Kiln Dried wood.. ?

[KsE Guitars]

Hi all, first post here, though ive been silently learning from y'all for atleast a month

On to the questions..

Is useing kiln dried wood absolutely necessary?

What moisture content (if thats the word) would you reccomend??

[jbkim]

Kiln dried isn't necessary... but it takes about a year for each inch thickness to air dry, I believe (month per inch for kiln, iirc.) You'd want 6 to 8 percent moisture content.

Welcome to PG!

[chopp3r]

how does one measure the moisture content?

thanks

[jbkim]

The old timers could probably put their tongues on a piece of wood and tell ... for others there are meters such as the ones here:

http://www.moisturemeterstore.com/wood_moisture_meters.shtml

other than that, I don't know of any "tricks of the trade" type ways that there might be (hmm... that sentence sounded weird .)

[rhoads56]

Kiln dried isn't necessary... but it takes about a year for each inch thickness to air dry, I believe (month per inch for kiln, iirc.) You'd want 6 to 8 percent moisture content.

Welcome to PG!

Good luck!

Most kiln dried only gets it to around 12%. If your lucky, you might find some around 10% If you want it any drier, you have to store it yourself for a long time.

[darren wilson]

According to carpenters i've talked to, kiln drying can make it more difficult to bend the wood, if you're considering doing a bent top. You need to apply a LOT of steam if you want to bend kiln-dried wood.

[Primal]

I've got some walnut that is around 1/2" think and has been stored in a barn for the past 25 years. Should that be dry enough?

[darren wilson]

I've got some walnut that is around 1/2" think and has been stored in a barn for the past 25 years. Should that be dry enough?

Most barns i've seen aren't exactly the most weatherproof structures around. You probably need to dry the wood in a humidity-controlled environment.

[rhoads56]

I've got some walnut that is around 1/2" think and has been stored in a barn for the past 25 years. Should that be dry enough?

Yes.

[westhemann]

when we are talking about moisture content in the wood...aren't we talking about .....uhhh...how to word it...the natural moisture of the tree...like what makes it "green"

otherwise anytime you steamed a top to bend it you would have redry it for months,right?

[rhoads56]

Once the timber is dry, it is dry. re-wetting it doesnt have the same effect on the timber, eg: it dries out again quicker.

[Devon Headen]

when we are talking about moisture content in the wood...aren't we talking about .....uhhh...how to word it...the natural moisture of the tree...like what makes it "green"

otherwise anytime you steamed a top to bend it you would have redry it for months,right?

Right...we're talking about the moisture content of the cells themselves I think. When you steam the wood the individual cells don't reconstitute (bad word) I wouldn't imagine.

[DannoG]

I guess the whole barn issue depends on the climate. Here in western Oregon, those conditions would result in rotten wood unless the barn was sealed in some unusual way.

[Guitarfrenzy]

So far we just have been getting our wood kiln dried locally. But someone once told me that you could put the wood in your attic and it would dry alot quicker than any other method except running it in a kiln. I haven't felt the need to do that yet, but the person I get to kiln dry takes his time and does two runs on it, instead of only one. He claims it's better on the wood doing it this way and gets it to the right moisture level safely. Not really sure if that's true, but just what has been told to me.

[rhoads56]

So far we just have been getting our wood kiln dried locally. But someone once told me that you could put the wood in your attic and it would dry alot quicker than any other method except running it in a kiln. I haven't felt the need to do that yet, but the person I get to kiln dry takes his time and does two runs on it, instead of only one. He claims it's better on the wood doing it this way and gets it to the right moisture level safely. Not really sure if that's true, but just what has been told to me.

I store all my wood in the rafters of my workshop. It gets extremely hot up there in summer, and is warm in winter. I pull the timber down a month before i need to use it. I buy everything kiln dried (in the country of origin), and it takes 3 months minimum to get to me. Last time i worked it out, ive got four years worth of timber in storage, and i buy new bits every time i start a guitar (so my stash never runs out).

Two goes through the kiln are better than one. That wat they can give it some moderate temp, before heating up for the second go. Thank your lucky stars you have a guy that does this.Drying too quickly causes surface tension, cracks, splits, etc etc. As soon as you machine the timber (dried too quickly), it will spring into a bow/warp/cup.

[Primal]

I live in West Virginia (a lot drier than Oregon I imagine ). The barn that the wood was stored in is pretty weatherproof (at least in the area where the wood was dried).

[Guitarfrenzy]

I store all my wood in the rafters of my workshop. It gets extremely hot up there in summer, and is warm in winter. I pull the timber down a month before i need to use it. I buy everything kiln dried (in the country of origin), and it takes 3 months minimum to get to me. Last time i worked it out, ive got four years worth of timber in storage, and i buy new bits every time i start a guitar (so my stash never runs out).

Two goes through the kiln are better than one. That wat they can give it some moderate temp, before heating up for the second go. Thank your lucky stars you have a guy that does this.Drying too quickly causes surface tension, cracks, splits, etc etc. As soon as you machine the timber (dried too quickly), it will spring into a bow/warp/cup.

That's great to hear. He seems like a very honest person, so I really didn't question his knowledge any, but still great to hear that I'm getting the wood done the correct way. Oh.. By the way, do you know how long it would normally take to dry by storing it in the attic or in the rafters of a shop area alone?

[rhoads56]

That's great to hear. He seems like a very honest person, so I really didn't question his knowledge any, but still great to hear that I'm getting the wood done the correct way. Oh.. By the way, do you know how long it would normally take to dry by storing it in the attic or in the rafters of a shop area alone?

One year, for every inch. If you live in a cold climate, double that.

[krazyderek]

.. As soon as you machine the timber (dried too quickly), it will spring into a bow/warp/cup.

the maple i get locally always seems to do this when i cut it on my table saw.... it always gets all twisted when i try and rip, let's say a neck blank, into a couple of peices to laminate it..... every other kind of wood stays pretty much the same (gotta love the stability of PH ) either maple is just funky around here.. i need a new blade.... or the local warehouse only dries it once...

and about what wes said...... so once the cells are dry, you can soak a 1/2" thick peice of wood in hot water for like 20 minutes to bend it...... then how long would it take to dry?? a week? a month? a day? this has always been kinda grey area for me..

[rhoads56]

and about what wes said...... so once the cells are dry, you can soak a 1/2" thick peice of wood in hot water for like 20 minutes to bend it...... then how long would it take to dry?? a week? a month? a day? this has always been kinda grey area for me..

Not long at all.

think of it like new concrete. Takes a day to dry out, two to fully cure, but chuck a hose on it and it will dry out in an hour.

The moisture gets into the wood, but it doesnt bond with it, its not part of the tree, unlike the ORIGINAL moisture, that is/was part of the tree.