How long should I wait?

[Jason Christenson]

I'm building (or at least trying to build) this truck out of this pile of poplar. Today I milled the parts down to about 1/8" over thickness. How long should I let them sit before I mill them down to final thickness so I can really get started?

Thanks.

Jason

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[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

I would give it 2 weeks to acclimate properly to your shop environment.

[Jason Christenson]

I would give it 2 weeks to acclimate properly to your shop environment.

Thanks. My dead line is August 10th so two weeks is pretty doable.

[John TenEyck]

I never wait longer than over night. However, I only use wood at equilibrium MC with my shop. Usually, that means any new wood I buy sits at least two weeks before I use it. If your wood was straight and flat when you stickered it today, and it still is tomorrow, I would proceed.

John

[Brian Tymchak]

I generally wait a couple days, maybe 3-4 if I did heavy milling such as resawing which exposed the center of the board. I would also recommend that you put the short pieces in their own stack, get all the stickers aligned in both stacks, and then put some weight on the top of both stacks. This will help keep the top pieces from cupping while they reach equilibrium with your shop humidity.

[Larry Fox]

I generally use wood from a mill in the same area where I live so I generally feel comfortable milling straight away. For the size pieces your project requires I would not hesitate to get going immediately.

[Kelly Colin Mark]

I took my kids with me to Lee Valley last weekend and got stuck agreeing to build something similar. In my case, it's the fire truck below. Looked at the plans later and realized it might be more work than I had expected - my shop time is limited as it is, but I can't say no to my kids...

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[Richard Coers]

Not much information there Jason. Was it kiln dried or air dried? It didn't just come out of a tree did it?

[Jason Christenson]

...it's the fire truck below...

Yeah, that looks complicated. You should see the plans for the tractor though.

[Myk Rian]

I let this pile of cherry lumber sit for 2 weeks...
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Before building this...
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After milling, I let it sit for a day or 2 before using.