Wood drying question

[Brad McCollum]

A customer wants me to build a table for him from some wood he has had milled and kiln dried, poplar. The wood has sentimental value to him, it was cut from the family farm. The question is this, how long should I let the wood set after it comes out of the kiln before building the table? I would think it would need to "relax" some after KD to allow for shrinkage, but how long? The boards were rough cut to 8/4 plus, 8" wide and about 10 feet long. I don't know what % they are being taken down to this is a small commercial kiln.
Thanks for your help.

[Jim Matthews]

What sort of Memphis weather has blown through, this year?
Are both your shop and the destination both air conditioned?

I would guesstimate two weeks on stickers before any wane or twist would present itself.
I suppose the supplier would be a decent starting point.

I work out of a damp basement in Southern Mass - some of my older stash is dead straight,
while most of last year's lot looks like a swizzle stick...

jim
wpt, ma

[Kevin Bourque]

As a general rule of thumb, the moisture content of the wood should match the moisture content of the house it's going into.
If you don't have a wood moisture meter you should buy one. They are relatively inexpensive.

[Cody Colston]

You can get a General pin-type moisture meter from the BORG for around $30 that is fairly accurate. Check the MC of the lumber in several places and get the average. It should be somewhere between 6% and 8% MC right out of the kiln.

Wood does not need to "relax" if it's properly kiln dried. It will have already been conditioned to relieve the drying stresses. Also, it will not continue shrinking once it is removed from the kiln but will immediately begin expanding as it absorbs moisture in an attempt to reach EMC with it's environment which will be wetter than the kiln.

The best thing you can do is to work it asap so that the wood is still near the kiln-dried MC when the table is finished, assuming it will be placed inside an air-conditioned home.

[Scott T Smith]

You can get a General pin-type moisture meter from the BORG for around $30 that is fairly accurate. Check the MC of the lumber in several places and get the average. It should be somewhere between 6% and 8% MC right out of the kiln.

Wood does not need to "relax" if it's properly kiln dried. It will have already been conditioned to relieve the drying stresses. Also, it will not continue shrinking once it is removed from the kiln but will immediately begin expanding as it absorbs moisture in an attempt to reach EMC with it's environment which will be wetter than the kiln.

The best thing you can do is to work it asap so that the wood is still near the kiln-dried MC when the table is finished, assuming it will be placed inside an air-conditioned home.

I concur with Cody's advice. Properly dried and conditioned, it should be ready to work. If the commercial kiln is drying the wood for furniture use, it should be between 6% - 8%. If they are drying it for structural use, it will be much higher. Make sure that your customer talks with them and that everybody is on the same page regarding final targeted MC%.