Best option for storing wood...

[warfrat73]

What's my best option for storing wood in the absence of a properly climate controlled environment.

I'm in the process of trying to get my work space back together in the basement after a year or two of neglect and cluttering. Being an unheated and untreated basement, it does tend to be a bit on the humid side, though I do run a dehumidifier.

I have a few guitar and mandolin sets and some miscellaneous lumber in the basement that have been just stacked pretty haphazardly about.

But, how do I make the best of a less than ideal situation?

The most convenient place to store this wood is in shelving units along the wall. My basement isn't very large, about 30'x30' with the mechanicals pretty much in the center.

Would I be better off trying to store the instrument sets away from the wall? Does it really matter much provided that I keep them away from direct contact with moisture?

[printer2]

It is a question of are you conditioning them for present use or are you storing for a later date? They should be ok just storing them. A cardboard box and a light bulb in it can reduce humidity, a little fan inside would be good also (say a computer fan run off a 12V wall adapter). In my case heating season has my house humidity fighting to achieve 30%. I have a pan on the bottom and whenever I see the humidity dipping I just add a little water to the pan. Love these cheap humidity displays.

[Howard Klepper]

If you want your lumber to become more stable with age, the best place to store it is in an open sided shed outdoors, with a roof protecting the wood from rain and snow. You do not want climate control.

There is a reason they call it "seasoning." It's exposure to the changes of the seasons, not to spices.

I'd do the same with the instrument sets, but held flat by some means such as stickering.

A leaky garage without heating or cooling will do just as well.

[redir]

Originally Posted by printer2

It is a question of are you conditioning them for present use or are you storing for a later date? They should be ok just storing them. A cardboard box and a light bulb in it can reduce humidity, a little fan inside would be good also (say a computer fan run off a 12V wall adapter). In my case heating season has my house humidity fighting to achieve 30%. I have a pan on the bottom and whenever I see the humidity dipping I just add a little water to the pan. Love these cheap humidity displays.

Hmmmm... Looks like some dank in there

[printer2]

Originally Posted by redir

Hmmmm... Looks like some dank in there

Trick of the light.

[warfrat73]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

If you want your lumber to become more stable with age, the best place to store it is in an open sided shed outdoors, with a roof protecting the wood from rain and snow. You do not want climate control.

There is a reason they call it "seasoning." It's exposure to the changes of the seasons, not to spices.

I'd do the same with the instrument sets, but held flat by some means such as stickering.

A leaky garage without heating or cooling will do just as well.

So you're saying that I should lay off the black pepper?

I do have an unheated garage.

[SColumbusSt]

Originally Posted by printer2

It is a question of are you conditioning them for present use or are you storing for a later date? They should be ok just storing them. A cardboard box and a light bulb in it can reduce humidity, a little fan inside would be good also (say a computer fan run off a 12V wall adapter). In my case heating season has my house humidity fighting to achieve 30%. I have a pan on the bottom and whenever I see the humidity dipping I just add a little water to the pan. Love these cheap humidity displays.

Would you please expand a bit on the cardboard box and light trick? I've heard them called "hot boxes" before but a google search using that phrase has not turned up any woodworking info. Specifically what watt light bulb and how long to leave the wood in the box? Do you check the moisture content of the wood periodically or just go by feel? Thanks for any advice.

Keith

[printer2]

Originally Posted by SColumbusSt

Would you please expand a bit on the cardboard box and light trick? I've heard them called "hot boxes" before but a google search using that phrase has not turned up any woodworking info. Specifically what watt light bulb and how long to leave the wood in the box? Do you check the moisture content of the wood periodically or just go by feel? Thanks for any advice.

Keith

Trick of the light was just a little joke. The idea of using a light bulb to decrease humidity is that warmer air holds more moisture than colder air. Because of this the Relative Humidity goes down. Take if your current RH is 60% in a sealed room temperature and you increase the temperature the percent RH drops as the amount of moisture in the room remains the same but the air has a greater capacity to hold moisture. A term most people do not use is Dew Point. DP is the equivalent temperature where the air is saturated and holds as much water as it can, 100% RH. It is used by some engineering types to have a scale of how much moisture is in the air irrespective of what temperature the air is. Here is a calculator.

http://www.dpcalc.org/

The calculator has 68 F, 50% RH and 49 F DP. Slide the temperature scale up (solving for DP) the RH stays at 50% (moisture is added to keep it at 50%) to 100 F, the DP is now 78 F because of the moisture we added to keep the RH at 50% there is more moisture in the air, If the air temperature drops below 78 F we have an excess of moisture in the air and the excess drops out as dew or rain.

Now back to the cardboard box. Say you have a temperature of 75 F and a RH of 70%. This will give a DP of 65 F. Now change the calculator so it solves for RH. Now slide the temperature up until you get 50%. You need to increase the temperature in the box to 85 F in order to get the RH down to 49%. I would get a temperature/humidity gauge and cut a hole in the box and put a piece of clear plastic as a window so you can see what the % RH is in the box. The light bulb will increase the temperature in the box, how high it gets will depend on the wattage (no using Led lights here, we want the normal incandescent bulb) and the size of the box. The air leakage into the box and the insulating value of the cardboard will determine what temperature the air in the box will rise to. As long as you have an excess of heat you can always dial it back by using a home light dimmer.

[SColumbusSt]

Thanks Fred, I appreciate your experience and advice. One last question - assuming I get my cardboard box to an RH of 40%, how long do I need to leave my wood in there for it to acclimate?

[printer2]

Originally Posted by SColumbusSt

Thanks Fred, I appreciate your experience and advice. One last question - assuming I get my cardboard box to an RH of 40%, how long do I need to leave my wood in there for it to acclimate?

As the wood absorbs or gives off moisture the % RH number on the meter will change until it achieves equilibrium. Take a look at the meter every few days to see if the number will change. Softwoods as thin as our plates do not take too long to acclimatize, hardwoods are slower. At least a couple of weeks will get the softwoods in the range but hardwoods could take longer. Whatever other people say as far as how long you need to have the wood sit in the shop before using. Another thing is to measure the weight of the wood to see if it is absorbing or giving up moisture. I can not tell you any hard advice as I just put aside wood well before I use it.

[SColumbusSt]

Thanks again!

[Bill Kraus]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

If you want your lumber to become more stable with age, the best place to store it is in an open sided shed outdoors, with a roof protecting the wood from rain and snow. You do not want climate control.

There is a reason they call it "seasoning." It's exposure to the changes of the seasons, not to spices.

I'd do the same with the instrument sets, but held flat by some means such as stickering.

A leaky garage without heating or cooling will do just as well.

Like Mr. Klepper said above.
Being outside the Buffalo area, I hesitate to use an open sided shed, but I have a fine selection of woods stored in my basement. During the summer I do run a dehumidifier down there to prevent mildew when the humidity is real high, but in the winter I let the humidity drop pretty low. Being that the wood is generally dry when I place it down there, I believe that these fluctuations will help season the wood in the long term.