Processing wood

Cuemaker Supply

Cuemaker Supply

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hey guys, I was wondering what is a good rule of thumb in processing butt wood down from 1.5" square. I have some hard maple that I want to turn down for handles and some curly that will be handles for wrap less cues. I also have some various woods that I will be using for some Merry Widow style forearms. I assume that this is not as critical for butts as it is for shafts but I also realize that all wood will move and some species more than others. I am in Louisiana which is like a dang rainforest especially this time of year and I really do not foresee any of my cues go too far from here anytime soon.
 
Purchase a quality moisture meter.
Most woods are considered stable enough to work if you can get them to the 12% range.
Above that, they're not done moving. If 12% is a problem, stay with 'repair'.
 
I usually use my wood at 8% but some high mineral woods will never get there............ ebony is one that will hardly ever get to below 10

Kim
 
Store them in an AC'd room.
Don't cut or turn any until you know what you are going to do with them.

Start buying coring woods now and start turning those round.
 
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If you certain that the wood will be round turn it asap oversize as it is more stable than squares and the moisture is more even. Keep you humidity as close to 50% as possible.
 
Weigh each piece you have and mark the piece with weight and date. Then every month re-weight them and mark them with the updated states. When pieces stop changing for a few months, then turn round and do the same weighing method. To me this is the best way to tell if it has acclimated to your environment. There will be an effect when humidity goes thru the roof, or into the basement, especially in your neck of the woods, so Before final size, I would consider using a wood sealer and watch it for another month, and see if there is any movement. Another thought is, it may be perfectly straight when it leaves your area when you sell it, but if sold to, say like Arizona or Nevada, there may be movement that happens that is just really beyond your control. Using air conditioning in the shop and storage area only creates a false environment, IMO, once out into the real world, the wood will do everything it was gonna doe originally, whether it was to stay straight or warp, we just don't know for sure what it will be....lol
 
Dave38 said:
Weigh each piece you have and mark the piece with weight and date. Then every month re-weight them and mark them with the updated states. When pieces stop changing for a few months, then turn round and do the same weighing method. To me this is the best way to tell if it has acclimated to your environment. There will be an effect when humidity goes thru the roof, or into the basement, especially in your neck of the woods, so Before final size, I would consider using a wood sealer and watch it for another month, and see if there is any movement. Another thought is, it may be perfectly straight when it leaves your area when you sell it, but if sold to, say like Arizona or Nevada, there may be movement that happens that is just really beyond your control. Using air conditioning in the shop and storage area only creates a false environment, IMO, once out into the real world, the wood will do everything it was gonna doe originally, whether it was to stay straight or warp, we just don't know for sure what it will be....lol
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Everyone has given good ideas, including you. I weigh and record like you described. Ultimately, each piece of wood has its own timeline and that is a simple way for the wood to tell you when it is ready for the next step. I do have one comment though.

Air conditioning pulls moisture out of the air which lowers the relative humidity and can help with drying the wood. I am not convinced Joey mentioned air conditioning simply to create a "stable environment". The OP's main focus was helping to dry wood. He lives in Louisiana. So do I. Some time back I did a little comparing of relative humidity from one state to another. I compared Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

In terms of relative humidity change within a day, the most stable month of the year in Louisiana is more volatile than the least stable month in Pennsylvania. Air conditioning, at least in Louisiana, can be very valuable in helping to regulate relative humidity within the shop in order to help wet woods dry out. As long as the air conditioning isn't 24/7/365 (I use it only when I'm in the shop or when there are heavy rains or super high RH and I want to remove suspension) and woods are subjected to all 4 seasons, IMO "air conditioning" doesn't automatically equal "false environment". It can be just another "environment" that the wood is exposed to that also promotes seasoning.
 
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Here's some good resources, just FYI:
http://www.csgnetwork.com/emctablecalc.html
http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/US_moisture_map.html
(scroll down to the EMC map)

In my own instrument shop, I target about 70 degrees and 40%RH year round. That gives me an EMC between 7% and 8%, which is a touch on the dry side. This time of year, the air conditioner and dehumidifier seem to just run all the time. I can't imagine how hard it would be to get there in Louisiana!

I have some very nice moisture meters here...in particular, I really like the Delmhorst I have. To get any sort of reliable reading, you need to sink the pins pretty deeply into the wood. For that reason, I haven't really used it on any cue parts because there's nowhere to hide the holes, and it doesn't read accurately near the edges. I have a no-contact one too (a Wagner, maybe). I hate it. If you want it for free, I'll ship it to you for $6.50 to cover my shipping costs. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)
 
Great info - thanks for everyone's help. I appreciate the offer John for the meter too. I think pick up one of the cheap general pin type ones for now and save my coins for a real one down the road. What do you think about those? They are only accurate to about 3% tolerance but I was thinking I could get some sore of reference point
 
I bought a cheap pinned one and hated it because of the holes. I found it much better to just weigh the pieces. If it is wet you'll see a pretty rapid drop over a week in an air-conditioned area.
 
dafunkdawg said:
Great info - thanks for everyone's help. I appreciate the offer John for the meter too. I think pick up one of the cheap general pin type ones for now and save my coins for a real one down the road. What do you think about those? They are only accurate to about 3% tolerance but I was thinking I could get some sore of reference point
Click to expand...

If you're going to buy a moisture meter, at least buy a decent one. I have a Delmhorst J4...kind of pricey, but in the world of meters it's considered to be sort of entry level. :eek: I've been weighing things instead, just because it's kind of hard to hide the holes unless you probe at the edges, and it's not really accurate at the edges. If you're really concerned about it, you could grab a hygro-thermometer. I have a couple in my shop, but the one I like best is:

http://www.tequipment.net/Extech445815.asp?Source=googleshopping&gclid=COqWod_L-M0CFUpZhgod-asJLQ

You can calibrate it and it's reasonably accurate. When the wood stops getting lighter, you're at EMC, and you calculate EMC from the temperature and RH. Pretty simple, really.

If cue building is anything like instrument building, I think after a while you end up with so much wood that's been sitting for so long that practically EVERYTHING is sitting at EMC all the time anyway, so the meter's just going to sit in the box...like mine. I very rarely use it. I think the last time I got it out was to measure some firewood to see how it was drying! :) Sometimes, I'll check stuff coming in and if I feel it's excessively high, I'll put some Titebond on the end grain (or Anchorseal...whatever I have handy) to keep it from cracking. That's about it.

Anyhow, some fun reading. Sit down before you look up the prices on most of these.
https://www.moisturemeter.com/
 
Yeah I am sure you guys are right. Weighing has to be much more accurate than a cheap meter. Maybe I just had to bug to buy something. I guess I throw my little money at the hygro for now to at least get an accurate representation of where I really stand.
 
Dave38 said:
Weigh each piece you have and mark the piece with weight and date. Then every month re-weight them and mark them with the updated states. When pieces stop changing for a few months, then turn round and do the same weighing method. To me this is the best way to tell if it has acclimated to your environment. There will be an effect when humidity goes thru the roof, or into the basement, especially in your neck of the woods, so Before final size, I would consider using a wood sealer and watch it for another month, and see if there is any movement. Another thought is, it may be perfectly straight when it leaves your area when you sell it, but if sold to, say like Arizona or Nevada, there may be movement that happens that is just really beyond your control. Using air conditioning in the shop and storage area only creates a false environment, IMO, once out into the real world, the wood will do everything it was gonna doe originally, whether it was to stay straight or warp, we just don't know for sure what it will be....lol
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If he doesn't store those woods in an AC'd or de-humidifed room, they have no chance of stabilizing .
In his case, he is not creating a false environment. It's his best option to get the woods to experience dry climate.
If he can get them to experience 100 degrees at 20%, that would be good too.
 
So if the wood is put into a moisture controlled environment to dry it down to say 8% where the outside ambient humidity is more like 70-80 %, what happens when that same wood is put into a cue in that same controlled environment, then exposed to the actual high humidity air once completed? Everything I know and have seen dictates the wood will absorb moisture back to equalize to the new humidity level, correct? Pretty much like a sponge. That change can be large enough to cause shifting in the wood. So if you build a cue in a controlled environment, then release it to the ambient environment, there will be a change. Even a cue with a sealer and finish coat can and will still absorb or release moisture, We all know this to be pretty true.
Dave
 
Very perceptive and very true.
Controlled environments only work if the wood never leaves it.
Once outside that controlled environment it again becomes subject to movement
the same as any other wood that hadn't seen control. Nature's funny that way.
The 'sponge' is a good analogy. Cues move, get used to it.
 
KJ Cues said:
Very perceptive and very true.
Controlled environments only work if the wood never leaves it.
Once outside that controlled environment it again becomes subject to movement
the same as any other wood that hadn't seen control. Nature's funny that way.
The 'sponge' is a good analogy. Cues move, get used to it.
Click to expand...

For instrument work, we like to target an environment that's drier than whatever we may expect to see in the wild. That's why we consider something like 70 degrees and about 35% to 40% humidity as ideal. It's all about the structure. We can dealing with a bit of swelling, but if it shrinks too much very bad things start to happen...cracking, bridges popping off, etc.

Is there a general preference for cues? If you have to choose, is it better for a cue to shrink a little or swell a little?
 
You have to speak in terms of 'average' and 'range' because that's the closest you'll get to real-world environments.
The best you can hope for is to build in a stable, boringly average environment.
At this point your 'seasoning' of the wood is done. It's been thru the extremes and shown it's worth.
Your stated numbers are a good average. I personally could let the humidity go to 45-50% based solely on the premise
that the cue is more likely to go to wetter climate rather than a drier one. Again, averages and ranges.

Cues are more likely to swell rather than contract. Finish contracts, wood swells.
My opined answer to your question: "is it better for a cue to shrink a little or swell a little?",
is that neither is considered a good move but it just happens; it's wood.
I haven't had many instances of the cue's wood shrinking once built. It's pretty stable at that point.
What does concern me is the built cue being subjected to overly humid conditions for extended periods of time.
That moisture absorption can cause the cue to move. Conversely, as it looses that additional moisture,
the cue will likely return to straight. I've seen it happen countless times.
 
I have an expensive Mark Bear ebony / birdseye fullsplice blank hanging in the shop that has moved ever since I got it. I have seasoned it, and worked it and actually sealed and finished it but it still moves. Summer time, like now, it's dead straight, but winter time it has a more than 1/8" wobble at the splice section. Unfortunately, it'll never leave as a complete cue. I will have to either cut it up to salvage the ebony, or try to do a full core when it's straight and hope it comes out ok. Wood does what it wants, when it wants to.
Dave
 
Ya all should just move to California.
Live a few miles from the ocean and the desert.

Where else can you cut shafts while the doors and windows are open and it's 75* and 45% most of the time ?
Then a few weeks of the year, there's Santa Ana winds . Where the wind blows from the desert and it gets down to the 20% or lower.
 
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