Disc permeameters are used here on two contrasting soils to determine absorption and transmission characteristics in the potential range from saturation down to ψ 0 = −100 mm. One soil was a recently-ploughed loam, the other a cracking-prone heavy clay. Despite the dominance of gravity in the former case, and of capillarity in the latter, a rapid onset of geometrically-induced steady flows q ∞, was observed from disc permeameters in both cases. For the loam a twin-disc analysis of q ∞ from discs of different radii, had to be used to determine the sorptivity S 0. Whereas for the clay the ample square-root-of-time behaviour gave S 0 as well. The conductivity K 0 was then derived from q ∞ via Wooding's equation. Another value of K 0 derived for the ploughed loam from a standard determination with a large, buffered ring, did not agree with that from the disc permeameter. This failure arose because of the vertical drop-off in K that rendered impossible the attainment of one-dimensional flow from the inner ring. The loam possessed the hydraulic properties expected of such a medium-textured soil that had recently been disturbed by ploughing. The clay however had a 40-fold jump in K right at saturation reflecting the presence of cracks.