# Stuck at 22%



## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

I have some 8/4 thick, 9 foot long, live edge slabs which are air drying in my basement. The slabs came from walnut logs which had been down for almost a year (but had not been cut into lumber). My basement has central heat & air, and typically has a humidity level of 45-55% and the temperature stays steady at 70-72º. I have sticks separating the slabs and a box fan that blows on them continuously. 

When I put the slabs in my basement a couple of months ago, they had a moisture content of 28-30% and the MC declined steadily for the first month. For the last few weeks the moisture content hasn't moved from 22-24%. 

Is the MC going to just creep down now for the next year, or do I need to lower the humidity in my basement in order to decrease the MC of the slabs?

Regards,
Mark


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Those are still pretty fresh, Mark. Normally hardwood is air-dried for at least 2-3 years before it's used.
Is it possible that you have an old concrete floor in your basement, that doesn't have a vapour barrier? Perhaps that's the source of excess water vapour in the storage area?
You could try re-piling the stack with more ground clearance...better air circulation all around the stack.
As a last resort, you could put a portable DE-humidifyer in your basement...heading into Summer, the relative humidity in the basement will likely rise considerably (It'll be cooler down there than the rest of the house.
(The fan sounds like a really good idea).


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

DaninVan said:


> Those are still pretty fresh, Mark. Normally hardwood is air-dried for at least 2-3 years before it's used.
> Is it possible that you have an old concrete floor in your basement, that doesn't have a vapour barrier? Perhaps that's the source of excess water vapour in the storage area?
> You could try re-piling the stack with more ground clearance...better air circulation all around the stack.
> As a last resort, you could put a portable DE-humidifyer in your basement...heading into Summer, the relative humidity in the basement will likely rise considerably (It'll be cooler down there than the rest of the house.
> (The fan sounds like a really good idea).


Dan,
The basement is dry as far as basements go. I've never had a leak in 16 years. The house is 16 years old, so I suppose there is a pretty good vapor barrier on the other side of the poured concrete wall. There's no musty smell, mold, or anything like that growing down here. 


Ack...2-3 years is too long!! I'm patient, but not like that ( I need an emoji of a little guy tapping his foot). 

I'm thinking of buying a dehumidifier and planting it right next to the stack of lumber. But I'm not sure how much a dehumidifier will bring down the basement's humidity level.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

" But I'm not sure how much a dehumidifier will bring down the basement's humidity level."
A LOT, Mark.
Do you keep the furnace fan on during the Summer? It'll certainly keep the mainfloor cooler, but it'll also bring more water vapour from the relatively warmer higher humidity air upstairs. Not saying that's a bad thing, but certainly a consideration.
You could poly off the area of the basement where the lumber is stacked, and run the dehumidifier just in there(?)...
Still, a couple of years, eh?


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

DaninVan said:


> " But I'm not sure how much a dehumidifier will bring down the basement's humidity level."
> A LOT, Mark.
> Do you keep the furnace fan on during the Summer? It'll certainly keep the mainfloor cooler, but it'll also bring more water vapour from the relatively warmer higher humidity air upstairs. Not saying that's a bad thing, but certainly a consideration.
> You could poly off the area of the basement where the lumber is stacked, and run the dehumidifier just in there(?)...
> Still, a couple of years, eh?


Now there's an idea! I could build a "drying box" out of plywood around the stack, and put a fairly small dehumidifier in the box. I don't want to dry it too fast for obvious reasons, but this "stuck on 22" is tough on my tapping foot.


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

I run a dehumidifier 24/7 in my basement shop,remember in the summer ac is working as a dehumidifier but water is dripping out of ac unit so make sure it drain properly.
Patience is the answer


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I was thinking about what you'd said previously, and it occured to me that I should have mentioned testing the basement floor for water vapour.
Take a new piece of poly, say 2' x 2', lay it flat on the floor and tape all four sides down to the concrete. Watch it for a few days and see if any condensation shows up under it. It shouldn't. If it does, that's another way that humidity will build in the basement (and we haven't even mentioned Radon gas...).


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

The rule I've heard is one year per inch of thickness minimum. You really can't depend on counting the year the wood was still in log form. I had a bunch of birch logs sawed for me and all the old timers around told me 5 years. Some of it is now 20 years old or more. Whether you want to hear it or not, patience is a virtue in this case. The fact that you have central heating doesn't necessarily help unless you have air returns and outlets in the basement and even then unless you have fresh air coming from somewhere in the house you may just be recycling the moisture.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Mark, Question: will you be using the wood in the full 8/4 thickness? You can cut drying time in half by halving the wood's thickness - just an idea, but not knowing what your use plans are for the lumber; it might be a consideration. Sometimes to get the most out of hard-to-obtain quality hardwoods, one will only use thin pieces as a veneer - depending on what you're going to build. I remember you have access to a sawmill.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Mark there's a lot that your post does not say, about how many boards there are and if you have a secure yard, I think that your basement is the wrong place as there is not enough natural air flow and the humidity will never let the wood dry out, as least while you are alive, it is very common for timber to be dried outside so if you have a place where you could stack them, where they would not be stolen then outside is the place, prepare a platform with 4 or 5 inches of air space under the lowest board, stack them up with 1 inch strips in between and more strips above the top most board, then cover with sheet metal, this will work the quickest, a humid basement is not the place to air dry wood. Also Otis is correct, if your wood is in sections that are thicker than you will use then spitting the wood on a band saw now will help but I would not go smaller than 1 inch. N


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Neville, Mark actually lives just up-the-road from me and I personally have had very poor luck drying lumber outdoors because of the insane humidity here in Northeast Georgia. Often it will rain everyday for a month, then be dry for a month. 3 days ago it was 92*F and tonight it will be 40*F. I've had really good luck drying-out lumber (up to 3" thick) in my basement - it, like Mark's doesn't leak - but I do use a dehumidifier and/or A/C unit. Stickers are also important and fans help to keep everything in the stack uniform. I've had my best luck by using stickers made of the same wood species to avoid discoloration. I'm going to guess, Neville, that down-under where you live there are fire-hydrants fighting-over dogs to pee on them. (just joking - my friend)

Otis


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

Otis,
I will be using the boards @ 8/4. There are 5 boards (just under 100 board feet total). Four will be finished into live edge shelves, and one will be the top of a coffee table. This is my "practice" for a longer term project of a live edge dining table. 

Neville,
I'm not sure taken them outside would speed the process, like Otis said, it's humid here. I am building a drying cabinet for the stack (think wooden phone booth lying on its side). Inside the cabinet I'm going to put a dehumidifier. I can set the dehumidifier to a specific humidity. My thoughts are that I will set the humidity level to the highest setting that still allows the moisture content of the slabs to decrease. I don't want to draw the moisture too fast, but I would like to see a reduction every week or so. 

I do have access to a commercial kiln, but I don't want to expose the walnut to the heat.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

mcpowell said:


> Otis,
> I don't want to draw the moisture too fast, but I would like to see a reduction every week or so.
> 
> I do have access to a commercial kiln, but I don't want to expose the walnut to the heat.


That is indeed the problem is excessive drying. The outer layers dry faster than the inner ones do and the stress of the shrinking outer layers against the inner layers that aren't shrinking causes the wood to crack. In a commercial, hi tech kiln the drying process involves high heat and high humidity for a period before the temperature and humidity are reduced to get to the final MC of usually 12-14% for lumber. The high heat is supposed to soften the lignins in the wood and when the temperature drops the lignins are supposed to set up into their final structure. Some woodworking purists say that the characteristics of the wood are not the same and prefer to use only air dried if possible. Kiln drying is a conplex science and it is taught at the University of BC. UBC Certificate in Kiln Drying | Centre for Advanced Wood Processing

The are a number of sources on the net about wood drying. air drying wood - Bing 
This one from Wiki has some good info in it.
Wood drying - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

Mark
Your concrete floor provides a nice flat surface to start from, I am envious. I am drying 5/4 slabs of cherry with live edges also. But they are outside and sitting on a frame of 2X6 with plywood. There are stickers on top the plywood before the first slab. The frame is sitting on concrete blocks.

A flat base and heavy weight on top is very important to keep the slabs from warping. I have four ratchet straps rated at 700Kg (roughly 1400Lbs) each on each of my stacks (no weight on the top). I try to take a click out every couple days or so.
I have some other stacks that are a year old with weight on the top (no straps). They did start to warp but with in the last six months that have straightened out.

As far as the checking (the cracks someone mentioned), according to the link below painting the ends as soon as the wood it cut is important. I can attest to that. I painted mine within 30 min of cutting using the cheapest latex paint I could find. Those have minor checking cracks, the unpainted wood has significant cracks. If you havent painted yet it still will help.

Here is a link Cherryville Chuck sent me http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr118.pdf
It has good information and charts on relative humidity and air circulation. Hope this helps.
Steve


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

Daikusan said:


> Mark
> Your concrete floor provides a nice flat surface to start from, I am envious. I am drying 5/4 slabs of cherry with live edges also. But they are outside and sitting on a frame of 2X6 with plywood. There are stickers on top the plywood before the first slab. The frame is sitting on concrete blocks.
> 
> A flat base and heavy weight on top is very important to keep the slabs from warping. I have four ratchet straps rated at 700Kg (roughly 1400Lbs) each on each of my stacks (no weight on the top). I try to take a click out every couple days or so.
> ...


Steve,
The only problem is my basement isn't big enough for all the lumber I want to dry. I do have ratchet straps on my live edge lumber, but haven't needed to tighten them until a few days ago. The ends were not painted when the tree was cut into lumber and it laid on the ground for a year. Once I had the lumber cut into slabs, I painted the ends immediately. 

I have encased the lumber in a quickly built, plywood box, and put a small dehumidifier in the box. I think this is going to work well. I'm not trying to dry the lumber in 30 days, but would like to dry it in the next 6-12 months. I have read a lot online about this recently. Here is another article on small, dehumidifying kilns: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrn/fpl_rn310.pdf 

My basement's humidity level has been about 50% since I purchased a hygrometer a few weeks ago. I don't know what it was during the winter (before I purchased the hygrometer). I currently have the dehumidifier, in the cabinet, set to 50%, and it cycles on and off. I'll let it run like that for a month or so, and then drop it to 45%. 

I'll try to follow up on this thread later to let future readers know if this works well or falls flat.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

mcpowell said:


> I'll try to follow up on this thread later to let future readers know if this works well or falls flat.


Please do. This is an ongoing topic of interest here. 

In conjunction with what Steve said, I didn't paint the ends of about 2000 bd ft of white birch I had sawn for me years ago and the cracks on the ends of my boards ran from 3 to 6" in from the ends. According to Steve's experience the painting makes a big difference.


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

mcpowell said:


> I'll try to follow up on this thread later to let future readers know if this works well or falls flat.


Yes please do, I am quite interested too.

PS thanks for the link


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

Mark
Again thanks for starting the thread. I am also quite interested in your findings. One question: When did you remove the bark? Were the logs stored with or without the bark?


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

Daikusan said:


> Mark
> Again thanks for starting the thread. I am also quite interested in your findings. One question: When did you remove the bark? Were the logs stored with or without the bark?


Steve,
I removed the bark the day after the logs were milled and I brought them home. However, the logs sat for about a year before I came upon them. The free state water was out of the logs when I got them (MC about 29%). After taking the bark off, I found some active powder post beetles in the sapwood and treated the sapwood with a borax-in-water solution. The PPB are gone now. Also, I used my power drill with a steel brush to work off the stubborn residual bark. I'll sand all the live edges later. 

As an update, the cabinet stays at about 50% moisture content now, but I had to set the dehumidifier at about 40% to keep it running. The boards are not giving up much moisture as indicated by my mc meter and the fact that the dehumidifier is not collecting any water in the bucket (a few drops now and then, maybe 1/4 cup total in 4-5 days). I will let it run for a month as is. If I need to, I may have to add a little bit of heat . Right now the cabinet stays between 70-75ºF. I have added a small 50 cfm fan to one end of the cabinet to aid in air movement. My cabinet may be undersized as I'm not sure how much air moves after I shut the lid.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Mark; you might consider setting the humidistat _much_ lower, I doubt that it's accurate within 10% either way as these little portables aren't designed for technical applications. It should be running most of the time. You're only removing airbourne vapour. The drier air will in turn allow the locked in wood moisture to equalize with the air's humidity. _That's_ going to take some time.
And you're right, I think, that the smaller cabinet means less air involved in the equalization process, but the fan's essential.


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## jrajeep (May 18, 2014)

Good info here! I an very interested in how y'all go about air and small dry kilns! We have had some redoak air drying for a couple years, on stacker sticks in the shop. I planed som down to 1/2" x10" , built a small shelf unit, mounted to the wall in bath room and in a few months the joint between the back pieces has 1/4 gap now &#55357;&#56862; 
I worked at a southern yellow pine mill for 15 years as a dry kiln operator, and yrs the is a lot of technology in a high heat , 24 hour turn around drying process! Now I have a lot to learn on air drying hard wood!


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

In 2006, I embarked on a project of building 10- very nice (furniture quality) built-in reptile cages in my room that was built from the ground-up with that in-mind. Trying to not be wasteful, I had decided that as much as possible I would work-hard to only "down" one tree for all of the branches necessary for these 10- units. My favorite reptiles to exhibit are arboreal snakes and lizards. The tree's top is "planted" in the concrete floor of one of the cages. Various "crotches" of trunk to main limbs were also utilized carefully. Limbs from about 4" in diameter down to about 1.5" in diameter are spaced throughout the exhibit. Some snakes prefer to rest on limbs that are horizontal and others like that diagonal structure that "crotch wood" offers.

As I was building these cages, one of the sales reps from my concrete forming business called and asked if he could bring his parents for a visit (they were from Michigan). I was just days from selecting the candidate tree in my back wooded lot. The dad mentioned that he is in the business of selecting and cutting trees to be made into hardwood veneers. He gave me a tip, which worked like a charm: He told me to go out and buy "SPAR VARNISH" and coat all of the ends liberally. I did exactly as he suggested! Now, 8 years later; I can honestly say that there is not one single split log, limb, etc from that entire effort that I have ever noticed!

When providing husbandry for reptiles, there are certain woods that for one reason or another are harmful or simply undesirable. As examples, I have a lot of beech trees, but their bark is too slick; red, black, water, white and post oaks were not attractive for this project for a variety of reasons such as size, accessibility, type of bark, bla, bla, bla.
Hickory trees are too large and too slick from what I had to choose from. Pines and cedars have residual oils that are harmful to anything that breathes it (think cedar chest and pine sap). Dogwood trees are illegal to remove in my area. Numerous maples were not chosen as well as my magnolias were not something I was willing to part with. So I found a tree in my woods that had the bark surface that looked and felt ideal, it had no harmful affects to animals enclosed with it, and its size and accessibility were perfect!

By the way, what kind of tree was it? Sourwood. It turned out to be an extremely successful project and since I often drop small trees or large vines to use in cages (there are 28- others) I've used SPAR VARNISH and it has always worked quite well! By the way, muscadine vines work very nicely in cages - but give them (seriously) about 3 years to quit oozing "grape juice"! Honeysuckle vines to me work better and dry enough to be useable in about 3 months...

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

I just thought I would update y'all on my progress:

I took Dan's suggestion and set the dehumidifier to it's lowest setting. The humidity now stays about 40% in my cabinet, which is about 10% lower than ambient in the room. Cabinet temperature stays about 77º. My boards read right around 21% moisture content. This is encouraging as its the first percentage drop in over a month. However, before I started on the cabinet, most of my readings were 22-24%. The highest reading I get now is usually 22 or 23% and I have to press on the meter to get those readings. 

I get about a half bucket of water a day now, which is probably 8-12 ounces. 

I have noticed the plywood top has a gap in it now, that may have been there before, and I didn't notice. I may try to seal the gaps in the future, but only if necessary.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I know you and Otis don't have_ leaky_ basements, but that's NOT the same as water vapour working it's way up through the concrete slab. Have you done the sealed poly-to-the-floor test, Mark?
'Watched kettle won't boil'...


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

DaninVan said:


> I know you and Otis don't have_ leaky_ basements, but that's NOT the same as water vapour working it's way up through the concrete slab. Have you done the sealed poly-to-the-floor test, Mark?
> 'Watched kettle won't boil'...


Dan,
I haven't done the poly test. Firstly, because I don't have a piece of clear plastic laying around. I guess I could use a trash bag. And secondly, I'm pretty sure it's bone dry. My office is in the basement, and I'm down here every day. It's dry, and dusty. I'll try to remember to get a piece of plastic/poly the next time I'm at Home Depot.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

" My office is in the basement, and I'm down here every day."...!
You might be interested in the info here:
How to Test for Radon?
Testing your home for radon

I'm pretty sure American Radon is much the same as Cdn. Radon.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

@Dan:



> I know you and Otis don't have leaky basements, but that's NOT the same as water vapour working it's way up through the concrete slab. Have you done the sealed poly-to-the-floor test, Mark?


Dan, I've done that - and shown many people how to do it. Some of my patents have to do with concrete slab-on-grade construction (Home). There's a chain of Grocery Stores in the Northeastern United States - "Wegman's Foods", whom I've been designing concrete floors for over the past 11 years. They are currently using "Geo-Seal Membrane" for Radon & Moisture. We also have several hundred other customers we do this for, such as Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Kohls, bla, bla, bla.



> I'm pretty sure American Radon is much the same as Cdn. Radon.


Dan, what you evidently DO NOT KNOW is that you are WRONG ON THIS! Canada Radon is not the problem that American (in the states) Radon is! Thought you would get me, huh? You see - it gets so cold up in Canada that the Radon goes SOUTH during the WINTER - however; SINCE THIS IS GOD's COUNTRY - most of the Radon stays here over subsequent winters and never returns to Canada!




....or maybe that was GEESE.

Actually (and factually) Radon is produced by the decay of uranium. Our planet is loaded with granite (a source of uranium in some cases), in fact right here in North East Georgia; we have Stone Mountain - well known as one of the planet's largest pieces of exposed granite. We have no shortage of granite, decaying granite and therefore: RADON.

In 1977 I started a business named Watertight Foundations. I was the sole owner and I was always the dirtiest man-on-the-job. We constructed footings, walls and basement slabs. We also provided the sub-slab vapor barriers, radon diversion and wall waterproofing. Getting basements built to honestly stay dry (and safe) in our environment is more difficult than many may expect! A little-known fact is that North Georgia _statistically_ has the worst problem with concrete freeze-thaw cycling in the US. Actually the reasoning is quite simple: It is very common for the nighttime lows (NTL) to be in the 20's(F) and the daytime highs (DTH) to be in the 50's-60's.
We get a lot of rainfall, and water need only penetrate ever-so-slightly for the resultant ice to cause surface breakage of the concrete - on a daily basis. Since granite is ultra-plentiful in our area, even concrete becomes a source of radon in small quantities, on rare occasions.

These are interesting things to consider, but then life itself - is terminal. Down here, one of the best ways to prevent problems of radon in basements is to often open windows!

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Ice Age Bonus*

Surprisingly, Otis, Georgia sounds remarkably like here in B.C! On our Coast at any rate. Granite and wet. Curiously enough, we export a lot of our granitic gravel/sand to you folks, South of 49
This pic is of the largest open pit aggregate mine in N.A., located near me in Sechelt. It shows only the currently active portion...much of it is out of the pic under reclamation, or hasn't had the overburden removed yet.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

From Okanagan Lake east Dan is the same. There was talk once about mining the uranium but it hasn't happened yet.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

YUP!

We are all pretty much sitting on the surface of a big, lumpy marble made of granite!

Within said lumps are areas of soil - where things grow. Stone Mountain used to say it was "The World's Largest Piece of Granite" - way back when. Many years ago, they kinda "toned-it-down" a bit and began calling it "The World's Largest _Exposed_ Piece of Granite". Now, to many of us that have grown-up in its shadow - we just call it ""the big rock". Interestingly, (and I know not the scientific reason) Granite draws lightning! Personally, I think it may be similar to the fact that a fully charged automobile battery will go dead after sitting on concrete. Stone Mountain Park is a gigantic tourist attraction, but when the weather forecast includes lightning - the mountain clears very quickly!

Often, near the "big rock", blasting must take place where house or building foundations are required, when footings do not sit atop of SOIL (rather than granite), a layer of soil or sand must be placed atop of the exposed granite to prevent what the locals call "telegraphing of vibrations" to other building foundations - for miles around - otherwise huge problems can present themselves!

Dan, I have no doubt that you guys export many tons of granite - but if it makes it this far (at least in gravel form) it would be silly. I must say, though; I have no idea where the huge slabs of granite for grave headstones, countertops, etc. are coming from. Many of them are differently-colored from what we're used to seeing from around here. We're also seeing quite a bit of "red-streaked granite" and I've been told it comes mainly from *Greece*, but I cannot assure anyone that this is, in fact, true. I have a good friend who owns a natural stone countertop business and he swears that his slabs of quartz are coming from *Israel*.

Take care,
Otis


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

This is a wide ranging thread regarding moisture content and drying cabinets. The moisture content of the concrete around the wood seemed pretty much on track, but now we've gone to radon, granite, uranium, lightening, and battery drain! You guys all have A.D.D. too? :sarcastic:

Not much change in the MC of my slabs. I'll try to get a piece of plastic, and now a radon detector  today or tomorrow & will report back.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Mountains out of...*

Lol...
Oh Yeh; Watchin' wood dry!


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

It's been about a month, so I thought I would write an update. The drying cabinets stays about 82º and the humidity runs about 32-35% (which is 10-12% less humid than my basement). The walnut slabs are drying faster than they did without the cabinet, but certainly aren't drying too fast imo. I can get my moisture meter on the top board, and all but the middle of the board is around 18-19% MC. The one stubborn spot in the middle is around 20-21%. I'll try to report back in a month or so.


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## twinton (Jul 28, 2014)

Mark
Typically the basement is not the best place to dry the lumber due to poor ventilation. Out side gives you natural air flow to help dry the lumber. However you need to cover it so it is not rained on. You can build a solar kiln pretty cheap, or find someone with a kiln who can dry it for you. Either way care will need to be taken to ensure it is not dried to quickly, otherwise you will end up with wood for the fire place. Good luck

tw


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## mcpowell (Apr 29, 2014)

It's September 30th, and I thought I would report in. I would say my drying cabinet has been a success. The cabinet usually stays 15% dryer than the ambient air, which means it is normally in the 25-35% humidity and normally about 20 degrees higher in temperature. My 2" slabs are ready to use (IMO) as they are in the 10-12% MC range, except for one stubborn spot that is now at 16%. It will still be a few months before I can start that project, so I know the boards will be ready. Since each board is going to be a "stand alone" shelf, I don't think that one little 6" section of 16% would make a difference.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Mark, Your application of the (walnut) wood in question is certainly important in consideration of how dry the wood should be. Where continued loss of moisture gets people in trouble is when a board is "too tied down". As wood dries there are slight dimensional losses in all three measurements. Linear drying shrinkage can cause problems in some designs, but can often be made to be a non-issue in other designs. Boards also lose some dimension in width and thickness as this drying occurs - but there again; good design practices can eliminate most of these potential problems. Splitting can be a big problem with wood that is not given an avenue to move ever-so slightly. Oftentimes things that appear "loosely constructed" tend to be best able to compensate for these movements over the long haul. I've had the opportunity to work on quite a bit of really old furniture of very high quality, and this is something that I've observed; in years and decades passed - woodworkers had to work with wood of more variable moisture content. This is very evident in the joinery techniques they [wisely] chose.

Continued good luck to you my friend,
Otis Guillebeau


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