I just purchased some Hickory for a couple of end tables. My supplier keeps his wood outside in an unheated barn. I mill my wood in an unheated garage. The outside tempature is 40 degees and rainy.
I do all my handplaning, joinery and assembly in my heated basement. After getting the wood close to the final dimensions, should I let the wood rest for a couple of days to equalize in the basement before I do the final milling?
Replies
One of my suppliers stored his stock as your's does and I tried to let the boards acclimate indoors in my shop before I cut . A check on the moisture content wouldn't hurt . You should have no trouble imo .
good luck dusty
Three words come to my mind. Moisture meter and time ! The Barn and your prepshop are Not going to get you close enough to normalization of the stock. Sticker and moisture test in your basement shop and use when ready.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
"...for a couple of days...." Probably quite longer than that! Given your situation, I don't know how you can get by without a moisture meter, unless you're willing to let the wood sit in your basement for a few weeks (for good measure).
The Delmhorst J-Lite is a quality meter for $99.90 at Amazon <click here>. Another option would be the Timbercheck, which isn't quite as versatile, but would certainly work for your purposes and save you $40 ($59.95) <click here>.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
What moisture content should I be looking for?
The kiln-dried stuff I bought recently (just got my Delmhorst) came in between 7% and 8%. Do you have some wood in your house that you can poke? Check it out and see where it's at.
I haven't had my meter long enough to guess what I could "get away with" as far as moving a just-made piece of furniture into the house.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
6 - 9 % is considered optimum by most sources .
tcbaldmtn,
Hickory is a scary wood to start with.. a lot of wood movement which is why it wants to split itself so easily..
Wouldn't you feel terrible if after you spend all that time it split itself right after you brought it into the house?
I would carefully try to replicate indoor conditions in your shop for at least a month prior to putting all that work into the piece.. Wood that is less split prone I might do in a week or so if I was sure that it was dry really dry when I started..
7% moisture is what I would aim for.. measured oon the inside not the surface..
Moisture content is not a problem, as long as you know what it is. You really need a good moisture meter and an understanding of wood movement. As long as you build your projects with these two things in mind and build using techniques to accomidate wood movement you want have any problems. A good book to check out is Understanding Wood.
Thomas
I wrote the following piece for another discussion but it applies to your inquiry:
"The concept of an ideal humidity for a shop is a myth, as is the concept that there is an ideal moisture content for wood. You can build perfectly good furniture in the Pacific Northwest during the rainy season with wood having a high moisture content and you can build equally good furniture in a New England shop in the dead of winter when the humidity and the moisture content of the wood are just a few points above zero. If the furniture is properly designed and built, a piece built in one extreme of environment will be able to go to the other extreme without any problems.
What you need to strive for is maintaining a relatively constant humidity level in the shop and the wood from week to week. It can be drier in the winter and wetter in the summer if that is what the local climate dictates, but it is sudden day to day swings that make woodworking difficult because then the wood will be moving as you work with it.
So don't worry about your shop's humidity levels other than trying to keep them relatively stable. Turning on the heat or the air conditioning only when you are in the shop would not be a good idea for instance.
Whatever is comfortable for you to work in is fine for the wood. As long as you maintain a fairly stable relative humidity in the shop, store your wood in the shop, and allow new wood to adjust to your shop's humidity before you use it, the actual numbers mean very little."
John White
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