Buying Pine Timber
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RobinBHM
Established Member
I think all softwood is kiln dried, but unfortunately redwood is not necessarily kilned down to the 12% or so ideal for furniture.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Rustic furniture? Maybe the clue's in name - is the odd split, twist or bow that important? If you're using construction grade timber you are going to get them. Maybe you could keep the stuff indoors for a few weeks and use anything particularly bad in short pieces?
rafezetter
Troll Hunter
The most important aspects to keep in mind in reality are has it been stored properly AFTER it was kiln dried - otherwise the kiln dried MC % will not have been maintained. For most of the construction grade timber stored I've seen this is not the case; it's either been stored dry in a rack but outside - or simply stickered up under a tarp, either of which will guarentee softwood has taken in moisture.
However the best advice I've learned from here is that once you have bought it, even if stored dry and in a warehouse - which again won't have humidity regulators either - bring it indoors to a centrally heated environment as soon as you can; for as long as you can get away with to acclimatise - longer the better. Buy the timber as soon as you know you'll be needing it - even if you are neck deep in other work and won't get round to it for weeks or longer.
From all the posts I've read on this forum - failure to acclimatise has been the culprit of wood deforming after use on far more occasions than the other possibilities.
On a sort of related note - If you must use construction grade timber which for furniture is at best.... iffy; even rustic stuff, I would advise that as well as the above do some reading about the different cuts of woods from a log like quartersawn, rift, plain, (also known as flatsawn) and how the wood reacts for each type and try to recognise the wood growth patterns to improve your odds of buying timber that won't end up like a banana or twisted like a swizzle stick as soon as you bring it indoors. As an example buying flatsawn wood will almost certainly cup without extra precautions and design requirements like breadboard ends being added if it's to be used as a tabletop, it will however give you the best grain patterns on many woods so you'll need to make choices on cuts of wood and item design simultaneously rather than "I've bought a load of wood - now I'll decide what I want to do with it".
(and all thanks go to the many blokes here for those 2 bits of essential advice I've learned about buying wood in prep for making what in my case would could euphamistically be called " furniture".)
Sorry that was more than you asked for, but thought that just telling you yes or no on kiln dried was too little info for an informed choice.
However the best advice I've learned from here is that once you have bought it, even if stored dry and in a warehouse - which again won't have humidity regulators either - bring it indoors to a centrally heated environment as soon as you can; for as long as you can get away with to acclimatise - longer the better. Buy the timber as soon as you know you'll be needing it - even if you are neck deep in other work and won't get round to it for weeks or longer.
From all the posts I've read on this forum - failure to acclimatise has been the culprit of wood deforming after use on far more occasions than the other possibilities.
On a sort of related note - If you must use construction grade timber which for furniture is at best.... iffy; even rustic stuff, I would advise that as well as the above do some reading about the different cuts of woods from a log like quartersawn, rift, plain, (also known as flatsawn) and how the wood reacts for each type and try to recognise the wood growth patterns to improve your odds of buying timber that won't end up like a banana or twisted like a swizzle stick as soon as you bring it indoors. As an example buying flatsawn wood will almost certainly cup without extra precautions and design requirements like breadboard ends being added if it's to be used as a tabletop, it will however give you the best grain patterns on many woods so you'll need to make choices on cuts of wood and item design simultaneously rather than "I've bought a load of wood - now I'll decide what I want to do with it".
(and all thanks go to the many blokes here for those 2 bits of essential advice I've learned about buying wood in prep for making what in my case would could euphamistically be called " furniture".)
Sorry that was more than you asked for, but thought that just telling you yes or no on kiln dried was too little info for an informed choice.
Zeddedhed
Established Member
wot he said.
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