Wood Project to send to the ARIZONA DESERT - Best Wood to Use ??? - Moisture Content

[Brad Wardman]

SMC members suggested I post here...I am making a project for a friend who lives in the Arizona desert (I am in Southern Missouri)...

Question is, what would be a good dimensionally stable type of lumber that will handle the climate change well ?? What should the moisture content be before I work the project ??

This will be a cnc carved sign, approximately 12" x 24" and 5/8" thick. Sealed & painted.

Thanks,

Brad

[dwacker]

Start at 8% like you always do. A 12" wide chunk of Mahogany is going to move .04" if it drops to 0% from 8%.

http://www.woodworkerssource.com/movement.php

Don

[thewoodwhisperer]

You can also use the Woodshop Widget to do some movement calculations: http://woodshopwidget.com/

But to answer your question, this is a tall order. Just about any wood you use is going to have a difficult transition ahead. The best thing you can do is make sure the project is built in the most stable way possible. For instance, if you have a table top, consider breadboard ends. If you have mortise and tenon joints, consider pegging/drawboring them.

And concerning the wood itself, you might want to look at certain species, but you might have even more luck looking for specific cuts. Generally speaking, riftsawn and quartersawn boards are more stable than flat sawn.

So if it were me, I would use all quartersawn/riftsawn lumber and I would work with a de-humidifier in the shop at all times. I am honestly not sure how much of a difference the dehumidifier would make but it might help bring the ambient humidity level down. Then again, if you have a drafty shop it just might do absolutely nothing.

[rmac]

Just about any wood you use is going to have a difficult transition ahead. The best thing you can do is make sure the project is built in the most stable way possible. For instance, if you have a table top, consider breadboard ends. If you have mortise and tenon joints, consider pegging/drawboring them.

C'mon, now. He's talking about a single 12" x 24" x 5/8" board, carved into a sign. It'll shrink a little bit as it dries out. No big deal.

-- Russ

[thewoodwhisperer]

Well, evidently I misread his post. I don't know many signs that have mortise and tenon joints, lol.

[Beechwood Chip]

C'mon, now. He's talking about a single 12" x 24" x 5/8" board, carved into a sign. It'll shrink a little bit as it dries out. No big deal.

It might warp, so quartersawn wood and breadboard ends might help.

[Bombarde16]

OK, for a plank carved into a sign, it's not much of an issue. But, it is a worthwhile exercise to consider what one might do if this were a more complex project. Hypothetically, if I (living in the dripping wet swamp that is a Chicagoland summer) had to build a piece for someone in Riyadh, what would I do?

A dehumidifier isn't going to get things dry enough to mimic desert conditions. I once successfully resurrected a water-damaged cell phone by leaving it disassembled overnight in a ziploc bag filled with uncooked rice. (Dry rice is as thorough a dessicant as most normal people are likely to have access to.)

Could this concept be expanded for woodworking? A large, sealable plastic sack...perhaps a plastic box filled with dry rice. The workpieces live inside the dry box, except when being machined. Piece comes out of the box, run it over the saw and then back into the box. Not the most convenient way to work and not scalable for large project, but it would keep the workpieces dry during the milling phase. Glue-ups and finishing would be another headache altogether.