Hi all, pretty new to woodworking, but haven’t found a good answer around to my particular situation . . .
I’m building my first sturdy workbench. Purchased hickory that had been harvested 2+ years ago stored outside in Wisconsin, covered and stickered.
Moisture meter readings on the pieces are all over the place. Some pieces show 5% or 6%, others 15%+. About a week after cutting down to rough size and some light jointing, there has been a little movement in the pieces but not a ton. Pieces with initially high moisture have gone down a bit (15% to say 13%).
Question is if i finish the project with the high moisture pieces, am I at risk of a lot of movement? In particular pieces used for the benchtop, which will be ~3 in thick, edge grain up.
It’s a workbench so I’m not particularly worried about appearance, but don’t want to have rework down the road due to joint failures or other issues.
Thanks for any intel!
Replies
The key is to have all of the material at the same moisture % when you glue it up. It will ALL move, but having layers moving in opposite directions is a baaaaad idea. Even if the glue holds you could wind up with a washboard surface.
Get it all to somewhere around 10%, you'll probably have some more milling to do when you get there. How thick the individual layers are will dictate how long your wait will be.
I would not trust that moisture meter. It's unlikely air-dried lumber from Wisconsin would be at 5%.
Is the lumber 4/4? Is it now in a climate controlled space?
If so, I would sticker it and check the moisture readings every few days. Even though the moisture meter might be inaccurate, you can use it for relative measurements. Once the whole stack is within a percent or two, it's ready.
Mike
The EMC of wood in Wisconsin, month by month.
How thick is the lumber? What type of bench are you building? The size of the legs and attachment to the top can make a difference.
Store it stickered in your shop for a month before you do anything else, then re-test it.
The longer you store it, the more likely it will all be at the same MC.
If it is all from the same tree (do the boards match?) and stored together, it is reasonable to expect the MC to be the same.
Definitely bring into shop, sticker, and test after a month. Wait till the whole batch stabilizes to shop moisture level. Hickory is not a particularly stable wood, so bringing in from outside and using at 15% is asking for a lot of headaches later. Patience is your friend here. And let us know how the bench turns out. It is always exciting to get a great bench (I bought mine at an auction 46 years ago.)
At 3" thick you better seal the end grain to prevent it from splitting.
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