As a general rule of thumb, the moisture content level of wood used for woodworking should be at or below 9%.
On a more technical level, the moisture content (MC) of the wood should be equal to the differential in relative humidity (RH) in the location the wood is being manufactured in.
In other words, if the RH of your kitchen is 21-28%, your ideal moisture content level would be 7%.
For easy calculation, you can get a 'Wood Moisture Meter' on Amazon here.
How To Properly Dry Wood To Be Used For Woodworking
The most common way to dry wood rapidly is kiln drying. This type of drying process enables woodworkers to allow moisture to evaporate from the wood in a relatively quick manner.
Wood will naturally evaporate moisture, but this occurs at an indeterminable rate.
Why?
Because wood is always interacting with the environment that it's in, the moisture content can change significantly during transport, spikes or drops in temperature, etc.
That's why we recommend kiln drying because it allows you to get within the range of the ideal moisture content level desired.
Written By, Lords Only
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