wood_shop_dad Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Wood drying noobie here. Had a tree sliced up into boards, some 2+ inches, some 1+ inches thick. The stickered stack has been on my covered back patio with pretty good airflow since March 2010. I live in the Portland, Oregon area. The wood has had three full summers of drying time. I am going to move the stack into my shop which is a detached building built on a concrete slab, fully insulated, but only heated when I am in there working.I was thinking of pointing a couple of box fans at it and maybe putting a dehumidifier in there.I don't have a moisture meter. Any thoughts on if I can get this wood down to furniture-type moisture content by patiently waiting it out this way? Is there any concern of any additional moisture in the shop by bringing this wood inside and possibly rusting my cast iron surfaces? They are waxed and maintained like most people do. The Maple stack measures 3 feet high, 3.5 feet wide, and 9 feet long. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 If they've been drying that long they are as dry as they're going to get without artificial means.. Your area is pretty humid and I would guess that they are sitting around 12% MC +/-.. If it were me I would bring them into the shop, let them acclimate for a couple weeks and use them. I wouldn't want to artificially dry them too much below your ambient moisture levels as they will swell / move once they are removed from the drier environment. Air dried lumber is going to have a little higher MC by nature; personally I prefer to work with air dried over kiln. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sac Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 If it has been drying for three full summers, I dare to say that it is as dry as it is going to get. I wouldnt worry about bringing excess moisture into the shop. if you want to test it for moisture, cut off a chunk and take it to a place that sells meters and test it. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood_shop_dad Posted September 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Thanks guys, will the projects be affected when brought into the house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfitz Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 You left 1" and 2" slabs of maple on a covered back patio for 3 full summer? Oh no......I have heard nightmare stories about that. I am afraid it could all be ruined. You should stack it up by the side of the road as fast as you can so I - er, I mean the proper authorities- can properly dispose of it...... I agree with Sac and Boatworks - that's a good time to dry those out. Getting them inside is a good idea and if you really wanted to dry them out a small dehumidifier in your shop could help. But if you dry them too much they will most likely move or swell when moved outside the shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Thanks guys, will the projects be affected when brought into the house? It shouldn't. As long as you're moving them into a similar environment (humidity wise) there shouldn't be much noticable change. Where probelms occur is when they are exposed to major changes in a short period of time. Cut them up and turn them into something fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood_shop_dad Posted September 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Thank you all for the sanity check, I tend to over-analyze things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howtoworkwood Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Provided that you don't run the heating on flat out the entire time in your house you should be fine. There should be no risk of excess moisture in the wood making the metal in your garage rust. Good luck with the project, what are you planning on making? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHoleInOne Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 I ran this by my friend and furniture maker/hardwood seller... Bob Kloes. He suggested you would be money ahead if you find someone to kiln dry the wood for you. He advised air drying thick stock like that won't get it dry enough to work it into something. Air drying thick stock takes a long time to do it properly. You do have the ends of the boards sealed properly? Kiln drying closes and compresses the wood structure making it stable. I have known Bob for years and is a stand up guy, purchased hundreds of board feet of lumber from him and never a problem. This is his web-site. http://www.bobkloes.com You can drop him an e-mail if you like. I have already provided this link to him...should you have any questions. Tell him Ace sent ya!! -Ace- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted September 24, 2012 Report Share Posted September 24, 2012 Bob Kloes. He suggested you would be money ahead if you find someone to kiln dry the wood for you. He advised air drying thick stock like that won't get it dry enough to work it into something. Air drying thick stock takes a long time to do it properly . . . Kiln drying closes and compresses the wood structure making it stable. This is his web-site. http://www.bobkloes.com -Ace- I'm not going to disagree with what was said, but I will say that I don't completely agree. For the sake of trying to be neutral on the topic I'll simply voice some 'Food for Thought' and give my own experiences. One of the issues I've run into more often times than not when working kiln dried lumber is that fine edges tend to be more brittle than air dried (particularly when using hand tools; It seems that tear out and grain run happens more frequently). Also, typically after jointing an edge then ripping individual pieces, I almost always have to over size the rips so that I have enough material left to re-joint and straighten the bow. Not saying that this doesn't happen with air dried material, but I haven't run into this issue as much when compared to kiln.. Granted this issue almost entirely lies with the experience of the person monitoring the drying; but time is money with most, and the faster they can get a product turned around the better (at least for them). What I'm getting at is that case hardened lumber seems to be more prevalent than not. As long as the operator maintains a level of awareness and does not rush the process it can be very good lumber (and in this situation CAN be more stable than air dried). Another point that I would like to bring up is that almost all of the furniture that is considered Heirloom, Old World, Antique, etc (use your own phrase for pieces that are older than you and your parents ) was all air dried and has lasted hundreds of years. With the proper selection of cuts and use, I don't know that there is much of a downside. Granted kiln may be more stable for production work (by this I refer to making something in one kind of environment and shipping it off to somewhere completely different) as the cells in the wood are more stabilized or fixed, but for most of us who keep the end products close to home (i.e. in a similar environment to what it was milled)..... I still use kiln dried material regularly, but given the option (right or wrong) I still prefer air dried . Nothing against someone that disagrees with me; it's just my opinions FWIW... This topic might actually be a cool separate thread ; would be interested to hear others experience and what they've encountered.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdaddy68 Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 Also to add to what has already been said, i would make sure when you restack in the shop that you either place plastic or any other moisture barrier between the wood and the concrete floor, or make sure the first layer is well up off the floor, i usually do both if my racks are all full. Another thing is that when you do go to milling the wood, it is a good practice to take the same amount of wood off opposite sides to help the wood to stay straighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wood Goddess Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 I'm not going to disagree with what was said, but I will say that I don't completely agree. For the sake of trying to be neutral on the topic I'll simply voice some 'Food for Thought' and give my own experiences. One of the issues I've run into more often times than not when working kiln dried lumber is that fine edges tend to be more brittle than air dried (particularly when using hand tools; It seems that tear out and grain run happens more frequently). Also, typically after jointing an edge then ripping individual pieces, I almost always have to over size the rips so that I have enough material left to re-joint and straighten the bow. Not saying that this doesn't happen with air dried material, but I haven't run into this issue as much when compared to kiln.. Granted this issue almost entirely lies with the experience of the person monitoring the drying; but time is money with most, and the faster they can get a product turned around the better (at least for them). What I'm getting at is that case hardened lumber seems to be more prevalent than not. As long as the operator maintains a level of awareness and does not rush the process it can be very good lumber (and in this situation CAN be more stable than air dried). Another point that I would like to bring up is that almost all of the furniture that is considered Heirloom, Old World, Antique, etc (use your own phrase for pieces that are older than you and your parents ) was all air dried and has lasted hundreds of years. With the proper selection of cuts and use, I don't know that there is much of a downside. Granted kiln may be more stable for production work (by this I refer to making something in one kind of environment and shipping it off to somewhere completely different) as the cells in the wood are more stabilized or fixed, but for most of us who keep the end products close to home (i.e. in a similar environment to what it was milled)..... I still use kiln dried material regularly, but given the option (right or wrong) I still prefer air dried . Nothing against someone that disagrees with me; it's just my opinions FWIW... This topic might actually be a cool separate thread ; would be interested to hear others experience and what they've encountered.. I think that the kiln drying way is a fancy way! I've found a great little piece about different types of drying put out by the University of Kentucky Extension Cooperative Office. As a newbie to wood I found it fascinating. I will assume that you have your own kiln chamber!? Will you tell me about it? Can you buy them? Can you build it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimV Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 My rule of thumb for air drying stock is 1 year per inch of thickness. I'm in the Midwest (St. Louis) and it gets as dry as it is going to get by that time. I pull it into my shop when I have space and let it set for anywhere between 2 weeks and forever before I use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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