Wood moisture
#7
I've cut a few trees off the family farm had them milled to build a crib and dresser the problem is I need to be building but my wood is at 5 to 13 percent moisture is it safe to build with that much moisture or will it destroy my projects
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#8
Around 6% to 8% for interior projects
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#9
(05-16-2021, 03:35 PM)Ben massey Wrote: I've cut a few trees off the family farm had them milled to build a crib and dresser the problem is I need to be building but my wood is at 5 to 13 percent moisture is it safe to build with that much moisture or will it destroy my projects

The moisture content of "dry" wood depends on where you are.

If you live in very humid areas, then air dried wood in the shop will have a higher moisture content than if you are in, say, Phoenix AZ.

Of course, if you build something in a very humid shop and then carry it into a house where the air is dried out by an air conditioner, then the wood will dry further once it is indoors. Some finishes will make that drying much, much slower.

If you post your general location, there are members here who know where to look up the tables for nominal moisture content of dry wood for your area.
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#10
(05-16-2021, 03:35 PM)Ben massey Wrote: I've cut a few trees off the family farm had them milled to build a crib and dresser the problem is I need to be building but my wood is at 5 to 13 percent moisture is it safe to build with that much moisture or will it destroy my projects

How are you measuring the moisture? Just that's a fairly wide range, but all could be considered "dry", depending on where you live. 

Wood looses moisture until it matches the environment it's in. Like mentioned,above Arizona in the summer might dry your wood down to 5%. Where i live 13% is about as dry as wood ever gets. Leave  wood for 100 years, and it wont get any dryer. Wood never gets to 0% moisture without abuse like an oven or microwave, and you don't want to ge there. 

So 2 suggestions. Measure some wood that's currently in your house. If that's 6% or 12%, that's the number you want to aim for. If your wood is higher than that, then stack some of it up in the house, on sticks so air can circulate, and point a fan at the stack. Leave it there for a few weeks, and it should adjust to the correct level. Around 8% is pretty normal for most of the USA. 

Like I said, I can build with 13% wood because 12% is the average equilibrium here, so "close enough". People in Arizona can't because the wood will continue to shrink and cause problems.
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#11
Every winter wood inside my house gets down to 6-7% MC, so any wood I use must be kiln dried down to that level at some point. If it has migrated back up to 10 or even 13% that is okay to work with. 

Obviously you want all the wood for the project to be fully acclimated to the shop and the same MC.
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#12
The moisture content of wood for furniture should be in the range of 6-8%. It is at this level of water content material is easiest to machine, does not crack and does not splinter. In some situations, the humidity of the lumber must be increased to 20-30%, which is usually used in the manufacture of bent pieces of solid or laminated wood.
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