dry wood in your attic

whammo57

whammo57

Kim Walker
Silver Member
I bought some wet turning squares for cue butts and I put them in the attic to dry. I live in GA and it's hot in the summer. I put the wood in the attic on February 28 and checked them on May 30 (2 months).

It wasn't a very hot spring so I don't think the temperature got out of sight. Today I measured 110 deg at 4pm.

All the pieces are 1 1/2 sq except the Bacote, it's 2X2. I skinned all the pieces on the jointer and left the ends waxed.

Here are the results.............

WOOD BEFORE AFTER

Redheart 22.55oz 17.7% ...... 18.03oz 6.4%
Canary Wood 20.03 20.3 ...... 16.02 no reading
Zebra Wood 19.18 10.0% ...... 18.86 6.1
Honduras Rose 20.88 17.6 ...... 17.58 no reading
Paduak 12.10 10.2 ...... 11.77 6.0
Paduak 13.53 2.1 ...... 12.46 no reading
Marble Wood 17.46 18.8 ...... 16.05 10.4
Iron Wood 18.05 14.4 ...... 17.48 10.9
Bacote 20.28 10.0 ...... 20.02 6.3
Marble Wood 15.95 15.5 ...... 15.18 9.1

My moisture meter only reads down to 5.5%. So no reading means it's lower than 5.5%.

The last 4 pieces I put back in the attic for another month. The bacote reads low moisture but it is 2X2 and I don't think it lost enough weight. The center might still be wet.

I didn't get any checks, cracks or splits.

I think the experiment was a success but I wish I had taken a temperature reading every afternoon.

Kim

Sorry but the forum doesn't leave my formatting as I did it....... it runs it all together but it is still readable
 
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My grandfather use to store wood in the attics. There's Still some up there stored inside of them I believe, It's probably been there 40-50 years. There's nothing left that is usable for cues though. It's mostly just moldings and trim I think. I've also known old timers that stored their woods like that. I remember when I was growing up that One of them was a pilot, and built airplanes as a hobby. He built them from scratch in an old train stable that was moved to his property. That old building was huge inside he use to store wood in the open trusses of It. It must work because people have been doing It for a long time.
 
It will work fine but you need to let the wood acclimate to your shop conditions before working with it.

I've used an attic before but it was because of a lack of storage space. I was in upstate New York at the time and summers were hot up there but it was always really dry.
 
whammo57 said:
I bought some wet turning squares for cue butts and I put them in the attic to dry. I live in GA and it's hot in the summer. I put the wood in the attic on February 28 and checked them on May 30 (2 months).

It wasn't a very hot spring so I don't think the temperature got out of sight. Today I measured 110 deg at 4pm.

All the pieces are 1 1/2 sq except the Bacote, it's 2X2. I skinned all the pieces on the jointer and left the ends waxed.

Here are the results.............

WOOD BEFORE AFTER

Redheart 22.55oz 17.7% ...... 18.03oz 6.4%
Canary Wood 20.03 20.3 ...... 16.02 no reading
Zebra Wood 19.18 10.0% ...... 18.86 6.1
Honduras Rose 20.88 17.6 ...... 17.58 no reading
Paduak 12.10 10.2 ...... 11.77 6.0
Paduak 13.53 2.1 ...... 12.46 no reading
Marble Wood 17.46 18.8 ...... 16.05 10.4
Iron Wood 18.05 14.4 ...... 17.48 10.9
Bacote 20.28 10.0 ...... 20.02 6.3
Marble Wood 15.95 15.5 ...... 15.18 9.1

My moisture meter only reads down to 5.5%. So no reading means it's lower than 5.5%.

The last 4 pieces I put back in the attic for another month. The bacote reads low moisture but it is 2X2 and I don't think it lost enough weight. The center might still be wet.

I didn't get any checks, cracks or splits.

I think the experiment was a success but I wish I had taken a temperature reading every afternoon.

Kim

Sorry but the forum doesn't leave my formatting as I did it....... it runs it all together but it is still readable
Click to expand...



Interesting info for a newbie like myself, thanks for sharing Kim.

Is there such thing as drying the wood too fast ??? Is that what would cause cracks and splits ??

I don't have the tools to turn square stock and don't plan to for awhile, if I even do it at all, but this is still interesting info.

And you're correct, our spring in Ga. has been kinda mild but wait for this summer..... it's gonna kill us, and I've been in Augusta, Ga my whole life and I'm use to this heat. We're close enough to each other where our temps will be pretty much the same with maybe some different weather conditions being our only difference. Thanks again for spreading some knowledge my way.
 
Paul Dayton said:
It will work fine but you need to let the wood acclimate to your shop conditions before working with it.

I've used an attic before but it was because of a lack of storage space. I was in upstate New York at the time and summers were hot up there but it was always really dry.
Click to expand...

Yes I will let it rest in my shop for a while. I want all the pieces to end up with the same moisture content before I use them.

I was surprised with how fast the wood dried out.

Kim
 
whammo57 said:
Yes I will let it rest in my shop for a while. I want all the pieces to end up with the same moisture content before I use them.

I was surprised with how fast the wood dried out.

Kim
Click to expand...

I have heard of putting wood in sawdust when drying in the attic in order to slow the drying down a little. The sawdust might help regulate the drying between the daytime and nighttime extremes.

Things dry quickly in an oven.

Kelly
 
Kelly_Guy said:
I have heard of putting wood in sawdust when drying in the attic in order to slow the drying down a little. The sawdust might help regulate the drying between the daytime and nighttime extremes.

Things dry quickly in an oven.

Kelly
Click to expand...

I might try that during July and August because it's so hot. I certainly have lots of sawdust...

LOL

Kim
 
Dirtbmw20 said:
Interesting info for a newbie like myself, thanks for sharing Kim.

Is there such thing as drying the wood too fast ??? Is that what would cause cracks and splits ??

I don't have the tools to turn square stock and don't plan to for awhile, if I even do it at all, but this is still interesting info.

And you're correct, our spring in Ga. has been kinda mild but wait for this summer..... it's gonna kill us, and I've been in Augusta, Ga my whole life and I'm use to this heat. We're close enough to each other where our temps will be pretty much the same with maybe some different weather conditions being our only difference. Thanks again for spreading some knowledge my way.
Click to expand...


Yes, you can dry it too fast, especially if the wood is wet or green. Wood drying kilns are ramped up in temperature over time to give the wood time to lose its moisture. It might take 2 to 4 weeks or more depending on the species of wood.

If you dry green wood too fast it might split. Also, it's a good idea to wax the ends as they dry the fastest.

Kim
 
To interpret these results correctly, you'd also need to have wood in your shop, of the same species AND of the relative same starting moisture content so see how they vary.

You need to have a "control" sample. Interesting find, nonetheless.:cool:
 
ratcues said:
To interpret these results correctly, you'd also need to have wood in your shop, of the same species AND of the relative same starting moisture content so see how they vary.

You need to have a "control" sample. Interesting find, nonetheless.:cool:
Click to expand...

Yes.... to make the data valid I would need several controls to get the base to compare against.

BUT.... all in all.... I think it did work pretty well.

Kim
 
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