(05-16-2021, 03:35 PM)Ben massey Wrote: I've cut a few trees off the family farm had them milled to build a crib and dresser the problem is I need to be building but my wood is at 5 to 13 percent moisture is it safe to build with that much moisture or will it destroy my projects
How are you measuring the moisture? Just that's a fairly wide range, but all could be considered "dry", depending on where you live.
Wood looses moisture until it matches the environment it's in. Like mentioned,above Arizona in the summer might dry your wood down to 5%. Where i live 13% is about as dry as wood ever gets. Leave wood for 100 years, and it wont get any dryer. Wood never gets to 0% moisture without abuse like an oven or microwave, and you don't want to ge there.
So 2 suggestions. Measure some wood that's currently in your house. If that's 6% or 12%, that's the number you want to aim for. If your wood is higher than that, then stack some of it up in the house, on sticks so air can circulate, and point a fan at the stack. Leave it there for a few weeks, and it should adjust to the correct level. Around 8% is pretty normal for most of the USA.
Like I said, I can build with 13% wood because 12% is the average equilibrium here, so "close enough". People in Arizona can't because the wood will continue to shrink and cause problems.