Can you air dry wood to make furniture

[stal023]

I'm new to the site and pretty new to woodworking. I had been spending the money to go to lowes and get your overpriced lumber but recently I purchased a planer and have been researching rough sawn lumber. I realize I will need to make a planing sled since I don't have a jointer but here is my question;there are a handful of places I can purchase rough sawn lumber in WNC. One place is much cheaper but it is not kiln dried. Through what I have read, you can get your lumber moisture content down by air drying but certainly not the 6-8% recommended. This might be a stupid question, but why do I want my wood so low if my humidity in my house ranges from summer and winter and certainly never as low as kiln dried?

Thanks for the explanations...

 

[Skymaster]

Kiln drying kills any buggy critters that may be making that lumber home, you dont want them moving into your home

 

[Willemjm]

I prefer air dried, it is difficult to find though.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

First, welcome to the site, Stal. We're glad you found us and joined in.

I've made a lot of furniture over the years w/ air dried lumber, and never had a problem. It's true, the moisture content won't be as low as kiln dried lumber. However, if you move it into your shop and let it acclimate for two weeks, the moisture content will stabilize to a very workable range. Incidentally, the same is true for kiln dried lumber: let it acclimate in your shop for two weeks. One caveat, as Jack mentioned above. If the wood is infested w/ insects, either have it kiln dried, or stay away from it.

There are a number of members here from the western part of the state who can give you good advice on lumber suppliers in your area.

 

[stal023]

I've contacted two in the area that sell green wood; woodpecker sawmill and sunrise sawmill. I would assume I would need to buy a moisture meter?

 

[Gofor]

Yes you can air dry your own lumber and make it into good furniture. I have and still do.

Some things to consider:

If the lumber is green (fresh off the log), you are looking at 1 to 2 years before it is low enough to use in fine furniture. ( I have made things with it at 12%. It probably won't get too much lower than that.) For that you will want to construct a drying shed (shelter from sun and rain and getting the wood off the ground) so you can stack and sticker it where it will get moderate air flow for a long period without it taking up shop space. Plan on about 30% loss due to splitting, checking, etc,because outside air drying is not controlled. Drying too fast as occurs on hot summer days will increase the amount of damage. Drying too slow will result in fungus. The critical time is from green wood down to about 25%, when too fast can ruin your entire batch, which is why it is usually easier to get good results from lumber milled in the cooler months. Drying structures can be quite primitive, so do a search on drying and stickering wet lumber.

Bugs: I have found spraying the green lumber with a borax and water solution minimizes infestation. However the most important thing is to get the bark off of any slabbed out wood edges. Most of the bugs prefer the moist rich layer right underneath the bark to lay their eggs and get the larva started. By removing the bark, you remove the premium infestation point.

Check the wood stacks during the drying process for little piles of fine sawdust. These indicate borers, and the need for immediate action. That can be removing the affected pieces, trimming off the infected parts, or attempting to kill them with spray, which probably will not work. I have had very good luck saving pieces that already had borers under the bark layer by trimming it all off before they got deeper.

When bringing the wood into the shop, do yourself and your tool blades a favor by cleaning off all the windblown grit, etc using a stiff bristle brush or broom, (and shop vac if possible) before doing the initial sawing/planing/jointing.

When designing or choosing a design for your furniture, use joinery and grain orientation that allows for wood movement without it destroying the piece. Lots of info on that on the web and in books.

Realize that although the initial wood will be less expensive dollar-wise, that will be offset with your time and the larger amount of material loss due to mother nature. That said, people have been air drying wood and making good long-lasting furniture for centuries.

Good luck in your future, whether you decide to try it or not.

Go

 

[Howard Acheson]

Bill, you make some good points. Here is another. If you take a kiln dried board and an air dried board, place them stickered side by side, leave them for a couple of weeks, they will both stabilize at the same equilibrium moisture content. All wood will equalize at a common EMC based on the relative humidity of the environment in the shop.

The primary reason to kiln dry wood is to make it marketable sooner. It will also kill bugs but that is not the primary reason.

 

[stal023]

Thanks for all the advice. Air drying kind of sounds like a pain in the butt. If my shop is not heated, does this change the time I should leave kiln dried wood? Also, I have read about expansion, et.c of wood, but what are some easy tips to remember about building your piece? For example, I am wanting to build a bed out of walnut and either cypress or maple. The advice given to me was maple because it has less moisture. I'm set on the black walnut but I am open to what wood I am going to use with it. I want something to contrast, but not super light like poplar.

 

[Hmerkle]

Stal,
Welcome to NCWW - you will really enjoy it.

Stealing a line from one of our board of directors (Kenof Cary)
"This is a very friendly and helpful group. The more you participate the more you'll get out of it. Our goal is WW education so we embrace beginners especially. "

Also Stal, we LOVE pictures - you shop, your projects... what ever...

Here is a link to instructions on how to post;

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/content.php?r=42-How-to-add-a-picture-to-your-post

 

[golfdad]

welcome to the dust pile Stal......you already got some great advice from several of our experts. Hope to see some of your work soon. You are not far from Asheville. I would check out Asheville Hardware to start and then work from there. They have some very nice choices:icon_thum

 

[Joe Scharle]

You will find that walnut is more vibrant when finished, if air dried.

 

[merrill77]

For example, I am wanting to build a bed out of walnut and either cypress or maple. The advice given to me was maple because it has less moisture.

That is very unusual advice. At best, it is misleading. If you want walnut, use walnut. It is one of the best North American furniture woods. All wood species should be properly dried before building furniture...nothing special about maple in that respect.

 

[Gofor]

Thanks for all the advice. Air drying kind of sounds like a pain in the butt. If my shop is not heated, does this change the time I should leave kiln dried wood? Also, I have read about expansion, et.c of wood, but what are some easy tips to remember about building your piece? For example, I am wanting to build a bed out of walnut and either cypress or maple. The advice given to me was maple because it has less moisture. I'm set on the black walnut but I am open to what wood I am going to use with it. I want something to contrast, but not super light like poplar.

1. Wood expands mostly across the grain and very little in line with the grain. So if you put a solid panel in the headboard with the grain running vertically, it will expand horizontally. To allow this without causing a problem, you would just glue the panel in the center 3" of the top and bottom, and allow it to expand or contract into grooves in the posts. Does not matter if its the same wood species or something different, although different species do expand and contract different amounts.

2. Any board over 5" across the grain can expand/contract enough to cause splitting. Narrower boards are not normally a problem. (Some people say 4")

3.Veneered plywood is stable due to its structure of alternating grain directions, glue, etc, so can be used in areas where you can't allow movement.

As for the cypress vs maple question, I will defer to someone who has more experience with using cypress for furniture. I would think the problem with cypress/maple would occur more in the coating/finishing stage than in the construction part. I will echo the previous comment that air-dried black walnut is definitely more vibrant than steam-kilned.

Wood movement and joinery are very large subjects, so if you start a thread about the bed build, and include some pictures or drawings of what you are trying to make, there are many people on here that can give you pointers specific to your situation, from the design all the way through the building and finishing aspects of it.

Hope this helps

Go

 

[SubGuy]

Concerning drying green lumber. You can build your own kiln at a minimal price, basically the cost of a dehumidifier, lamp, insulation, roll of plastic and lumber to build the frame. A really good friend of mine does this. He gets wood consistently between 9 and 13% in a few months. He finds better results by air drying for at least 4 months prior to putting it into the kiln. I, however, do not find it all that cost effective and prefer the bug problem to be taken care of, which his unit will not do. He enjoys it and also dries his firewood in it as well. Green to dry firewood in 3 to 4 weeks isn't anything to smirk at. Any if you do anything with green lumber, a moisture meter is ABSOLUTELY necessary. And understanding how to take proper readings is as well. Many of our sawyers on here can offer mounds of information concerning the subject of kiln drying lumber.

 

[Charlie Buchanan]

My somewhat limited experience with cherry and walnut has been that air dried is better--more predictable and better-working especially with hand tools. And there is no doubt that air-dried walnut is better looking. There probably wouldn't be many 18th century pieces around if air-dried didn't make good furniture.

 

[SubGuy]

My somewhat limited experience with cherry and walnut has been that air dried is better--more predictable and better-working especially with hand tools. And there is no doubt that air-dried walnut is better looking. There probably wouldn't be many 18th century pieces around if air-dried didn't make good furniture.

I agree completely. Especially with with the walnut and cherry aspect. They are my favorite woods to work with and I like the color better with air dried.

 

[scsmith42]

I'd like to chime in and correct some mistaken perceptions...

There are four different commonly used methods of kiln drying, and they all involve totally different technology. In order of predominance, they are:

1 - conventional kiln drying (steam)
2 - Dehumidification kiln drying
3 - Vacuum kiln drying
4 - Solar kiln drying.

The bulk of furniture wood in the US is dried in a conventional kiln at high temperatures (160 - 180F). When walnut is dried in a conventional kiln, the steam causes the dark rich colors to fade, and the light colored sapwood to darken, and the end product is noticeably different than AD BW.

Both solar and dehumidification kiln drying is done at low temperatures - typically around 90 - 100F, which is fairly similar to air drying. Vacuum kiln drying is also done at fairly low temperatures.

Guys - I can place two pieces of lumber side by side that came from the same log. One air dried, and one dried from green in either a solar or DH kiln, and I would challenge anybody to be able to tell the difference between the two. For all intents and purposes, you cannot tell the difference between them.

On the other hand, if a piece of walnut from a conventional kiln was placed next to a piece of walnut that was air dried, the visual difference is notable.

I've had members of the Period Furniture Restoration Society tell me that DH kiln drying caused the color to bleach out of black walnut, and that the water draining from the DH unit would be a dark color. HOGWASH! The water coming from a load of BW in a DH kiln is clear as can be, and there are not discolorations or stains on the ground below the drains. Now steam kilns? Different story altogether.

When it comes to color and workability, not all kiln dried lumber is the same.

 

[kave]

Scott Smith is "Obi-Wan Kenobi" of the Wood Galaxy!! :notworthy:

 

[Hmerkle]

I'd like to chime in and correct some mistaken perceptions...

There are four different commonly used methods of kiln drying, and they all involve totally different technology. In order of predominance, they are:

1 - conventional kiln drying (steam)
2 - Dehumidification kiln drying
3 - Vacuum kiln drying
4 - Solar kiln drying.

The bulk of furniture wood in the US is dried in a conventional kiln at high temperatures (160 - 180F). When walnut is dried in a conventional kiln, the steam causes the dark rich colors to fade, and the light colored sapwood to darken, and the end product is noticeably different than AD BW.

Both solar and dehumidification kiln drying is done at low temperatures - typically around 90 - 100F, which is fairly similar to air drying. Vacuum kiln drying is also done at fairly low temperatures.

Guys - I can place two pieces of lumber side by side that came from the same log. One air dried, and one dried from green in either a solar or DH kiln, and I would challenge anybody to be able to tell the difference between the two. For all intents and purposes, you cannot tell the difference between them.

On the other hand, if a piece of walnut from a conventional kiln was placed next to a piece of walnut that was air dried, the visual difference is notable.

I've had members of the Period Furniture Restoration Society tell me that DH kiln drying caused the color to bleach out of black walnut, and that the water draining from the DH unit would be a dark color. HOGWASH! The water coming from a load of BW in a DH kiln is clear as can be, and there are not discolorations or stains on the ground below the drains. Now steam kilns? Different story altogether.

When it comes to color and workability, not all kiln dried lumber is the same.

Thank you Scott!
That is GREAT information,
So, your kiln is a DH kiln?

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Both solar and dehumidification kiln drying is done at low temperatures - typically around 90 - 100F, which is fairly similar to air drying. Vacuum kiln drying is also done at fairly low temperatures.

Thanks for this information Scott. I always learn something from your post. One question on the temperatures you mentioned above: is 90-100F enough to kill most insects in the wood? For some reason I had in my head that you needed around 130F.