How long do you let wood acclimate in you shop?

[George Bokros]

Wondering how long you let newly accquired material acclimate to your shop before you begin machining?

Thanks

[Steve Jenkins]

Depending on the time I get back I either start then or the next day.

[Ralph Okonieski]

Under normal circumstances it is there a few days before I start milling it. Developing final cut list, deciding which boards will be used for which pieces, cutting to rough length are steps taken during this time. Sometimes distractions occur and this may take a week or more but typically is a few days.

[Tom Bussey]

I buy my wood from a local sawmill. It runs about 15/16ths in thickness skip planned. I like to get started as soon as it gets in the shop. I like to brake down the boards to the general size i need it to be. I like to cut them about 3/16ths to a 1/4 inch bigger than the final size and usually a couple of inches long. Then I put a hook in the end and hang then on a clothesline I have in the shop. I put the detail number on them with a marker. Since trees don't grow in perfect. conditions there is always some internal stress in the wood and by rough cutting it allows the wood to trist bow or whatever. I guess I rough, simi finish and then finish milling. If I need 10 boards the same size then I make sure I have all ten boards so I can finish cutting all 1o the exactly the same size.

If I flatten a board on a jointer and then go the planner I leave about 1 1/16 th toso that I can do the final sizing at a latter date. This helps to get the big mess cleaned up before going for the final sizing.

[Paul F Franklin]

I check it with a moisture meter. If it's within a percent or so of lumber that's been in my shop a long time, It's good to go. I will do rough sizing and milling before then if I have to, but wait to do final milling until it hits that point.

[John TenEyck]

I check it with a moisture meter. If it's within a percent or so of lumber that's been in my shop a long time, It's good to go. I will do rough sizing and milling before then if I have to, but wait to do final milling until it hits that point.

^^^^^^ This.

John

[Ron Citerone]

I keep a pile of lumber on hand that I like to work from. If I want a different species than I have on hand, I like to think one project ahead, purchase the lumber and let it acclimate while I finish the first project.

I also have learned to mill and cut it a little thick (1/8") and a little wide (1/4") and let it sit for several days and then do the final milling. If I see movement in those several days I let it sit a week longer.

It's a dance that I struggle with and always have better results with lumber that sits around stickered for a month or so.

[Curt Putnam]

I plan for weeks but the actuality has been years.

[Brian Tymchak]

I have a basement shop so regardless of the season lumber will have to acclimate. I only buy kiln dried rough lumber and let it sit minimally a week. I may cut to rough dimension but I don't plane, joint, resaw for at least a week.

[Ron Citerone]

I plan for weeks but the actuality has been years.

That can happen! LOL

[Andrew Seemann]

Stuff tends to sit a week or two or maybe a month or year or two before I get to it, but that isn't on purpose. I don't intentionally let the lumber acclimate; honestly I don't think it matters. The humidity changes around here can be so fast and drastic, that nothing really ever reaches equilibrium. I have as much problems with wood that has been in the shop for a year as I do with stuff I just bought. Heck, last winter I cut into a piece of maple that had been in the shop for nearly a decade and it still pretzeled when I ripped it. The lumber yard isn't in a different climate, so whether it sat there or in my shop for two weeks likely doesn't matter.

If anything, when I get lumber S2S SL1E, I want to use it as fast as possible, before it warps from acclimating.

[Ron Selzer]

most of the time 1 month to 5 years
I like to buy 500bdf at a time, due to price, how far i drive to get it, how hard it is to get in basement shop
right now have some rift sawn white oak that has been down there since 2015, popular 1988,2017,2019 cherry 2017, 2019
If I was a production shop then I would move it in 2-3 months unless I bought it in middle of summer with high humidity
Ron

[Ken Fitzgerald]

2-5 weeks even if bought locally or in the nearby area. Here in the valley we are extremely dry compared to the surrounding area.

[Doug Dawson]

Wondering how long you let newly accquired material acclimate to your shop before you begin machining?

Anywhere from a few weeks to 20 years. I still have a stack of white oak from back when I used to use more of it, stickered in my storage room.

A good quality surface-contact (i.e. non-pin) moisture meter is your friend, and should be the ultimate decider of whether something is immediately usable, both before and during machining.

[William Hodge]

There is no standard, because shop conditions, wood conditions, and final product vary so much.

Humidity control in the shop and a moisture meter are crucial to managing wood storage. My fire wood goes into the shed at 25% moisture content, and by August I get it down to 8% to 11%. In the fall, moisture content tends to creep up a bit. I keep the shop at 30% to 45% humidity, winter and summer. I check the lumber coming in, and the moisture content of the benches in the shop to see what's going on. Unless the wood has come from a mill green, or is extra thick, moisture content stays around 9% to 11%.

The final product is the key factor. When making tomato stakes, I don't check the moisture content of the 2X stock I'm ripping up. Doors with 18" wide panels are another matter.

OP, what are you making, what is your wood source, and what is the relative humidity in your shop?