How To Dry Wood Without A Kiln

No affair which manner you obtain your wood for your projects, before you start working with that woods, you lot must ensure that you accept perfectly dry out lumber.

But what does that mean?
When does wood have a perfect moisture content?
How to dry wood correctly?

Well, you are in the right identify because in this blog y'all will acquire how to dry lumber fast, how to know when the wood is dry, and the answers to many other questions about wood drying will be shared here.

In brusk, you tin dry forest in 4 dissimilar means, which I explain in detail in this article, and that is past:

• Drying forest indoors
• Drying wood outdoors
• Past the use of a dehumidifier or fan
• Drying wood in a microwave or oven

Detect the essential forest drying tips in this blog, rule out all moisture issues in wood, and make sure your adjacent woodworking projection is a success.

Fix?

Let's go!

Table Of Contents

1. Why exercise yous need to dry wood before building with information technology?
2. How do you get the moisture out of wood?
3. What are Acceptable Moisture Levels in Forest?
   • Some recommended quality wet meters to accept in your workshop
4. How long does it take for lumber to dry?
5. 4 Correct ways to dry lumber fast
   • If you have the infinite, dry lumber indoors
   • dry lumber outdoors
   • Use A Dehumidifier or Fan (or a combination) to dry out lumber
   • Dry lumber in a microwave or oven
6. Step-by-step actions to dry lumber correctly
   • Read more related blogs to this one here:
7. How to build your workshop on a budget?

Why do you lot need to dry out wood before building with it?

Theoretically, information technology is perfectly possible to build something with wet wood.

Nevertheless, when you lot do this y'all will discover that the forest will slowly lose its moisture, over fourth dimension the wood used will warp, planks will compress, or the wood will start to cleft .
Also, your project will outset molding pretty quickly. To find out what else you need to do to preclude your wood from getting moldy, run across my article, How To Forbid Mold On Forest – A Quick Guide.

And then theoretically it is possible, but it is better to use dry lumber.

When y'all take bought wood or if you take cutting a log yourself into planks, y'all

start need to know how much moisture is nowadays in the wood

.
Just that way, yous volition know how long the woods volition accept to dry earlier you tin use information technology as an essential role of your woodworking project.

It doesn't matter why y'all will be using the wood, to brand a cutting board (be sure to use non toxic wood for this!), for a piece of furniture or to build a shed, it is important that the woods is sufficiently dry.

So you will take to dry out woods if you lot desire to avoid things like shrinkage or warping.

If you lot want to offset drying wood, you lot tin can choose betwixt several options that you tin utilize to dry lumber.

Keep in mind that drying woods always depends on the thickness and the hardness of your wood, and then you lot will take to decide the best way tailored to the wood you desire to dry.

But don't worry, by the end of this blog you will be perfectly able to estimate which method is needed to dry lumber.

How exercise you get the moisture out of woods?

In that location are several ways to go the moisture out of wood. Some ways are slower, other ways get the moisture out of the wood faster, but are also more than expensive.

The dissimilar ways to get the wet out of forest are:

• air dry,
• dehumidifier or fans (or a combination),
• oven.

I will discuss this in more detail further in this web log.

What are Acceptable Moisture Levels in Wood?

To know when the woods is dry out enough to use for your projects, use a moisture meter. Information technology is therefore recommended having a quality moisture meter in your workshop.
With that moisture meter it is best to always check the wood for moisture levels before you showtime using the wood. No matter what the immovability form of woods you are using, wet levels should be as follows:

For exterior wood, the acceptable moisture level is betwixt nine% to 14%.
For interior forest, the moisture level is lower and is betwixt 6% to 8%

However, the adequate moisture content in wood depends on two factors:

• The place where the forest gets its terminal destination,
• The average RH of the environment where the wood is used.

Some recommended quality wet meters to take in your workshop

How long does it take for lumber to dry?

How long it takes for wood to dry depends on the method of drying. Each drying method will have its own drying times. The thickness of the wood to exist dried also plays an important role in this.

Air dry in the slowest fashion to dry out forest where drying volition take approximately 2 to 12 months. Depending on the climate and the humidity in the air, you tin can reduce the wet percentage to about 12% to twenty%.
Air-stale woods is therefore never dry enough for indoor use.

When yous are going to utilise a dehumidifier or fan, you can speed up this air drying process, and you can shorten the maximum drying time.

The fastest way to dry lumber is by kiln with high temperature and high airspeed.

These tin dry lumber with a thickness of 25 mm in nigh 10 hours to a moisture content of 18%.

Even so, if you want to dry lumber to a moisture level of 8%, an oven needs about 28 days to dry.

four Correct ways to dry lumber fast

Ok, at present that y'all know more most moisture in wood, y'all tin can detect out how the woods tin be dried.

All methods of drying wood discussed below are very efficient. The only deviation between the drying methods is the speed at which the moisture level can exist reduced.

If you lot take the space, dry out lumber indoors

I know non everyone has a huge space to dry out lumber indoors, but if you take the possibility to make some room, try drying wood indoors.

Drying indoors has the advantage that you have to bargain with improve atmospheric condition than outdoors.

You lot will not only take less bear upon due to the weather condition conditions, but information technology will also exist less humid.
So endeavour to put your wood in a dry out shed or a garage.

If a heating system has been installed in the garage, this is fifty-fifty better, as it helps generate dry oestrus and speed up the process to dry out lumber.

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dry lumber outdoors

When drying indoors is impossible, you have no choice simply to permit the wood dry exterior.
By thinking virtually where and how you will shop your woods, you still can attain very adept results.

If you desire to cull the perfect place to dry lumber, you will have to go on a few things in mind

.

Sunday is the most important factor in drying wood faster.
Your forest volition dry faster if it is exposed to a lot of sunlight every day.
So dry out woods in a place where there are as many hours of sun equally possible.

Another factor that plays an of import role in the drying of woods is wind. The more air current tin blow through your wood stack, the faster the moisture level will drop.
Then, a combination of sun and wind is ideal. To use these elements of nature you lot volition have to find an open and sunny place to dry out your wood.

Only there is also a disadvantage to that place, and that is rain.
Yous volition therefore have to notice a manner to protect the forest against pelting, but where lord's day and wind yet tin have a positive effect on the wood.
A solution to that is to encompass the wood with a heavy- duty tarp or roofing sheets.

Ever be sure the covers are well secured and stay perfectly over the wood. From fourth dimension to time bank check the cover to see if in that location are no holes in it where water can infiltrate.

Use A Dehumidifier or Fan (or a combination) to dry lumber

If yous can dry out lumber indoors, you can speed up the unabridged drying process in iii unlike ways:

• With a dehumidifier,
• with a fan,
• or by combining both.

Kesnos 2500 Sq. Ft Dehumidifier

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When you apply a dehumidifier, be sure you lot purchase a decent dehumidifier and identify it adjacent to the stack of forest to be dried. This dehumidifier sucks the moisture directly from the woods, as information technology were.

Depending on the humidity in the room where the wood is located besides as the corporeality of moisture present in the wood, a dehumidifier can speed up the drying time. Every bit a result, woods can dry faster for months, weeks, or only a few days in the least favorable circumstances.

A 2d option is that you lot stimulate the airflow through the woods. You lot can practice this using a high volume fan.

The last option to dry out wood fast is to combine the dehumidifier with the fan. This fashion yous combine the benefits of both ways of speeding upwards the drying process.
If you desire to let your wood dry apace, the combination of the dehumidifier and the fan are the best method to air-dry wood.

Dry lumber in a microwave or oven

Okay, with this method, as you lot might guess, it is not possible to dry large pieces of wood.
Unless you have access to an industrial wood-drying oven.

This method of wood drying in a microwave is very effective and fast for removing moisture from the woods, but keep in listen that you will need to air regularly while using this forest drying technique.
If you don't air it regularly, it volition scorch to the cadre and destroy your forest.
Repeat small periods of drying no longer than ii minutes.
Every fourth dimension the wood is aired, y'all can bank check with a moisture meter what moisture percent the woods has.
In this way, you can estimate how long nevertheless needs to exist connected with the drying of the wood.

Farberware 1.1 Cu. Ft. Stainless Steel Countertop Microwave Oven

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Although this method gives faster results than air drying, it is only useful for pocket-size pieces of wood.

If you want to dry out slightly larger pieces of wood, you tin can employ the same method with a normal oven.
The periods in which the woods dries will therefore be longer, depending on the type of oven you have.
Just here besides y'all are limited in the length of the wood that you want to dry.

Pace-by-pace actions to dry out lumber correctly

Okay,

You now know everything most moisture in woods, you lot also know the best methods for drying woods, so all yous need to know now is how to dry lumber fast and correctly.

Regardless of which drying method y'all volition utilize, the steps you demand to take to set up a wood stack are always the aforementioned.
That's why I'll become through these steps below.
Apply these steps to your own wood stack and your wood volition dry effectively and in the fastest manner.
If you do this correctly, after a few weeks or a few months you may take wood that is dry enough to use in one of your next projects.

Step i: The moisture level
Brand sure the moisture content in the forest is known.
Purchase a decent wood moisture meter for this.
I already showed you lot the best models above.

By regularly checking for moisture present in the wood you lot can better estimate when the wood will be fix for use, but you volition also exist able to switch to another method if necessary.

Pace two: The foundation of the wood stack
Make sure that the wood is never placed direct on the ground.
Always start with a row of stickers on the floor. For the stickers you can use pieces of wood that are already dry out.
Lay them out evenly with a space of no more than than 40 cm (sixteen inches) in between to avert sagging or bending the woods. That way air can get to the wood from the footing.

Step 3: Building upward the forest stack
Now identify the forest you want to dry out perpendicular to the stickers. Place new stickers between each layer of wood. Make sure the stickers take a minimum height of 2.v cm (one inch). This increases the airflow to each piece of woods. The better air tin menstruum through the woods, the faster it will dry.
E'er make sure that the stickers are placed one above the other. Alternating placement of the stickers will ensure that the wood will curve, and you obviously don't want that.

Step 4: Weight downward and comprehend
When the woods is stacked, it is very important to prevent the wood from warping during the drying process.
Y'all can approach this in different means.
Either you make the wood stack heavier past placing heavy materials such every bit concrete blocks on summit of the meridian layer, or use tensioning straps to connect the entire stack of wood together.
By weighing it down sufficiently you create force per unit area on the woods so that warping during drying is kept to a minimum.

When wood is placed outside to dry, yous will likewise accept to embrace the wood stack with a heavy-duty tarp to protect the woods from rain.

If you take followed all the steps, the process to dry out wood fast can at present begin.
Don't be impatient and give the wood enough fourth dimension to make sure the woods has the wet content you lot want it to achieve.
Recollect, the drier and warmer the air, the faster this drying procedure will be.

If you follow the tips discussed in this guide, the wood yous need for your future project will be perfectly dry in a reasonable amount of time.
A expert tip: always dry out plenty wood, so y'all always have a stock of wood immediately available, and y'all practice non accept to postpone your projects.

Ok, now that you know how to dry woods, y'all can go a step further and understand how to dry forest without slap-up. Any crack that appears in the stale wood is a piece that you can no longer apply.
Information technology is therefore important to avoid this as much as possible and not to let precious woods get to waste product.

That's why I recommend that y'all read my article, How to Dry Wood Without Cracking – 3 Clever Tricks, it's full of useful tips that you'll dear.

How to build your workshop on a budget?

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Christophe, founder of Christofix.com
Woodworking | DIY | Home decoration

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