Finally building my wife her farm table

[Dave Aronson]

Well, I have had a ton of rough cut walnut in air drying in my garage stickered for 3 years. I got the lumber from the back of a trailer via a friend that referred him. It is finally time for me to build her the farm table of her dreams. Started milling the lumber and wow I have never dealt with lumber this rough. Mega twisting, splitting, etc...

It was nice to hear the tools in my shop humming again, but this lumber is going to drive me crazy.

Just needed to vent.

[William C Rogers]

Would like to see your progress. I want to do the same thing. I have had my hard maple for 2 years, so I guess I have another year to start.

[Mike Fusick]

Pictures! Worth a thousand words...

[Jesse Busenitz]

Dave, is it twisting as you mill it? How often did you have a sticker? I use a ton of Oak and Walnut that I air dried myself, and there are occasional pieces that are warped, but the bulk of it is very stable.
I had mine stickered every 14"-16".... also I would assume it's dry but you might put a moisture meter to it and double check.

[Dave Aronson]

Dave, is it twisting as you mill it? How often did you have a sticker? I use a ton of Oak and Walnut that I air dried myself, and there are occasional pieces that are warped, but the bulk of it is very stable.
I had mine stickered every 14"-16".... also I would assume it's dry but you might put a moisture meter to it and double check.

It isn't twisting as I mill it. It seems very stable. Adding pictures because I know it didn't happen unless I post them :-) It is interesting to see the color variations in the wood of the air dried lumber versus the kiln dried walnut that I have worked with before.

IMAG0950.jpgIMAG0951.jpgIMAG0953.jpgIMAG0952.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Gee, the rough lumber looked pretty darned good to me. The planed stuff looked a little strange, like the grain is changing direction at nearly consistent spacing. Maybe that's what caused it to twist, etc. Splits and twists usually mean the tree had stresses in it or was dried too quickly at some point of the process. Most of the walnut I dry stays nice and flat, one of the easier woods to dry of the ones I've dealt with, so when I get split or warped boards in a stack of otherwise good ones I think it resulted from internal stresses. If the whole stack is split and warped, however, that's more likely the result of poor drying.

You'll get lots of opinions as to whether AD has more color, brighter colors, different colors, whatever, compared to KD. To me, KD looks the same unless it was steamed. Most color differences seem to be the due to the tree itself as far as I can tell.

I think anyone who dries wood would benefit from a moisture meter. 4/4 stock will dry down to 12 - 14% MC in 3 or 4 months in my area. The old adage about waiting a year per inch results in a lot more waiting than necessary. And once it gets to 12 -14% in my area no amount of waiting will get it lower. You have to move it to some environment where the RH is lower in order to get it down to 6 - 8% MC. Working wood of unknown MC has caused many a surprise.

Good luck with the project.

John

[Mel Fulks]

I have not noticed color difference between AD and KD ,except in walnut ,and I think that is from a steaming process they
use to even out the color.

[Peter Aeschliman]

You're bringing back sad memories for me here!

A buddy of mine who grew up in Boise had a walnut tree in the front yard of his childhood home. It got diseased, so his dad (also a woodworker) had it cut down and sawn into rough lumber. Unfortunately he didn't sticker it or seal it at all, and the dry Boise air had its way with it. Fast forward a few years and his father passed away in a cycling accident.

As a wedding gift for my friend, I made him a big expanding dining table out of that walnut. He brought it to Seattle from Boise. It was a great pleasure to make him such a meaningful gift... His dad wouldn't get to meet his children, but his memory lives on through family gatherings.

Long story short, the lumber was a train wreck to work with. Ended up having to toss probably 2/3 of the volume, and the rest had to be milled very thin and be laminated in order to make the top. I filled a trailer with sawdust from milling.

So, although I feel for you, trust me, that walnut ain't all that bad!

[Dave Aronson]

Thanks guys, I hope the table comes out well. Amazing story Peter, I'm sure your table looked awesome and is well loved.

[Randy Red Bemont]

When you get it looking like a table post some pics. I would love to see how it looks. I did a farm table years ago and it was a very fun project.

Red