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Stanley

New User
Ted
Today I picked up from a very generous neighbor approximately 118 bd ft of black walnut, 7 ft length, 5/4 thick and 216 bd ft of white oak, 8 ft length, 3/4 thick. :gar-La; Some of these boards are 18 inches wide, no knots. It has been stacked with 1" spacers between each layer in his barn about 6 years. It is beautiful but only a woodworker would understand that.

All he has asked of me is to build him a wash stand out of the oak. I have a plan that calls for a top 28" wide and side panels 20" wide.

I have some questions and would appreciate advise based on your experience:
1. Should I have the lumber kill dried before I begin working it?
2. Can I use those wide boards were appropriate without ripping down to narrower widths?
3. How is best to store it until I have opportunity to use it?

Thanks for your input.
 

LeftyTom

Tom
Corporate Member
Does the wood have any signs of powder post beetles? Kiln drying is the only way to kill them.

I am not a lay-expert on this, so I could be wrong.
 

mshel

New User
Michael Shelley
Unless you have a 20" planer, you will have to hand plane the boards to thickness, at least to retain that wonderful width. Good cardio workout :gar-La;:gar-La;. I wish I had that problem. Worst case, split them in half, plane, edge glue them back together. Done right, it will be hard to tell they were ever busted open. Hard to find good wood that wide. Make some purdy stuff and show us.

Mike
 

Bigdog72

New User
Geoff
The only way to properly answer these questions is with hands on inspection. Please bring wood to my house tomorrow and I will begin the evaluation process! :banana: :banana:
 

Stanley

New User
Ted
The more amazing thing is the neighbor who gave me the lumber has a 24" planer and he is quite willing to plane any of it for me.
 
YES have it Kiln Dried before working, If the wood has been in a barn it will still have 20-25% moisture in it, and as soo as you build it and take into a house which normally has 6% moisture it will move like crazy. I know by experiece, plus working with Kyle and learning about moisture content and kilns...

Also, it will probably only need 7-10 days in a kiln to bring it down to 6% and then raise to the current house and shops moisture content. Once you get from the kiln also let it stablize in you home in a climate cotrolled room for about a week or two.

Hope this helps...
CB 828-994-7333
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
Hey Chris, does Kyle have a kiln? I'm looking for some place to get lumber dried. What really bites is that I saw an add for a solar kiln. Stated the seller had over $1200 invested and had to sell. $100. I had to go on the road for a few days and realized that night what I had just read. When I was able to look for the ad again, it was gone.:BangHead:
 

Kyle

New User
Kyle Edwards
Yes I have a kiln.


to the original poster:

Walnut is quit stable as a wood but still needs to be finished off to kill potential critters and release the final bound moisture even if residual.
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
That's wonderful. I drive thru Iron Station going to and coming home from my terminal in Charlotte. Where are you located? BTW, I have a good friend, David Ingalls that lives on Sunny Hill Dr. He collects and repairs tractors.:saw:
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
Sorry to go against the grain here. If there is no sign of beetles (i.e. fine sawdust on or around the wood after you let it sit a couple weeks in your area), its good to go. A bunch of us have purchased fresh-sawn wood and subsequently made furniture out of it after up to two years drying, and I don't think anyone, including the suppliers, will tell us it is crap wood because it was not kiln dried.

However: If using such wood, realize the moisture content will not be down to the 5-7% recommended for furniture (just like it never was in the 1800s and early 1900s), so you must be very careful to design your project to allow for maximum wood movement across the grain. Its probably around 10-12%, which is very workable and usable.

JMTCW

Go
 

Kyle

New User
Kyle Edwards
The goal is for the wood to be in equilibrium with the surrounding environment and that means pretty much no environment in modern times without acclimating or drying.

Yes wood could be used without kiln drying but it it is preferred to kiln dry before using in a project to assure that bound water is removed. There are two types of water in wood.


1- Free water- water held by capillary forces
2- Bound water- Hygroscopic water which is bound to the wood by Hydrogen bonds.

Depending upon the species, the degree of tangential shrinkage will be more than the radial shrinkage and up to 5x as much in some species.

Air dried and subsequent kiln drying is my preferred method. You can cull the bad before kiln drying.

As for insects, most inhabit the sapwood and emerge on an annual cycle. The only way to safely kill bugs in wood is to raise the temperature to above 135 F for minimum of 24 hours.

Good luck!

Kyle
 
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