Final seasoning of QSWO. Now what?

[Scott Winners]

It cost me an eyebrow, but I brought home and rough cut what I need for a top and front apron for a hall table build next year. I still need three aprons, four legs and four stretchers. I would like to have everything rough cut and seasoning in my office by the end of may 2020 or so for +/- march 2021 build.

1. Besides stickering, how hard do I need to think about weights or tension straps?

Stock was kiln dried and then stored at my local purveyors somewhat heated warehouse. I found 12% MC with a pin meter when I cut a knotty end off, split the scrap for my bbq cooker and measured what had been the middle of the board. Year round outdoor emc here is 11%, lower in the winter. Right now my office is 68 dF and 1% rh. I do run a woodstove pretty hard up here, I think wintertime emc in my office is in the 2-3% range.

2. How much over my plan should I go buying extra wood? 20%?

I'll have to fire up my laptop to post pics. My rough pieces are all at least 3" overlong, nominal widths are 8, 5 and 1.5 inches. Not too terribly worried about off cut waste, white oak chunks in a chimney of charcoal is a great thing under a ribeye.

I have a petty good idea my pine/ poplar idea of "sharp" isn't going to cut it, but I have had some beech in my office for a year now from the same store (that hasn't moved much with no weight or straps on it) to cut my teeth on before I get to the QSWO.

20200207_180827[1].jpg20200206_204431[1].jpg

[Andrew Hughes]

I vote no on the straps or weights. Take a lite pass on all the surfaces or at least the faces and sticker them with good air flow. Root out any unruly boards early and pick your best looking boards for the top.
I like the two boards that are wet. Very nice.

Good Luck

[Brian Tymchak]

Stock was kiln dried and then stored at my local purveyors somewhat heated warehouse. I found 12% MC with a pin meter when I cut a knotty end off, split the scrap for my bbq cooker and measured what had been the middle of the board.

Something doesn't quite add up here. If the lumber had truly been kiln dried (properly) and then stored in a dry env, there is no way you should be getting a 12% MC reading. That sounds more like air dried lumber. If it were kiln dried, you should be able to use the lumber with just a few weeks acclimation to your shop env.

[Kevin Jenness]

1. Post kiln drying I wouldn't bother with weights, rather let the wood move as it will in the finished piece. That way, you can cull any wild ones. Rough out the blanks to relieve any tension before further drying.

2. Hard saying, not knowing. The wood can let you down or you can blunder. Just enough should be enough if all goes perfectly. 20% extra is good, you can use the extra on another project.

With expensive wood, it's a good idea to perfect your setups on low grade test pieces.

The one thing that gives me concern is the drastically low current humidity and the swing between summer and winter. If you get the lumber down close to your winter emc it will be brittle and hard to work, if not you may have shrinkage problems. You might want to consider humidification in the winter.

Here in VT with wood heat and no AC in the house I see swings between 5-10% over the year. If I build at <9% mc I don't see significant problems, but a wider difference could cause issues.

[Paul F Franklin]

Regarding how much extra to buy, a big factor is how fussy you are or want to be about grain selection and color match, especially on the top but in general. If you're not fussy then 20% is probably reasonable. If you are more fussy, and don't or won't have the opportunity to choose carefully at the supplier, then 50% is probably more like it. But even with an accommodating supplier that will let you take time to sort through a stack without standing over you with the forklift, it can be difficult to color or grain match rough lumber. On smaller projects I overbuy toward the high end because there are fewer boards to choose from to get the match you want. On larger projects you have more boards to start with and there are usually more opportunities to use boards that are less desirable where they won't matter much.

[John TenEyck]

I'm with Kevin, your wintertime RH is way too low. 30% is 6% MC. I can't even imagine what the RH is for 2%; I'm surprised you can even live in that w/o drying up like a prune. I would get a humidifier and keep the RH above 30%. You'll feel better and so will the wood.

FWIW, I mill and dry much of my own lumber. I take it out of my kiln at 7% and store it in a closed, unconditioned shed. It will go back up to 10 - 12%, depending upon the time of year, always about 2% lower than the outdoor EMC. So the KD wood you bought that measured 12% seems very reasonable to me. I bring wood into my conditioned shop which is now at 6% MC and gets up to 9% in the Summer, let it sit for a week or two when I can but admit it's often less, and put it to work. Never had an issue.

John

[kent wardecke]

Qswo is one of the more stable woods. Build your desk