So I recently got in on a cheap purchase of a couple claro walnut slabs. I was going to make a bench out of two bookmatched pieces that are about 5 ft x 1ft x 2″ thick. However, after I planed the top and bottom of each piece down, someone in the woodworking coop I belong to put a fancy humidity meter on them and they read about 15%.
Do I need to let the wood dry more?
Can I glue the two pieces together and then let them dry out so I can work on designing the legs in the meantime with the aid of the glued together benchtop?
thanks!
shawn
Replies
That depends on where you live. Here 15% is normal for wood stored outside. If you move the wood into the shop 60 days before using it will go down to max 11 % ( in the summer 14%). In a heated house it can go as low as 8%. but here that is never achieved . here 11% to 12% is a good working percentage that balances well between summer and winter.
Philip
In my opinion, 15% is pretty high. And, with it being 2" thick, I don't think it'll dry all that quickly. You need to let it dry more.
You can expect them to warp a bit as they dry, I would not glue them together until they are dry.
I would take them inside, let them dry out for several months, then try them again with the 'fancy humidity meter'!
how deep was the reading taken? they may be much wetter in the center.
Brian
Hi Brian,The reading was taken on the outside.... its some kind of light absorption meter or something so I would say at best its 15% and maybe more in the middle. Glad you mentioned that. thanksshawn
I cut and quarter slabbed some cherry to 1" thickness off my place up in OKLA 4 years ago. Stacked and stickered it in my shed here in the Houston area. Pulled some of it out couple of months ago and it works fine. As you may know, around here we are famous for high humidity. My shed probably gets to 120° in the summer. After planeing to 3/4", pieces up to 8" wide have not bowed, cupped or warped. Being quarter sawn greatly helps.
You have to plan for wood movement. I've seen lots of pieces ruined cause people (me included) did not. If you don't have an expansion coefficients table for all popular wood species, you need to get one and learn how to use it.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
If you're going to edge-glue the two pieces together, you should be fine with doing that at 15% MC. Wood loses moisture most rapidly through end grain, but the calculation for moisture loss is the rate for the grain orientation (end grain most rapidly, face grain and edge grain considerably lower) times the surface area of the exposed grain. In this case, the edge grain that you'll be putting together is a very small percentage of the total surface area of the boards, and won't appreciably affect the drying rate of the lumber overall.
One thing to remember is that before the advent of kiln drying, much furniture was made with air-dried stock, and a lot of it wasn't air-dried all that long. So long as the joints weren't cross-grain, they've survived at least 200 years intact.
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