Your Thoughts on Acclimatizing Wood to The Shop?

[onocoffee]

I've often heard the recommendation for people to buy their lumber, bring it to their shop and allow it to acclimatize to the shop environment for a few days to several months. And while I have not had any real warping or twisting issues, I have been wondering how important that acclimatization period is in my particular example?

Typically, I will buy slabs or rough sawn lumber from my local sawyer or a couple of sawmills in my region that are top-notch. Lumber from any of these places has been rough sawn, stickered and laid out for a couple months and then kiln dried (I'm talking about lumber from trees cut in my area: walnut, white oak, hickory, cherry, etc) down to 8-9%MC before being offered for sale.

In at least two of these sources, the dried lumber is kept in either an open-air barn or a non-temperature-controlled barn. My garage workshop is not temperature-controlled either and is prone to the swings of temperature and humidity that my lumber sources' barns are subject to - meaning that, it is my belief that their storage conditions are, essentially, the same as my garage conditions. Where there is deviation is during the winter: when I'm in the garage working, I turn on a propane heater which can warm the garage to a comfy 60+F.

My feeling is that I don't necessarily have that much to worry about temp/humidity fluctuations causing issues, but I could be wrong. Might you have any thoughts on this particular situation? Thanks!

 

[luvmytoolz]

For me it's important. I had a job that needed rework because of expansion due to a higher level of moisture than I was advised.

Wood will dry differently depending on the part of the tree it came from, how it's stacked and stickered, if there's air flow on part or all of the wood, etc.

I've since bought a pinless moisture meter and after acclimatising the wood for a period, I'll check the MC with the meter regularly until it's reasonably uniformly low across the board on both sides. I don't worry too much about getting it super low, just reasonably low.

I know others aren't anywhere near as strict, but given my stuff can go from my unheated shed into a heated/cooled house, I minimise the risks as much as possible.

Plus I'm very, very patient. I'll happily and opportunistically buy timber when it's cheap and let it sit for a few years or more if needed. A good mate buys exotic timbers and a bit always heads my way, but it's not far off green almost so I leave them aside for as long as possible.

 

[hdv]

I have done both: waited to let the wood acclimatise, and just used it as it was. I can't say I noticed any significant difference. But TBH humidity doesn't fluctuated wildly around here. Still, I prefer to leave the wood for a few weeks in my shop before using it. Even if your shop is non-temperature controlled, I presume it will be closed to the wind. That will have its influence on moisture levels. And burning propane in your shop will definitely influence it. But wood needs time to equalise its moisture levels. So if it is in your shop for a short time, then that influence will be limited. Also, the moisture level of the place where your workpiece will finally end up might be more important to keep note of.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I should point out I live in Melb in Oz so we get all 4 seasons in one day, with days in Summer of extreme humidity mixed with days of 32-40c, and other days with thunderstorms/hail. So if you're in a more temperate place like hdv it might not be so critical.