The answer is more complicated than a simple number like 6% or 12 %. First of all a bit of background. The moisture content of wood is something called EMC (Equilibrum Moisture Content). What this means is that where ever wood stored, it will absorb or expel the amount of moisture it needs be equal to its environment. This means that if you live is Seattle and bring home a piece of wood from your wood store where it was kiln dried to 6% moisture content, if you store this wood outside in a covered shed (not open to the weather) this piece of wood will likely absorb another 6% of moisture and will be come "stable to its current environment" when the moisture content reaches 12%. If you stored this lumber inside your home with lower relative humidity and higher temperature, chance are it will not absorb as much moisture and will probably stabilize to something closer to around 9%. Now if you live in the mid west and store this lumber in home where the temperature in you home is still around 70 degrees but the relative humidity is like 10% (because it is so dry) this wood will like stay around 6% EMC.

Click the image above to order your own Moisture Meter from Rockler

So, lets get back to the answer of our question. The real answer is the question is, "what is the environment that the project will be stored or used in". If it is a piece of furniture and you live in Arizona e where the ambient temperature is around 70 degrees and the relative humidity in your home is around 20%, then the ideal moisture content for wood is actually closer to around 5%.

The cells within every piece of wood are constantly in state of absorbing or expeling moisture in order for the wood to "stabilize" within its existing environment. As woodworkers, once we know this we can begin to compensate for the expansion and contractions of wood.
<>br> Wood expands and contracts almost entirely on its tangential and radial direction almost nothing in its longitudinal direction. This means most typical "boards" will expand and contract through their width and depth and almost nothing in their length. The amount they expand and contract depends on the environment they are stored and used in. We can slow down the process of expansion and contraction by sealing the edge grain, but we cannot stop it.

If you have a moisture meter like a you can check your own wood to see what it's moisture content is then use that information to plan your project more effectively. This way you can alloow for future expansion and contraction by now knowing which direction the wood will flow in and what you can do compensate for i

copyright - Colin Knecht
woodworkweb

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