Checking wood moisture

Begin by allowing at least a couple of days drying time after each major cutting and planing step. The surfaces of freshly exposed wood need the most drying, and you want this to happen before critical joinery stages. Also, to make the most of this rough-cut drying time, stack project parts with all sides exposed. This could mean standing them up, or stacking them with spacer strips between each layer. To speed Phase 2 drying further, point a household fan at your wood between work sessions. The added air circulation makes wood dry almost twice as quickly.

As you build, don’t cut parts down to final size immediately. You want to leave room for wood to do all its misbehaving while it’s still larger than needed. Joint, trim and plane each part only after the wood has stabilized. See “Dry for Sure,” at right, if you want more assurance that your wood is actually ready to use.

Learning to dry wood properly isn’t the most glamorous workshop skill, but I know for sure that a few moisture-related wood disasters go a long way toward making you an enthusiastic learner.

DRY FOR SURE

A moisture meter isn’t absolutely essential for taking the guesswork out of the wood/moisture equation, but it definitely does help. All models work on the same principle. The tool induces a small current through the wood and measures electrical resistance: the lower the resistance, the higher the moisture content. Percentage figures are shown with an analog needle or digital readout. Be sure to measure freshly cut surfaces to get an accurate reading of internal moisture content. As you see how fast wood dries during construction, you’ll develop a sense of how long it takes wood to dry to the proper level, and you’ll need the meter less and less.