when is wood dry

i am trying to determine if logs that have been stored at my mums
house are dry enough to start using for turnings and carvings, i have
tried to read through the old posts but each time i keep comming up
with the idea of weighing the wood as it dries, which would be ok
accept i dont know what it weighed when it started and i also have no
idea how long its been drying, im hoping for some simple look for this
or that, but i doubt it will be that easy. im hoping not to need to
buy some fancy measuring contraption. also if i do use suspect wood
how long before i would likely start to see cracks etc if it was too
wet?
well any help at all would be apreciated
thanks in advance
Brett Holmes

holmsy wrote:
i am trying to determine if logs that have been stored at my mums
house are dry enough to start using for turnings and carvings,

If these logs are still in the round and they haven't started to crack,
then they aren't very dry. But that is not a bad thing. To get the most
from them, it is best to start cutting them up and roughing them out
before they do crack. At the very least I would recommend splitting them
in half.

tried to read through the old posts but each time i keep comming up
with the idea of weighing the wood as it dries, which would be ok
accept i dont know what it weighed when it started

Weigh it now, leave it for a few more months, preferably a year, and
weigh it again. If it hasn't lost any more weight, then it is as dry as
it will get in those conditions. That does not mean though that it is
dry enough.


also if i do use suspect wood
how long before i would likely start to see cracks etc if it was too
wet?

My guess is that if these logs have been stored in the round, outdoors,
they probably aren't very dry, and will start to split as soon as you
start exposing bare wood and bringing it indoors. So much depends on the
type of wood, how it has been stored, what your climate is like, what
you want to make from it, how big...

I think your best best would be to cut off a small piece and see what
happens. Split a piece open and see if it feels wet.

--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toolrest/

"holmsy" wrote in message
om...
i am trying to determine if logs that have been stored at my mums
house are dry enough to start using for turnings and carvings, i have
tried to read through the old posts but each time i keep comming up
with the idea of weighing the wood as it dries, which would be ok
accept i dont know what it weighed when it started and i also have no
idea how long its been drying, im hoping for some simple look for this
or that, but i doubt it will be that easy. im hoping not to need to
buy some fancy measuring contraption. also if i do use suspect wood
how long before i would likely start to see cracks etc if it was too
wet?
well any help at all would be apreciated
thanks in advance
Brett Holmes

Not precise, but you could look at the average density in the fpl site,
weigh, and compute based on what you have, and get a good feeling for it.
Hint - it's easier to compute this if you cut a 1" cube!

If you weigh your 1" cube and then dry it to ignition in the micro you'll
get a good percentage. This has a tendency to irritate SWMBO, so you might
want to stop the micro a bit short of where the data in stage one predicts
oven dry should be.

It depends how long they have been stored for. If they were stored for
a couple of years in dry conditions chances are that they are dry. If
not then the weight loss is a good way to check for dryness.

"Ralph" wrote in message
news:nasLd.86548$Ob.55665@edtnps84...
It depends how long they have been stored for. If they were stored for
a couple of years in dry conditions chances are that they are dry. If
not then the weight loss is a good way to check for dryness.

Isn't "dry" a relative term? I'd consider "dry" to be when the wood reaches
a dryness level that matches or is close to the surrounding conditions where
it is going to be used. That could furniture general construction or some
other creation.

"Upscale" wrote in message
news
"Ralph" wrote in message
news:nasLd.86548$Ob.55665@edtnps84...
It depends how long they have been stored for. If they were stored for
a couple of years in dry conditions chances are that they are dry. If
not then the weight loss is a good way to check for dryness.

Isn't "dry" a relative term? I'd consider "dry" to be when the wood
reaches
a dryness level that matches or is close to the surrounding conditions
where
it is going to be used. That could furniture general construction or some
other creation.


Ayup.

So when you check the % on your stored stuff, do a similar cube on your best
shop stuff. Within a point or two - good!

If not, the questionable into the same environment in which it will be used,
retest in two weeks.

Cut and turn it green and use that most beneficent of potions: LDD!

Leif
"holmsy" wrote in message
om...
i am trying to determine if logs that have been stored at my mums
house are dry enough to start using for turnings and carvings, i have
tried to read through the old posts but each time i keep comming up
with the idea of weighing the wood as it dries, which would be ok
accept i dont know what it weighed when it started and i also have no
idea how long its been drying, im hoping for some simple look for this
or that, but i doubt it will be that easy. im hoping not to need to
buy some fancy measuring contraption. also if i do use suspect wood
how long before i would likely start to see cracks etc if it was too
wet?
well any help at all would be apreciated
thanks in advance
Brett Holmes

Derek Andrews wrote:

Weigh it now, leave it for a few more months, preferably a year, and
weigh it again. If it hasn't lost any more weight, then it is as dry as
it will get in those conditions. That does not mean though that it is
dry enough.

Case in point, a piece of cherry firewood that had been in Dad's outdoor but
sheltered shed for 15-20 years. Should have been dry. The thing I made
out of it cracked immediately, and then the cracks opened waaaaay up to
maybe as much as 3/4" over the course of the next several days. Sigh.

This cracking business is definitely the crappy side of turning. Out of
everything I've turned in a year or so, I've only had two pieces survive
without some sort of warping or cracking or both (not counting stuff I
turned out of KD stock). It's extremely discouraging. I've tried
everything short of shaking a naked chicken at the wood. I have more or
less given up in favor of more rewarding pursuits.

Can't turn anything of interest on a mini lathe anyway. Bah humbug. Great
way to make shavings for fun, but a lousy way to turn out useful results.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/

"Upscale" wrote

It depends how long they have been stored for. If they were stored for
a couple of years in dry conditions chances are that they are dry. If
not then the weight loss is a good way to check for dryness.

Isn't "dry" a relative term? I'd consider "dry" to be when the wood
reaches
a dryness level that matches or is close to the surrounding conditions
where
it is going to be used.

To establish this state in pieces of moderate size, suspend a sample by a
suitable spring and mark the level of, say, one end. When this ceases to
change, the moisture content has reached equilibrium with the surroundings.

Jeff G

--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
email : Username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
www.amgron.clara.net