Good Wood Gone Bad...

[Jim Frye]

Well, some may question calling construction lumber good wood, but it was good when I bought it. Four years ago, I bought some premium studs to make an assembly table for a large cabinet (entertainment center) I was building. The studs were carefully selected for straightness, lack of twist, crook, cup,etc. Now, four years later, I pulled the last one from the wood rack in my basement shop to use for some equipment mounts in the garage. I was stunned to see the 2x4 had a twist of nearly 20 degrees end to end! My shop is in the basement which has a constant 60 - 65 degree temperature and the humidity is a steady 50%. Fortunately, I need relatively short pieces so the twist won’t affect things that much. Lots of deck screws coming.

[capncarl]

There is no such thing as a straight board, what we think are straight boards just haven’t warped yet.

[LCHIEN]

Not completely dry when sold.... maybe a wine a little before its time, eh?

[leehljp]

There is a difference in lumber yards or different home centers lumber. There are higher priced lumber/construction stores and lower priced ones. I helped build a couple of church buildings in the past 8 years and helped with the choice of wood. I am not a contractor at all, but it did not take me long to see the difference in both grade and price and the reason for the price differences. Both had good looking wood but the cheaper ones had warped boards all over. And some wood purchased from the cheaper places warped quickly and could only be used as short pieces; wood from the more expensive place did not warp nearly as much if set aside or delayed a few weeks before use.

I got a lot of flack for recommending the more expensive store, but in the end, even the misers had to admit that the cheap place's wood was iffy and cost more in waste - could not be used as joists, or studs or frames. 10ft walls will expose cheap wood quickly as they can warp even after being nailed in place.

[cwsmith]

I generally buy wood months ahead of time. It's not so much planning as it is interruptions in my plans to get at whatever project I foresee. But when I buy it, I place it in the 8 x 20 room built onto the side of my garage. There I have built 2 x 4 blades (not the right word, but it's headache day) out from the wall studs. They are reinforced and I can stack my boards across those for storage against that wall. I use scraps from previous projects, all 3/4 x 3/4 x 10 inches or so, to act as 'stickers' (board spacers). That way the stock is organized, well vented, and the warp seems to be minimal, if at all. The garage gets rather warm in the summer months and pretty much dries out any excess moisture in the stock. Surprisingly this works well for my use.

While I'm fairly careful selecting boards when I can, occasionally I'll find some twist and for those I have some weights from an old exercise machine, they tend to straighten them out to some degree. Of course if the wood is new and I'm using it right away that can be challenging. On occasion I'll lbuy from the local lumber supplier, as they have only a small charge for delivery. Problem there is that I don't get to select the boards; you give them the size and their people do the picking and delivery. I've had to send some boards back on occasion. Home Depot and Lowes allows me to pick the stock that I want and it's often worth the labor. For the stuff that I do, it works, but I'm not a fine furniture creator like many members here.

We do have a hardwood supplier a few miles away, but they only sell wholesale, and not to everyday consumers. I haven't explored other sources, but the area is rich in forest areas and there hardly a direction you can look that isn't covered.

CWS

[Carlos]

50% seems so high, relative to what I'm used to. What is wood normally dried to? I would expect less than that, so it would have been re-humidified over the years, no?

[Jim Frye]

50% seems so high, relative to what I'm used to. What is wood normally dried to? I would expect less than that, so it would have been re-humidified over the years, no?

I think most construction grade lumber is dried to 10 - 15 %. I doubt the 2x4 re-hydrated that much while sitting in the shop wood rack those four years. There is a lot of other wood in those fingers that have been there far longer with no movement. I’d say it was due to the nature of the particular cut of wood.

[cwsmith]

For whatever reason, I've got 40% stuck in my mind. It seems to me that if the wood is dried to 10 to 15% its almost going to be brittle and subject to splitting over time. My house was built in 1887 and when soon after we moved in, I decided to do as much 'finish' work as possible in the third floor, walk-up attic. That wood was has hard as a rock and you had to be careful, as trying to pry a board would most likely just cause it to fracture and break.

CWS

[LCHIEN]

50% seems so high, relative to what I'm used to. What is wood normally dried to? I would expect less than that, so it would have been re-humidified over the years, no?

50% would be the rooms relative humidity. Its relative to the maximum amount of moisture the air can carry before it saturates and starts to rain indoors.
When the room is at 50%, which is typical of airconditioned homes, then wood moisture content usually equalizes at (someone correct me) around 10-12%

https://www.wagnermeters.com/moisture-meters/wood-info/acceptable-moisture-levels-wood/