How long would air dried oak take to dry to 11 per cent ?

[newt]

Coffee table suggests that it is going to be used indoors. I don't think air dried timber is going to suit for that, especially as you don't know its history. A few weeks in a workshop isn't going to help much especially if it's 2" material.

I guess you have just confirmed what I suspected myself.

So the next question is where do I get 2" English Quarter Sawn Oak kiln dried in Devon?

Yandels

 

[custard]

Humidity is just the amount of water vapour held in air. As the temperature increases, the dew point increases, and the air can hold more water vapour. Therefore in winter the humidity will be lower.

Even if we are talking about inside, the air will be circulating from outside where the humidity will be lower ....... inside temperature won't make much difference unless you have a lot of standing water, a warm house and very poor ventilation

John

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John, absolutely correct in a laboratory. But not the case on the ground in the UK (see the data I posted earlier) where humidity levels increase in the winter, I guess because in the winter there's a lot more water available to be taken up in the air.

My experience in a centrally heated workshop is that relative humidity rarely fluctuates outside of 45-55% with a slight skew to lower humidity in the summer, but Sgian Dubh posted a more complete record of internal measurements in a centrally heated property that showed wider variations and relative humidity peaking in the summer.

However when it comes to external measurements there's no debate (at least according to the Met office!), UK humidity peaks in the winter.

 

[Charlie Woody]

OK guys many thanks for all your help.

I am now leaning towards trying to sources some kiln dried stock, however, if I did buy the air dried stock how long do you think it would take to come down to 11 per cent in my workshop please?

Newt thanks for reminding me of Yandles; I will phone them.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Data trumps opinion every time...so I stand corrected! Although I am surprised at the variation in your chart, however you hint that it's a bit skewed by untypical weather.

It's a bit skewed because I started taking readings on August 1, 2006 and finished on July 31, 2007. There's a bump in the curve of the line during the June and July period, and this is because of the heavy rain we endured in those months in 2007. Without that period of what I recall being almost incessant rain I suspect the RH numbers would have been somewhat lower leading to a single sloping rise to the August peak instead of a double humped peak, if you get my drift. I also recall, if my memory serves me right, August 2006 being a month characterised by many warm sunny days with lots of clear blue skies. Slainte.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

OK guys many thanks for all your help.
...if I did buy the air dried stock how long do you think it would take to come down to 11 per cent in my workshop please?

It depends on what kind of workshop you have. If it's basically just an uninsulated and unheated shed, then it's possible it will never reach 11% MC. In that circumstance it might take a few weeks from now to get down from about 20% MC to about 15%, especially as we are approaching winter and the most humid time of year, externally at least, which does have an RH raising effect inside unheated garages and sheds. On the other hand, if your workshop has the kind of heating and insulation you might find in a typical house, then it could reach that MC in mid November or perhaps December, if the wood started at 20% MC. Then it would continue reducing in MC to about 7- 8% until it starts absorbing moisture again towards the end of March. After that, it would probably move up towards 12 or 13% MC.

In the end, it's entirely possible to build furniture out of wood that's at about 15% MC when you start working it. You just need to allow for the shrinkage that will occur as you build, and for after you've finished and the piece goes into a house. Over the decades I've been in this game I've built many pieces out of air dried stock. Back in the 1970s and early 80s most of the stuff we built was made out of this kind of wood, so it is perfectly do-able if done with some care. Slainte.