I ask this question as a newbie, who is planning on making some patio furniture out of Cedar. Prices for air dried are half of what KD is, and since I will be storing, building and using the furniture outside, my better judgment says not to use KD b/c it will gain moisture at some point in the process. Then again, I would like to plan on building with it as soon as I pick it up. I don’t plan on sealing this with anything except maybe a stain to match our deck.
Then again, since Cedar is an outdoor material, why sell it Kiln dried anyway?
Thanks, PJ
Replies
Buy the air dried-- it'll probably be at around 15- 18% moisture content (MC) although that will depend on the geographical location the material was air dried in and how it's been stored since it was air dried. If it's been air dried in Arizona it might be as low as 8% MC, whereas if it was air dried in coastal Maine it might be as much as 18% or 19%. It could be higher than this if the air drying process wasn't completed for some reason.
Once you've got it, store it outside under shelter to bring it down to and keep it at whatever your location will typically dry it out to at this time of year.
Work on the parts as you need them. If you have a nice dry workshop bring the bits in you want to work on during the day and store them outside under shelter until you can get back to the job. Keep up this routine until you get the job complete.
This way you'll be keeping and working your wood roughly in the the same conditions that your finished pieces will end up in and it'll therefore most likely to be stable.
You're right. There doesn't seem much point in spending double the money for kiln dried stuff. As you say, it will take on moisture once your furniture is completed, then kept and used in a sheltered exterior location. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
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