Chris Barton
02-11-2007, 7:37 AM
Stop you from working? Sounds like a nutty question right but, I keep a very close eye on the relative humidity in my basement shop. Generally, it runs between 50-70% year round with lower numbers this time of year with the cold forcing it down. But, with the extended period of colder than normal temperatures for the past few weeks the RH in my shop has droped to 35% (YIKES). I have a curly maple hutch project I have been dragging out for about 6 months now and one of the glue ups has started to cup. This is new wood movement since I have checked this piece several times and it was always within tolerances for furniture work. The wood itself is metering out at around 8% moisture content. I have completely stoped work on this project since I don't want to have a piece that will blow the jointery apart when the RH rises back to "normal." What do you do about this? By the way, the lumber I am using has been acclimated to my basement shop for over a year.