Air Dried Wood

[Dean D Collins]

I always use kiln dried wood and have never used air dried. I purchased a length of wood on the internet and lo and behold it is air dried wrapped in wax. My question is, when and what is the best way to remove the wax? Is there any way of telling long the wax has been on the wood or how dry the wood is now????
Dean

[lowell holmes]

I think I would quiz the vendor on specifics. You should know if the wood is dry when you open it up.

[John K Jordan]

Usually wet wood is waxed (to keep it from drying too fast), not air dried wood.

To remove wax from turning squares I have used a card scraper. I'll sometimes do this to accelerate the drying.

JKJ

[Jim Becker]

Usually wet wood is waxed (to keep it from drying too fast), not air dried wood.J
Exactly...this is a popular way to deliver wood intended for turning. Most air dried lumber is delivered exactly the same way as kiln dried, in my experience.

[Bill Dufour]

I would ask what is climate was the wood where the wood was dried. Here today the humidity was 21% and it felt cold and damp. Many places in the world probably never go as low as 21% unless it freezes in winter.
Bill
Modesto, CA. USA

[John K Jordan]

I would ask what is climate was the wood where the wood was dried. Here today the humidity was 21% and it felt cold and damp. Many places in the world probably never go as low as 21% unless it freezes in winter.
Bill
Modesto, CA. USA

Good point.

This shows the EMC (Equilibrium Moisture Content, percent) of air dried wood in a few places in the US (from Jan thru Dec):
TN Memphis 13.8 13.1 12.4 12.2 12.7 12.8 13.0 13.1 13.2 12.5 12.9 13.6
HI Honolulu 13.3 12.8 11.9 11.3 10.8 10.6 10.6 10.7 10.8 11.3 12.1 12.9
CA Fresno 16.4 14.1 12.6 10.6 9.1 8.2 7.8 8.4 9.2 10.3 13.4 16.6
NM Albuquerque 10.4 9.3 8.0 6.9 6.8 6.4 8.0 8.9 8.7 8.6 9.6 10.7
NV Las Vegas 8.5 7.7 7.0 5.5 5.0 4.0 4.5 5.2 5.3 5.9 7.2 8.4
This data is from table 3 in this document: https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr117.pdf

The average for the year for these areas (I know, averages of averages) are 12.9, 11.6, 11.4, 8.5, and 6.2

The article is fascinating too, very useful reading for everyone who works with wood.

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

... Is there any way of telling long the wax has been on the wood or how dry the wood is now????

Some ways to do this:

Most accurate is the oven dry method: cut a slice preferable from the center, remove the wax, weigh, dry in an oven, weigh again, calculate moisture content.

Moisture meter: I use a pinless meter which seems to work through the wax. I don't have a pin type but I think you can get one cheaply.

An approximation: measure the volume of a piece carefully, weigh, then compare the density with a reported value for that species. Wet wood will weigh more. Note that wood from even the same tree can vary in density so this is not a proof.

If the wax is removed completely, wet wood will feel cooler but that's pretty subjective.

I have no idea how to tell how long the wax has been on the wood. I have exotic blanks that were on my shelf for over 10 years and I've never noticed any thing obvious when I cut into them. Often wood will be darker on the surface and a short distance down into the wood but I don't know if it's related to wax or how long the wax has been on. My gut feeling is besides slowing the moisture movement, wax is benign.

JKJ