acclimation

As usual the answer is it depends. Where you live, what sort of heating and cooling you use, what the swings in humidity are inside versus outside or in your shop and ultimately what you are making and how it is designed are all factors that you would have to consider, not to mention what species and dimensions of lumber you will use and how it was milled (quarter sawn vs. rift sawn for example). It is probably a good idea in general to acclimate the lumber but good designs and build techniques will minimize the negative impact that moisture swings will cause. As to whether you need to take it in and out of the house, that will depend on how long it takes you to build it. If you can finish in a week or so and it is not really rainy during that time, you probably do not need to move it back and forth, but if the build may take several weeks for example or you go have some really wet weather for a while, it might be a good idea .

One thing that you can explore is getting a dehumidifier to help keep your shop humidity relatively constant, though, if you park cars in there, especially wet, or frequently open and close the garage door, that might not help much. You might want to get yourself a digital temperature with hygrometer and monitor it for awhile just to see what kind of swings you get. If you get a wireless one that has both indoor and outdoor readings you can see how different the 2 environments are. Some even allow you to upload the readings to your computers so you can more easily evaluate over time.

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

thanks Lazyman. I will look into those devices. fortunately, the first thing i plan to build will be in the plant room that tends to be more humid than the rest of the house due to the large number of plants that are watered regularly.

Moisture changes as the seasons come and go, as we heat, air condition, and live with the widows open, so inside the house isn’t some Temple that is immune to RH and moisture changes in wood. This is why you need to understand wood movement, and build to accept that movement.

Imagine a famous woodworker, Sam Maloof for instance. He had built chairs for people all over the world. sent from his shop in California. The wood didn’t quit being wood after he built something with it. It was still susceptible to wood movement.

Just know the boards don’t get longer, just wider. Unless they are getting narrower. Just find a nice spot in the garage you can acclimate it to your neighborhood. Somewhere out of the way, and not under foot. Also consider concrete is one big wet spot, that gets cold, and hardly ever warm, so maybe a couple of 2×4’s under it to keep it off the ground. No sense asking your lumber to take on moisture.

-- Think safe, be safe

Thanks therealSteveN. I watched a Paul Sellers video where he mentioned something about using Joinery to help control movement. Considering I have a couple hundred BF of wood I got inexpensively, I may as well just make some things and see what happens. I plan to do a lot of mortise and tenon joinery, so I will plan things in order to speed up the build to minimize climate switching. Maybe I will bring a few of the nicer boards in and see how their moisture content changes. I have all of my boards up off the ground in order to avoid moisture transfer.

I can put some time into the workbench. I have 140 bf of Red Maple that would make for a nice laminated top and as I mill it, I can pull the nicer boards for something else. I can put some Hickory aside for the vises and maybe just use big box pine for the legs.

Sadly, I don’t really have an eye for how things will look once finished and may just be guessing about the quality of a board. I thought there was something wrong with the jointer blades when I ran the only maple board I have milled over it. At first I thought it was the scalloping people talked about with Shelix heads. Turns out it was just quilting and the surface was smooth.

I probably should have recorded some of my attempts at installing that jointer head. It would probably have made a lot of new wood workers feel good about themselves.

Thanks again.

Also, Lazyman, I ordered some inexpensive meters. I’ll just put the in several places and jot down the numbers as the weather patterns change. That was a great Idea, Thanks.

Wood moisture levels and acclimation time vary due regional differences.
Rather than type a long answer explaining everything, here are some references:

Simple explanation of moisture in wood:
https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-and-moisture/

US government Dept of Agriculture – Chapter 12 of Wood handbook on Moisture Content:
https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch12.pdf

Dept of Agriculture reference on equilibrium moisture for wood used outdoors:
https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrn/fplrn268.pdf

Cheers!

-- If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all, - Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign released 1967

Below is a link to a EMC calculator app that you can load on your cell phone. just put in the relative humidity and the ambient temperature and it will calculate the EMC for you . This is very useful for me when going into a clients home for an estimate. If I get the job I know what EMC I should try to achieve. I use the Caliber IV hygrometer which sells for about $25

https://www.wagnermeters.com/newsroom/free-emc-calculator-app/

https://coolerexp.com/best-digital-hygrometer-for-humidor-review/

Thank you CaptainKlutz. I will read all of those.

4wood, that looks great. Thanks a bunch.

For a experiment, you could glue-up a test board. 1”x24”x12” using eight 1”x3”x12” pieces. Then measure the 24” wideth twice a month or once a month, and write down the date and exact width (not proximate), and temperature. You’ll have a close record in your area for movement. Some months you’ll record the same results, and other months may be another result.

Thanks for the idea WoodenDreams, but that’s one thing I don’t need to obsess over. knowing me I would have to get out of bed at 2am to make sure I put down the day’s readings. I would probably wake up at 4am wondering if the 2am trip was a dream and have to get up again. I need my sleep man! :)