Moisture Meter/ Drying Stock

[George Bokros]

A friend is going to give me some cherry from a tree he cut down on his property. He cut the tree down and had cut into planks late last year, August / Sep time frame. He has been air drying it in his unheated barn since it was sawn. He has it stickered and weighted down to air dry.

I know you need a moisture meter to tell if it is adequately dry, what is a good moisture meter and how much do they cost? I usually by kiln dried material so this will be all new to me.

What moisture content do you shoot for to prevent the wood from moving after milling?

Any other pointers you can give me will be appreciated.

TIA

George

[John TenEyck]

Hi George, I use a Lignomat Mini Ligno. http://www.lignomatusa.com/MoistureM...turemeters.htm You can buy it new for around $110. There are better instruments from both Lignomat and others, but this one has worked well for me. I cut my own lumber from local WNY hardwoods, air dry it until it's down to about 12 -14% MC, then bring inside and dry it to around 8% in a dehumidification kiln I built. Outside in your area it's unlikely the wood will dry much below 12%, and that's generally considered too high to use for furniture that will end up indoors. In your friend's barn it may dry a little lower, depending upon how hot it gets in there, but I really doubt it will get down in the neighborhood of 8% unless it's upstairs and gets direct sun on the roof a good part of the day - and that will be in late Spring or Summer. Now, I'm sure it's much higher, maybe even still above the fiber saturation point of around 28%.

I would leave it in your friends barn until at least the beginning of Summer, or even until Fall. It will be as low as it's going to ever get out there at that point. You can check it with your moisture meter from time to time to confirm. Then bring it into your shop and sticker it until the MC is in equilibrium with it before using it. If your shop is 50% RH the wood eventually will settle at about 9% MC.

I hope the wood dries nicely and you make some beautiful furniture with it.

John