Great question Dave. The slabs were at 10.9% to 11.5% at 3/4" depth with a very good pinless moisture meter when they walked in. My shop is humidity and temperature controlled and I re kiln dry all of my wood I buy and let rest and season. My shop is 42%-50% max leaving all my slabs at about 9.5% after I soft kiln dry down to 6-7% and they rest and come back to where they will stay. Perfect for building but not cutting 3/8th thick boards at 11% they will turn into a banana in less than 6 hours and crack and check. This is to keep them flat as possible. We opened up the wood and rapid moisture loss with thin stock can leave it unusable. It’s happened in my shop. So, for these sets they are drying out quickly I only have the ends clamped so they keep themselves as flat and straight as possible for the next month or so and then I will release the clamps and see ho they move or not. Then I’ll drum sand join them for tops. It's just to slow it down when cut that thin. Depending on thickness and moisture content I clamp sometimes to steel beams or stack weight on. The thinner stock is so much more susceptible to dancing and moving and grooving around than thick in my experience.
Beautiful wood fellas!
Gorgeous!
Amazing figure.
No spacers ("stickers") between the boards to dry?
Great question Dave. The slabs were at 10.9% to 11.5% at 3/4" depth with a very good pinless moisture meter when they walked in. My shop is humidity and temperature controlled and I re kiln dry all of my wood I buy and let rest and season. My shop is 42%-50% max leaving all my slabs at about 9.5% after I soft kiln dry down to 6-7% and they rest and come back to where they will stay.
Perfect for building but not cutting 3/8th thick boards at 11% they will turn into a banana in less than 6 hours and crack and check. This is to keep them flat as possible. We opened up the wood and rapid moisture loss with thin stock can leave it unusable. It’s happened in my shop. So, for these sets they are drying out quickly I only have the ends clamped so they keep themselves as flat and straight as possible for the next month or so and then I will release the clamps and see ho they move or not. Then I’ll drum sand join them for tops.
It's just to slow it down when cut that thin. Depending on thickness and moisture content I clamp sometimes to steel beams or stack weight on. The thinner stock is so much more susceptible to dancing and moving and grooving around than thick in my experience.