Thoughts on acclimatizing wood?

[Brian Penning]

Interested in your thoughts on acclimatizing wood in the shop.
Up here in Montreal wood is stored outside in covered or protected warehouses. Not all are heated and these days it's cold, damp and humid.
These are just questions I can think of offhand...

Do you acclimatize wood before staring a project?
How important do you think it is?
Ever paid the price for NOT acclimatizing the wood before starting?
How long do you acclimatize wood for?
Does it depend on the wood species?
Would a moisture meter help?
Even if you do acclimatize the wood and build the project, wouldn't there be changes to the wood once moved into a warm dry house?
Some lumber must sometimes be unsold for months or even years so if it's been kiln dried hasn't the moisture content been increased to the point where it's more or less at the level of air-dried?

TIA for any and all replies

[Chuck Wintle]

Brian,

Wood should be acclimatized as mush as is possible. A few weeks for wood coming from a cold damp warehouse at least.

[Tony Bilello]

If the wood was kiln dried 6-8% and protected from rain and snow, I do not acclimatize. So far, I have never had a problem. My shop is a metal building not heated or cooled and I use wood that I have had over a year and don't have a problem. Good woodworking practices such as designing for expansion and contraction and good joinery will offset any problems.

I assume you are talking about quality hardwoods. Construction grade lumber is a gamble under any conditions.