Difference between revisions of "Dry Wood for Woodworking"

When wood is cut from a living tree, it is saturated with moisture. As this water dries from the wood, the wood will contract in shape unevenly, due to the differing shapes and sizes of the wood's cells. Therefore, to keep your woodworking projects from warping, cracking, or otherwise becoming distorted, you need to dry the wood thoroughly before using it. Learning how to dry wood for woodworking is a simple and inexpensive process, but it does require a long waiting period for especially moist wood.

When wood is cut from a living tree, it is saturated with moisture. As this water dries from the wood, the wood will contract in shape unevenly, due to the differing shapes and sizes of the wood's cells. Therefore, to keep your woodworking projects from warping, cracking, or otherwise becoming distorted, you need to dry the wood thoroughly before using it. Learning how to dry wood for woodworking is a simple and inexpensive process, but it does require a long waiting period for especially moist wood.

== Steps ==

== Steps ==

# Purchase a moisture meter. There is no accurate visual or tactile test for determining a wood's moisture content. To be sure that your wood is dry enough for woodworking, you'll need a small handheld tool called a moisture meter. This tool has 2 small metal probes that are touched against the wood to produce a moisture readout expressed as a percentage of the wood's volume or weight.

# Purchase a moisture meter. There is no accurate visual or tactile test for determining a wood's moisture content. To be sure that your wood is dry enough for woodworking, you'll need a small handheld tool called a moisture meter. This tool has 2 small metal probes that are touched against the wood to produce a moisture readout expressed as a percentage of the wood's volume or weight.