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I purchased some rough cut red oak from a new source. He told me it has been "Air dried for 1 year". It was cheap, so I bought it.
I cross cut about a 3 foot section, and started to flatten it for a little table top. To me, It "Feels" wet. It smells wet, and it's hard to describe but the shavings and sawdust from working it feel moist.
The boards were about 10" wide, and 4/4... actually 7/8.. which by the time it's milled I can barely get 3/4".
But, is it simply that I am used to Kiln dried woods, and air dried has a different feel?
Is there a way for a laymen like me to say for sure, dang, this stuff is still wet?
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Strokes77 said:
I purchased some rough cut red oak from a new source. He told me it has been "Air dried for 1 year". It was cheap, so I bought it.
I cross cut about a 3 foot section, and started to flatten it for a little table top. To me, It "Feels" wet. It smells wet, and it's hard to describe but the shavings and sawdust from working it feel moist.
The boards were about 10" wide, and 4/4... actually 7/8.. which by the time it's milled I can barely get 3/4".
But, is it simply that I am used to Kiln dried woods, and air dried has a different feel?
Is there a way for a laymen like me to say for sure, dang, this stuff is still wet?
Invest in a moisture meter. Not terribly expensive and well worth it in the long run. If you have more (much more) time than money (again, the meters aren't terrifically expensive) you can weigh a small piece of the wood in question and continue to weigh it weekly as it is stacked with the rest. When it stops changing weight, it is dry. My a "small piece" I'm thinking something that weighs a pound or more and use a scale that can report in fractions of an ounce. This is considered to be a pretty darn good meter: http://www.amazon.com/Lignomat-USA-LTD-m...+moisture+meterMany choice come up in Amazon for less $$. My meter is an RF style but the name escapes me right now. I think it was about the same $100 price tag as you find for the Lignomat. But you have to be careful about how you use the RF meters as they are typically set up to work with material at least 3/4" thick and sometimes thicker. So you have to stack the wood to be sure you aren't somehow averaging in the moisture content of your bench with the material at hand.
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Doesn't say where you are, but if someone is close by that has a meter they could check it pretty quick for you. 1 year is not a long time for air drying. It is also a good idea to bring it inside for several months to let it acclimate and do what it is going to do. Before you work it. Best wishes.
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Where it spent that year is the critical item. High relative humidity means high moisture content.
S.O.P. for wood recently purchased should be to store in the workshop, open on all sides to the air, if possible, for at least a week. Doesn't matter if it was once in a dry kiln, it is now in equilibrium with the place it was stored, just as with air dried.
Some say kiss the wood. If it feels cool to the lips, it's too damp to use, unless you're in the keys. You can buy a meter and get spot readings if you like, or you can do as suggested, weigh a few grams cut from at least two inches back from an end, put it in the oven at 150 for a couple hours, or use one of those environmentally harmful incandescent bulbs, as I do, in a cardboard box. 15 watts overnight in an Amazon #2 box will do for it. Weigh, check difference, then put it in for a second night to verify it's oven dry.
FWIW, we used to calibrate our expensive meters against the bulb and box method on woods with unknown correction factors up at school. We also had controlled humidity storage at 45% RH. For us, a room, for you, keep a hygrometer on the wall in the shop and you'll know what acclimated wood is doing for MC.
Almost forgot. Air dry wood in my experience is more shaving, less dust, when working. Especially noticeable when using human powered edge tools.
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Strokes77 said:
To me, It "Feels" wet. It smells wet, and it's hard to describe but the shavings and sawdust from working it feel moist.
What you described is as specific as I get on wood moisture measurements. If if feels wet, it's wet. I suspect that when your wood-monger said it was "air-dried for 1 year" he was rounding up. 7/8" red oak should be plenty dry after a year. Also, 7/8" roughsawn is not 4/4. It should be 1" minimum to be sold as 4/4. Which means it should be sawn to 1-1/16" to 1-3/16" to allow for drying. I wouldn't buy wood from that guy again unless it's just a screaming bargain. He sounds unscrupulous.
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JustinTyson said:
[blockquote]Strokes77 said:
To me, It "Feels" wet. It smells wet, and it's hard to describe but the shavings and sawdust from working it feel moist.
What you described is as specific as I get on wood moisture measurements. If if feels wet, it's wet. I suspect that when your wood-monger said it was "air-dried for 1 year" he was rounding up. 7/8" red oak should be plenty dry after a year. Also, 7/8" roughsawn is not 4/4. It should be 1" minimum to be sold as 4/4. Which means it should be sawn to 1-1/16" to 1-3/16" to allow for drying. I wouldn't buy wood from that guy again unless it's just a screaming bargain. He sounds unscrupulous.
[/blockquote] Thank you for confirming my suspicions. I wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt because of my lack of experience.
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For what it's worth...
It's been reported that Disston seasoned their Apple Wood for their handles outdoors for at least three years. Then kiln dried it for a couple days before processing it.
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Air drying takes 2 years for 1 inch of lumber.
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Dennis Puskar said:
Air drying takes 2 years for 1 inch of lumber.
Nope. All depends on where it is. Red oak outdoors comes inside after 3 months, done in six total. http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr121.pdfMost places don't want to waste money boiling water away in a kiln, so they stack outdoors first few months. At 20% there's not much left, especially when you consider red oak averages ~75% to start. Get the Wood Handbook here free. http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/products/public...eader_id=p Chapter four has the RH/MC equilibrium tables, and LOTS of great wood science throughout.
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Just my 2 cents since I am not an expert, but it could have been drying for a year and still be pretty wet. It needs to be stacked with stickers to alloy air flow thru it. If it was stacked solid and placed where there wasn't any air flow, a year isn't nearly enough time.
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