How long do you wait?

[bookerdog]

I was wondering how dry do you like to get you lumber down to before you use it. Im going to make a couple of end table's out of some black walnut I have. What moister level should the wood reach before attempting to do this. I have mostly made things out of red fir and that is a pretty friendly wood.

 

[aquan8tor]

I think 12% or less is optimal. You have to keep the wood indoors in a moisture-controlled---i.e. air-conditioned----place, or kiln dry it to get it to that level. I'm no expert at all--I'm just lucky enough to have a good friend who is a skilled cabinetmaker.

 

[bookerdog]

wood

The wood is around 15% now and was thinking about moving it indoors to where the end tables would be. The rooms temp does go up and down alot because of a woodstove.

 

[aquan8tor]

I'm thinking that would be a very bad place for it, especially because of walnut's tendency to check. As temperature swings, relative moisture content shifts. I dont even pretend to understand relative moisture content, however. I just know that the warmer it is, the more moisture the air can hold. So, when it is warm and very dry like houses in the winter, boards lose moisture very very quickly. If the boards are already at 15%, it may not make a big difference. You should get someone else's feedback here as well. I'm a beginner.

 

[hautions11]

How Long

7-9% is perfect out of a kiln. If you are down to 15% you definatly need to bring it inside to "equalize" with the internal environment of your house. A lot of people that lay real oak flooring like to put the wood in your house to let it normalize. I buy a lot of air dried wood from a local supplier that keeps his wood in a covered but unheated storage area. Before strting a project, it sits in my shop for several weeks. I have some oak I milled early this summer that has been stickered about 6 months. I will bring it inside shortly and let it dry out more in a basement storage area that is heated and cooled. This is all 5/4 stock as thicker pieces take longer to dry. I hope that helps.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

You say it's 15% right now, and if so... bring it in the house and plan on it sitting there at least a couple months! Stickered would be best if possible.... I'm assumeing this walnut is around 5/4?

BWT, i like 3 months better... It needs to get down to 6 to 8% if possible..

Rob

 

[flht01]

The wood is around 15% now and was thinking about moving it indoors to where the end tables would be. The rooms temp does go up and down alot because of a woodstove.

I agree with the others, I'd move it indoors and wait until it was below 12%. Do a search on ECM (equilibrium moisture content) to get a target moisture content for your area. In my part of the world, humidity often stays in the 55 to 65% range inside my home (with the ac/heat unit running), air dried wood seldom gets below 15% in the summer months here.

I had a few air dried pecan boards (about 18% mc) and put them in the attic this summer. They got down to 9% at one time, I think I'll hide one in the house and monitor the changes.

 

[bookerdog]

walnut

yes the walnut is 5/4. I guess my real concern is the change in temp along with humidty in the room because of the wood stove. Thankyou everyone for the replys.

 

[woodshop]

As everybody seems to agree, you need to get that wood down below 15% before making furniture out of it. Getting it indoors in a heated house will do that. I usually give rough lumber around 2 weeks in my heated basement shop from outside where it usually stabilizes around 12-15% after drying, depending on what time of year. In my shop I get it down to say 10% or so, but keep in mind this is only real critical for certain applications. If you're going to plane it down to 3/4 and build a table out of it, it better be dry and stable. However, if you're making small items like some of the gift items I make in my shop, you can often get away with using the wood right from the outside. The slight movement as it dries from 15% down to 10% is minimal on something small like a one inch thick 6x9 little breadboard. It doesn't effect the product, as there are no large flat areas to warp or twist.

 

[Ianab]

I guess my real concern is the change in temp along with humidty in the room because of the wood stove.

Not a real worry.
The wood is going to have to live in that environment with the stove anyway. It's going to dry to the average moisture content of the room eventually, and then vary with the seasons. If your wood is ~15% you can (and should) bring it inside and let it finish drying. If you measure some wood thats been inside for a long time, then thats the MC you want to aim for. It could be anywhere between 6% and 14%, depending on where you live. 8% seems a good average for inland US areas.

Bringing green wood inside with the fireplace can cause problems with drying too fast and splitting / checking etc. But at 15% it's done 9/10s of the drying and is pretty difficult to stuff up now

Cheers

Ian

 

[bookerdog]

Not a real worry.
The wood is going to have to live in that environment with the stove anyway. It's going to dry to the average moisture content of the room eventually, and then vary with the seasons. If your wood is ~15% you can (and should) bring it inside and let it finish drying. If you measure some wood thats been inside for a long time, then thats the MC you want to aim for. It could be anywhere between 6% and 14%, depending on where you live. 8% seems a good average for inland US areas.

Bringing green wood inside with the fireplace can cause problems with drying too fast and splitting / checking etc. But at 15% it's done 9/10s of the drying and is pretty difficult to stuff up now

Cheers

Ian

thats what I wanted to hear thanks. I know doug fir is very forgiving on handler err. Don't want to screw up this walnut.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Here's a short explanation that might help give you an estimated target MC.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Air_temp_relative_humidity_and_MC.html


I don't know what EMC for your area is but air dried lumber rarely drops below 15% outside here, and 12% indoors. I recently checked a crib I made for my daughter 2 years ago from air dried pecan and it was at 12-14%. All of my stock in the barn is around 14-16% and some of it was milled 5 years ago.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

I was wondering how dry do you like to get you lumber down to before you use it. Im going to make a couple of end table's out of some black walnut I have. What moister level should the wood reach before attempting to do this. I have mostly made things out of red fir and that is a pretty friendly wood.

As the others have said, bring your lumber inside for a couple of months or so and you will be fine. Just make sure you design the table such that it allows for some seasonal movement of the top and you're set.

 

[Al Weber]

Couple of More Points

Having dried several hundred feet of cherry a year ago, a couple of other points should be made. If you haven't already sealed the ends of the boards, do so, even this late in the game. There are several commercial products available but heavy coats of latex paint also work well. Secondly, make sure you sticker the stock and put some heavy weight on top to keep it flat. Although that walnut is pretty dry already, I suspect you have another 5-7% moisture loss to go when you move it inside.

I kept the cherry I had resawn in the attic of a mostly unheated barn and it reached about 8% here in NH during the cold weather months. Eventually it returned to about 9-10%. I used some of it to build an entertainment center that is next to my woodstove and it hasn't exhibited any signs of movement after a month of heating inside. The remaining material is still running about 9% moisture in the barn attic.

 

[bookerdog]

thanks

Having dried several hundred feet of cherry a year ago, a couple of other points should be made. If you haven't already sealed the ends of the boards, do so, even this late in the game. There are several commercial products available but heavy coats of latex paint also work well. Secondly, make sure you sticker the stock and put some heavy weight on top to keep it flat. Although that walnut is pretty dry already, I suspect you have another 5-7% moisture loss to go when you move it inside.

I kept the cherry I had resawn in the attic of a mostly unheated barn and it reached about 8% here in NH during the cold weather months. Eventually it returned to about 9-10%. I used some of it to build an entertainment center that is next to my woodstove and it hasn't exhibited any signs of movement after a month of heating inside. The remaining material is still running about 9% moisture in the barn attic.

I seal the ends when I stack and sticker it after I mill it. You have some pics of your entertainment center all of us would love to see them.

 

[Al Weber]

Hopefully I have attached one photo of the entertainment center. The design is mine but taken liberally from a number of commercially available ones. The rear panels are held in place with inset magnets and all wires and cables are inside the unit.

If there is no photo, I have to try again. I'm somewhat new to the process.

 

[woodshop]

Just make sure you design the table such that it allows for some seasonal movement of the top and you're set.

Thanks aggie... THAT is the real bottom line in all of this discussion. Wood is going to move a little with the weather as seasons change no matter what it was dried to before you used it in a project. If you're making furniture, or anything larger than a breadboard, you simply have to take wood movement into account in your design.

 

[woodshop]

Hopefully I have attached one photo of the entertainment center.

Thanks for that Al, nice piece nice work. We do seem to have some talented woodworkers in this section, that is for sure.

 

[bookerdog]

nice

Hopefully I have attached one photo of the entertainment center. The design is mine but taken liberally from a number of commercially available ones. The rear panels are held in place with inset magnets and all wires and cables are inside the unit.

If there is no photo, I have to try again. I'm somewhat new to the process.

Nice Al and welcome to the site.

 

[aquan8tor]

Nice work. Al, what wood is the floor made of?? Dig the wide boards. Very nice.