Improve Your ROI with These Moisture Measurement Tools

How do you cut expenses for your forest products business while improving quality and increasing your return on investment (ROI)?

For Carl Diebold Lumber, the right moisture measurement tools have been key.

Producing high-grade boards worth $4,000 to $5,000 per 1,000 board feet, they couldn’t afford to damage any wood. By monitoring the wood’s moisture content as it dried, they prevented damage and cut energy costs.

We’ll look at those moisture measurement tools in detail. But first, here’s why moisture testing matters in this industry.

Why Moisture Testing Is Important for Wood Products Manufacturers

Incorrect moisture content is one of the leading causes of defects in wood products, so it pays to test for moisture and avoid that damage.

Testing has several benefits for manufacturers:

Improved product quality

Proper moisture testing helps prevent underdrying and overdrying.

If wood dries too much, it can develop defects like checks or splits. You may have to discard it or sell it at a lower price.

If it doesn’t dry enough, you may have to send it through the kiln a second time, losing time and efficiency.

Speaking of efficiency…

Decreased energy costs

Any extra time your wood spends in the kiln costs you money. Even if it doesn’t damage the wood, it hurts your bottom line.

Of course, you want the wood dry enough to prevent defects later and meet your customer’s requirements. But every percentage point you dry below that target adds energy cost, and for a company that processes millions of board feet a year, those costs add up fast. Our overdrying and underdrying calculator can help you estimate what it’s costing your operation.

Moisture testing helps you dry to the moisture content you need, and no further.

A good reputation

Say a customer files a wet claim against you because a batch they received had too high a moisture content (MC). What might happen?

They might demand a refund or refuse to pay for the wood.

You might lose them as a customer, and even worse, your reputation might suffer. What’s to stop them from telling others your product quality is unreliable?

Moisture quality control helps you avoid those risks. The right tools let you put out products that consistently meet your customers’ expectations.

So, what are those tools? Let’s find out.

Industrial Moisture Meters

Industrial moisture meters, like those from Wagner Meters, are pinless meters that use an electromagnetic sensor to measure the MC of wood.

Pinless meters don’t leave holes in the wood the way pin meters do, and they’re a much faster way to measure moisture.

Wagner’s current industrial handheld meter, the L5300, reads up to 1 inch deep, stores 100 groups of up to 1,000 readings each, and exports data through a USB port to Wagner’s WoodStat™ Pro software. No manual recordkeeping necessary.

Siskiyou Forest Products, which produces high-end finger-jointed and edge-glued wood products, has long relied on Wagner’s L622 digital recording moisture meter, the L5300’s predecessor. For Siskiyou, an MC under 12% is critical for wood to run through its glue line.

Aaron Duchi, who runs the kilns at Siskiyou, appreciates no longer having to use a pin meter or record readings by hand.

He says:

“[The Wagner meter] not only measures the lumber faster, but it does all the recording work for me. It calculates all the information for each sample I take and sends it to my computer screen so I can quickly print it out.”

Beyond handheld meters, many businesses invest in larger moisture measurement systems, like the one we’ll cover next.

In-Kiln Systems

An in-kiln moisture measurement system measures the MC of the wood while it’s in the kiln. Sensors in the kiln report moisture readings from multiple zones to software on a computer, so the kiln operator can monitor the MC of the wood in each zone.

With this real-time view of the wood’s MC and drying trends, the kiln operator can track progress and stop the kiln as soon as the wood reaches the target MC.

No overdrying and no wasted energy.

That brings us back to Carl Diebold Lumber, which dries about 1.4 million board feet of wood each month.

With an in-kiln system, they can be confident they’re meeting their customers’ requirements. They’ve even shortened drying times by a day or two because they don’t have to guess when the wood is ready.

And instead of doing many manual checks, they can keep the kilns running while keeping an eye on progress. That saves the energy it takes to shut down a kiln and heat it up again.

In-Line Systems

In-line moisture measurement systems usually sit at the beginning or end of planing or moulding operations. They scan every board, collecting MC data on each batch of wood and helping troubleshoot kiln performance. They can also identify wet spots in the wood that can be trimmed out.

Wagner Meters offers in-line systems in two configurations: end-to-end and sideways.

End-to-end systems are often installed on the outfeed side of planers and moulders and measure moisture along the length of each piece of lumber. They’re good for finding wet spots.

In sideways (transverse) systems, the wood passes sideways over up to eight sensors, and boards with moisture issues can trigger a spray marker.

For Manke Lumber Company, an in-line system has helped the business compete in the export market.

A lumber processing and treating company in Washington State, Manke has used its in-line system to help meet Japan’s strict requirements for housing lumber.

“Everything we do is based off of what the Wagner equipment tells us,” says Craig McNeil, the treating engineer there.

The result?

“We’re able to do a good job because of it. Our report is that our lumber is one of the best they have in Japan.”

What Could Moisture Measurement Tools Do for Your Business?

What if moisture measurement could save you thousands of dollars, improve your ROI, and give you a reputation for top-quality products?

With the right moisture measurement tools, that’s within reach.

Kerry Cogburn, kiln supervisor for Teal-Jones, a lumber manufacturer in Oklahoma, estimates that an in-kiln system saves the mill about $300,000 a year in time, energy costs, and drying effort. What could your business do with that kind of savings?

Shop Industrial Wood Moisture Meters

Previously published in Canadian Forest Industries

Last updated on October 12th, 2026