how long for wood to dry?

[fiasco]

If I were to purchase freshly cut non kiln dried oak, how long would I have to let it sit in the shop before It would dry enough to be used?

[JTimmons]

Your going to get a few answers on this one. I have been told a year per inch of thickness if stored inside.

[RayintheUK]

Very difficult to give any sort of definitive answer, because of the variables involved, which include:

In what form you collect it (trunk, slabbed trunk, planks).

When you collect it (needs to be cut when the sap is at its lowest for the shortest drying times).

What size the tree was and therefore what part of the trunk your stock came from (moisture content can differ).

What you're going to use it for (cabinets/furniture or turning).

If furniture, what final thickness the stock will be used at (cut thinner initially, drying time may be reduced, but likelihood of cracks, splits, bowing, cupping and checks increases).

Air circulation, ventilation, etc. in and around your shop.

The general rule of 12 months per inch of thickness is a fairly good guide, given that the timber is planked and stored "in stick," with good circulation.

Would it cost much more to kiln dry it (assuming that was an available option)?

Ray.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

How about building a simple solar kiln? Have you thought about that?

[gwyneth]

I've never used one, so they might be terrible, but cheap moisture meters are now a lot cheaper than they used to be (less than thirty bucks)...might save you that much if it prevents wasting effort, false starts, and wood, via premature use.

[Dagwood_55]

It really has less to do with time (although it takes time). It has more to do with the humidity, temp, and air movement in you storage area. If your humidity is too high in your storage, it don't matter how long you store the lumber, it's not gonna dry but so much.

EMC (Equilibrium moisture content) is the relation between temp and humity which determins how much/low your lumber will dry. For instance: If your shop is 90 degrees inside and the humidity is 36%, your wood (after enough time) will eventually equilbrate to 7.2% MC.

If your shop is 50 degrees and the humidity is 74%, the wood (no matter the time) will never dry below 14.4%, even after 100 years.

So, there are so many varables to determin how long or will it dry enough?? But if you know all the varables, there are formulas to give you a good answer. Varables would be your shop/storage conditions, wood thickness, begining MC, species, air movement, condition of stacks of lumber, and on and on.....

That's why commercial dry kilns are so good at this. All the varables are carefull controlled, measure, recorded with precise drying formulas/schedules to get the wood just where we want it, and do this as cheeply as possible.