missed this one initially. I would suggest taking the meter and wood to a lumber yard to have them measure it with one of their expensive meters and compare it to the readings that you get with yours. I've got one of the cheaper pinned meters and hate every time I see the holes that I've had to poke. Probably going to have to invest in a decent pinless sometime.

[Mark J]

I have one that is both pin and pin-less.  The pinless is a lot easier, but the pins are available for an uneven surface.