How dry is dry enough

[Beetlejuice]

Depends on where you live. Here in the PNW things tend to equalize at 10-12%. 6% kiln dried wood is too dry for my tastes. I’ve had to repair furniture for friends after moving here from drier climates.


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You are so right.. Never gave it a second thought. I'll look in the book.. Maybe the author is from Kansas. Lol. I do have better luck routing and planing with material thats not a hundred years old. Gotta be the dry factor.. I'm up in Spokane where some lumber is pond dried. Plus I use native material that I've been babysitting for 2 or more years. And it all drys differently.

 

[Sourwould]

Depends on what you're doing with the wood. You want dry dry for maybe cabinet stock but fresh cut for chairs. I have mainly worked with green wood as a hobby (framing doesn't count as wood work).

 

[Beetlejuice]

Depends on what you're doing with the wood. You want dry dry for maybe cabinet stock but fresh cut for chairs. I have mainly worked with green wood as a hobby (framing doesn't count as wood work).

I understand personal preference. And I'm not calling you out.. And I sometimes don't agree with the written word. This is a great reference book.. Maybe dated, but so am I, and the materials I work with... Might have to do a little sorting.. Like back to front.. Anyway, you get the idea. I must reiterate.. This not gospel.. Just something I happen to read.. K

 

[Sourwould]

I think I actually used to have a copy of that. Did that used to be a school text at one time?

Though it isn't preference for things like chairmaking. For a round mortise and tenon, if your mortise is more green than you tenon, it will shrink around it. Then your round tenon locked into an oval mortise and holds tight.

Sorry, im not trying to be a contrarian. I think "How dry is dry enough" really is "dry enough for what you're using it for."

 

[Sawyer Rob]

When I started out wood working, THAT book was my bible... I read it over and over, and it's still around here some place...

It definitely is dated though.

SR

 

[Beetlejuice]

I must admit I framed houses, apt.buildings, office buildings,.. If it started with 2x4 I would nail it.. Did it over 30 yrs, and now retired and half broken, but still able to read, decided to dabble in the finer points of woodworking.. And I get quite a bit of chestnut, maple, locust, Apple, and the like coming through the firewood processing line and hate to see it go up in smoke. You folks that make furniture have my respect.. Must have a ton of patience and a wonderful eye for detail.. Not to mention imagination..
I think I have all the FINE WOODWORKING mags.. Fun reading for me. Just like the book is mostly reference for Wood identifying, and common knowledge so I can speak intelligently about lumber other than fir/larch and 16 penny nails

 

[Cease232]

I must admit I framed houses, apt.buildings, office buildings,.. If it started with 2x4 I would nail it.. Did it over 30 yrs, and now retired and half broken, but still able to read, decided to dabble in the finer points of woodworking.. And I get quite a bit of chestnut, maple, locust, Apple, and the like coming through the firewood processing line and hate to see it go up in smoke. You folks that make furniture have my respect.. Must have a ton of patience and a wonderful eye for detail.. Not to mention imagination..
I think I have all the FINE WOODWORKING mags.. Fun reading for me. Just like the book is mostly reference for Wood identifying, and common knowledge so I can speak intelligently about lumber other than fir/larch and 16 penny nails

I started as a framer. Was young, broke and couldn’t afford furniture. Built my first “piece” with a skilsaw, straightedge and brad nailed. It was a big pile of crap but functional. I stated accumulating more tools and each thing after that got better and better. Had to leave the framer mindset behind. My dad was also a framer but could never get over that part of himself enough to slow down and focus on the details enough to make anything “fine”.


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[Beetlejuice]

I started as a framer. Was young, broke and couldn’t afford furniture. Built my first “piece” with a skilsaw, straightedge and brad nailed. It was a big pile of crap but functional. I stated accumulating more tools and each thing after that got better and better. Had to leave the framer mindset behind. My dad was also a framer but could never get over that part of himself enough to slow down and focus on the details enough to make anything “fine”.


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I do get trim packages every so often on new construction homes. Not high end but kinda middle.. 100-300 K. I'm so slow, but the workmanship makes up for it.. I think. At least the painters like following me. They bring me beer.. Then I really slow down. Win/win...

 

[Sourwould]

I started as a framer as well (still mostly framing for renovations). I have yet to develop the patience for fine wood work (or trim for that matter).

 

[Beetlejuice]

I started as a framer as well (still mostly framing for renovations). I have yet to develop the patience for fine wood work (or trim for that matter).

I still sometimes use my chisel for a screwdriver. Anybody else want to cleanse themselves of that Sin?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I started building custom furniture/cabinets in the 70's...

I made some money at it and built up my tools to the decent ones I have today...

I stopped taking orders in the 90's...

SR

 

[Sourwould]

I still sometimes use my chisel for a screwdriver. Anybody else want to cleanse themselves of that Sin?

What's a chisel?

 

[Beetlejuice]

What's a chisel?
View attachment 661869

Taint dat... Dat be a rig axe.. A chisel is a screwdriver that's need sharpened on the 1/4 sheet sander

 

[Sourwould]

Love my rig axe, not that you'd catch a framer hand driving these days.

 

[Cease232]

Used to love my rigging axe too, until I got bad tendonitis. Had to switch to a lighter hammer.


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[Ted Jenkins]

I still sometimes use my chisel for a screwdriver. Anybody else want to cleanse themselves of that Sin?

Worn out chisels make a fine screwdriver and then they can be sharpened for a chisel. What sin is it to use a chisel for a screwdriver. I used to have a friend near Spokane who would sell me his culled lumber for $25 which was enough to build a dock at Priest Lake for the summer. Then every summer would build a new one. Thanks

 

[Ted Jenkins]

We do not know what dried out means here. When trees grow we thought they were already dried. It is rare we cut some thing green here just to know what heavy logs feel like. With humidity reaching under 20% more often than not we have other issues such as fires. Thanks

 

[Beetlejuice]

We do not know what dried out means here. When trees grow we thought they were already dried. It is rare we cut some thing green here just to know what heavy logs feel like. With humidity reaching under 20% more often than not we have other issues such as fires. Thanks

I Know what you're talking about. I'm in Spokane..

 

[Sourwould]

I Know what you're talking about. I'm in Spokane..

Damn. Framing in Spokane must be a soggy affair.

 

[Beetlejuice]

Damn. Framing in Spokane must be a soggy affair.

I'm retired!!! I'm a firewood cutting, stacking, selling, SOB now. Have a bad chainsaw collecting habit..