hey whats up guys this is the first time ive done a post in the knots forum so i hope some of yall can help me out.So i had a tree fall in my yard and all of the big peices were hauled off before i had the time to save some peices for me but when i was looking at some of the smaller peices i started to think man this would be the perfect size for some of the jewelry boxes and cabinets i make.so i called my friend to borrow his chain saw and started to rough out some small peices the would be easy enough to clean up on the bandsaw.I only ended up with some small peices but theyre forsyre big enough to make a few nice boxes.The few peices i did get look awesome and im quite proud of cuttin up my own lumber lol.so my question is how long would it take to dry out these little peices.They came of an oak tree and they are no bigger than an seven eighths thick 5 inches wide and 3 feet long.ive had them in my house for about two months and ive drilled in one of them and the shavings seem dry and im very eager to start working with the wood.thanks and hopefully someone out there can help me out.
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Replies
Dry or not-so-dry?
That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler . . . Oh, wait, that's something else. ;-)
The rule of thumb is one year per inch of thickness. Storing the wood in a heated space (with proper stickering) will probably accellerate the drying of the ends and surfaces, but less so the interior of the boards.
You might be well-served by testing the stock with a sub-surface scanning moisture meter to see what is going on in the interior of the stock, something like this one:
http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2080246/26416/lignomat-scanner-sd-moisture-meter.aspx
air drying
thanks for the advice and i def. agree about the moisture meter just got to have the money to buy it if u know what i mean.i actually just milled up the few peices and glued them up for a panel in a jewelry cabinet im working on and its stayed reasonably flat since ive milled it and that was a few days ago.hopefully i dont get a bad surprise in the near future.thanks for the speedy response and happy woodworking.ill try to get a pic to show you i think it came out pretty nice looking crazy crazy grain.
Air drying is a good choice for boxes and cabinets as it produce high quality wood. The drawback is usually on the time it takes for one to attain the moisture level of 6-8%. A tip that I can share is for you to use an ordinary mineral oil to coat the wood. This will make the wood impermeable to moisture. It can be removed by planing the wood after it has dried. Hope this helps. - J.S
Air drying is a good choice for boxes and cabinets as it produce high quality wood. The drawback is usually on the time it takes for one to attain the moisture level of 6-8%. A tip that I can share is for you to use an ordinary mineral oil to coat the wood. This will make the wood impermeable to moisture. It can be removed by planing the wood after it has dried. Hope this helps. - J.S
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