Timber acclimatization (just call it drying!) Question

[bp122]

So my Workbench's timber planks (1.75" X 12" PAR Southern yellow pine) will be delivered soon. (Excited!!!)

1. How long should I wait before I can cut to lengths and / or rip them into the widths?

2. Should that be the first thing I do or the last thing I do before I start actually building it?

3. Whatever the option is, what is the best way to store the planks (face down / edge down / upright) to avoid warping and other damaging effects? (Other than the obvious to not let it touch the floor if the floor gets wet etc.)

My workshop is an unheated single garage space.

Please suggest the best practice according to your experience.

 

[ian33a]

I'm in the process of building an assembly workbench at the moment.

I'm building it with kiln dried sawn Douglas fir.

Following advice given to me, once delivered, I left the un cut planks (all 200kg of them) for nearly three weeks in my garage without natural light and normal ambient unheated temperature. I simply laid them on the floor, albeit a PVC tiled floor rather than concrete.

I'm cutting and milling the planks as I need each one. The remainder are being left in their delivered state.

During building and assembly, if there is a risk of warpage, I am gently clamping them to retain shape as much as possible.

The procedure has worked fine for me so far.

 

[MARK.B.]

If you stack them don't forget to stick them to allow airflow

 

[Droogs]

Leave them about a month in their final envinonment and then cut to the rough length you need.
Prep stock to just oversize re width/height and leave for a week (Remember to take material from both sides not just one to help prevent warping/cupping etc)
plane to final dimensions and use

 

[thetyreman]

ideally you would stack it and put the wood 'in stick' which is usually just 1 x 1 pine cut up and placed between the boards, I put the wood at the time I had for my workbench onto sawhorses, and made sure the air could circulate freely around them, whilst putting weights on top of it, left it a good few weeks at least.

If I was you I'd probably just get straight into making it and not worry about acclimatisation too much, the sooner you have a workbench the better.

 

[bp122]

Leave them about a month in their final envinonment and then cut to the rough length you need.
Prep stock to just oversize re width/height and leave for a week (Remember to take material from both sides not just one to help prevent warping/cupping etc)
plane to final dimensions and use

Will keep that in mind. Thanks

 

[bp122]

ideally you would stack it and put the wood 'in stick' which is usually just 1 x 1 pine cut up and placed between the boards, I put the wood at the time I had for my workbench onto sawhorses, and made sure the air could circulate freely around them, whilst putting weights on top of it, left it a good few weeks at least.

If I was you I'd probably just get straight into making it and not worry about acclimatisation too much, the sooner you have a workbench the better.

I'm not in a great deal of a hurry.

I have my dancing 'Michael Flatley' bench for now which I have used over the last 18 months.

 

[Ttrees]

Getting the temperature might be more of an issue.
I'd want the timber a few degrees over that 10 degrees minimum which
would have to be constant for a week or two beforehand (at a guess) to get the place warm enough,
(if I were to do glue ups in the shed)
Maybe that's happened already, still frosty mornings over here across the pond.

If in a rush, and needs to be in the shed, then store the timber well off of the floor, closer to waist height.
An oil rad and a big blanket might be worth thinking about, long f clamps make good
tent poles.

 

[planesleuth]

In the absence of my Grandad, who knew precisely how 'wet' any timber was, just by observation, you need to know the moisture content of the delivered pine and the moisture levels, averaged, in your work space. When the two values are the same you will have no problem. Till you know this...stack them horizontal, dead flat, off the spirit level. In this case don't stick them. Belly stacked to belly. Coat or fix stick the ends.