Dos and don'ts for air-dried hardwood

[RonBlue]

I bought some cherry, maple and butternut from an old timer in central Vermont. He had logs sawn at his house and then stacked and stickered it in various out buildings. This summer he advertised it for sale @ $0.75 a board foot. The cherry and butternut were mostly 4/4 and not select grade. The maple was 6/4 boards 11 or 12 inches wide which went for $2.00 BF. Some of the wood had worm holes, too.

 

So I left with some nice looking boards. That was in early June and I have stored them in my garage workshop since, except for two weeks in July when I stacked and stickered them in the van while we went on vacation. I haven't seen any sign of beetle larvae and I was hoping the van would be warm enough out in the sun to make sure no bugs were surviving.

 

I don't know the moisture content now. The seller had a meter and showed me that the boards were around 15% give or take. I want to use the wood for building furniture but I am leary of the shrinkage.

I thought it might be the case that used in the right situations, the right parts of furniture that the risks would be less.

 

The butternut might be nice in stick and cope door panels. The cherry and maple might make a good table top, if joined propery to allow shrinkage.

 

What are your suggestions based on your experiences?

[wdwerker]

If you don't have a moisture meter you can cut a piece off and weigh it on an accurate digital scale. Record the weight and check it every few days. If the weight keeps dropping the wood is still drying out. If it stays stable you are ready to go. I got an accurate scale at Costco for about $30 , a moisture meter is around $80.

[mds2]

I grabbed a moisture meter off of amazon last week for $15. 

[wdwerker]

Make sure to read the instructions and correct for the species of wood ! There should be a chart.