Shrinkage of Green Red Oak?

[Woodsaw]

I got lot of useful info from this forum on air drying of red oak a few days back. Some members suggested that I need to cut the 3x8 slabs into thinner pieces to speed up drying. I am thinking of doing that. But, I know the green lumber will shrink after being dried. I want the final thickness to be around 2". How thick should I band saw the slabs?
Thanks for your help.

 

[Ken Massingale]

Try this shrinkage calculator.
Ken
http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/calculators/calc.pl?calculator=shrinkage

 

[DaveO]

Woodsaw, I would think that you would get very little shrinkage in the length and thickness of the slab, mainly in the width. But what you would want to account for is extra thickness to machine off to true up the board once they've dried. They probably won't stay perfectly flat and will have to be jointed. 4/4 stock generally starts off at 1 1/8" thick rough, then 15/16" when dressed S3S and usually 3/4" when finally used. So with your slabs I wouldn't make them thinner than 2.5" if a finally thickness of 2" is your goal. The removal of a 1/2" of wood isn't gonna speed up the drying process a whole lot.

Dave

 

[lwhughes149]

Why not set it aside and let it dry on its own and go looking for other wood? Especially if it isn't going to speed the drying very much. I have considered resawing before but worried about the strain on my bandsaw. It's a Sears Craftsman but it isn't their biggest one.:crybaby2:
Got it second hand and got a deal so can't complain.