heteroscedastic wrote:
Any ideas on why two pieces of solid cherry furniture of approximately
the same age, sitting next to each other in the living room for the
last ten years, should display a 4% difference in wood moisture
content as measured by my meter? One piece is a factory item
(Virginia Galleries) and the other is a piece I made my self. Both
are over 20 years old. All of the Virginia Galleries pieces in the
house (like, 5 of them) show about 7% moisture at the moment. Every
homemade piece is around 11%. I am wondering if these electronic
moisture meters are influenced by the type of finish on the wood. The
factory stuff is all lacquered, my stuff is either polyurethane or
oil.

Hi,
The difference is possible. Because raw material was different to begin
with. Good wood has to be aged well. Look at how they used to build
pianos in old days. Our ~100 year old grand piano is very stable
throughout every year holding good tune. Modern piano in the same house
is not, needing frequent tune up. Because old wood was naturally
aged(dried) upto 20 year before made into product. Modern woods are kiln
dried. Computer simulation says that is as good as 20 year natural
aging. In real world it is different.