Your meter should tell you what the average is in a given section. If you're getting wildly different readings then I don't know what to tell you. It is normal to read 16 in one spot and 20 in another. On a peice that small, relatively speaking it should not take long for it to equalize. If you're within a 5% difference throughout then it's not that bad. If you're reading 12 in some spots and 20 in others then either your meter is not working or you're hitting something in the wood that is giving you a false reading. To give you an example of what I am talking about go stick your meter to some tile that has backer board behind it. More than likely it will show that it is wet. That is not actually the case, it's just a false reading from hitting really dense material. I know this doesn't fully answer your question, but moisture meters are tricky depending on the material being measured. There are moisture meters out there that are extremely accurate, but they cost some serious coin also. The harbor freight 100 dollar cheapies will serve a purpose of telling you how close it is to dry, but they are not real accurate. Long story short if your within 5% throughout then your okay.Give it some time to equalize and get it down to 12 or 13% and you will be fine. Once it gets to 16% you can safely cut it into blanks and it shouldn't start cracking or warping. Hope this helps.
