I will be removing a huge old sugar maple soon.
Hope to pull out some 18-24-inch diameter leaders and have them sawn into boards, which would most likely be stored in my unheated barn for months or years before I used it all (weekend woodworker).
I could have it kiln dried and stored in the barn. But if a board at 7 percent moisture is stored in the barn for a couple of years won’t it just revert to outside moisture content?
Will I end up with the same quality wood and moister content if I just let it air dry for free in the barn for the same two years?
gaf
Replies
Gaf, regardless of whether a wood has been kiln dried or airdried, it will seek its Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) based on the relative humidity of its surroundings.
As for airdrying maple cut fresh from the tree, it will be saturated with moisture...and maple is not the easiest of woods to airdry. It has very poor decay resistance and it also experiences a lot of shrinkage. This means you have to get its surface moisture content down below 20% early on in the drying process (by assuring that it is exposed to gentle air flow), or it will tend to bluestain. Also, it's important to seal the end grain as soon after cutting as possible (to prevent end checks)...and make sure the drying pile is well weighted down (to minimized cupping and twisting).
Edited 9/17/2004 8:24 am ET by Jon Arno
Maple is very, very prone to sticker stain. I suggest you drive the lumber to the kiln and try to get it in the same day it's sawn. Sticker stain runs very deeply into a board and will ruin the lumber for anything but paint grade stock. Sticker stain occurs in woods whose moisture content is above 18% and the only way to avoid sticker stain is to get the moisture content of the wood below 18% as quickly as possible.
There are ways of avoiding sticker stain and still air dry your wood but it entails changing your stickers weekly until the moisture content is below 18%.
Many say that acid rain and the increased acidity in the tree tissue is the cause of this sticker stain these days.
Lee
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