Moisture content question

[No skills]

Hi folks

After a few days off work ill I returned and found my small pile of salvaged softwood had been moved into a spot that gets nice and wet, been rained on quite a bit in fact
This timber had been stashed for my workbench build, wasnt a huge amount but enough to laminate some legs and stretchers out of, ugh!
So to start collecting again... I see a fair bit of scrap softwood (sometimes) but often have no clue to its previous life or use. Is it worth me investing in a moisture meter to check out the interesting bits I find? what sort of money is involved for a reasonable one? and lastly, what sort of moisture content should I be looking at for in a useable bit of timber?

Cheers

 

[harris]

Don't give up on your stash just yet. As "wet" wood (wood recently felled) dries, the moisture it loses is what you might call sap and this comes from all of the cells throughout the wood. if the wood in your stash was dry or getting dry then a lot of that natural moisture would have already been lost and just leaving it out in the rain for a while would only wet the outside surface and this will probably soon dry again so the timber will not necessary have been spoiled. "Dry" wood normally contains about 10% - 12% moisture and this is acceptable for normal use and although you can check this with a moisture meter, if you are only intending to use your stashed wood to build a workbench then it is likely that it will be OK when the rain water has evaporated again. Give it a while to dry and stabilize and see how it looks - you may well be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Tim Nott]

A moisture meter will cost, new, anything from £7 to £100. We bought a cheapo (£15) off ebay and it's fine

 

[No skills]

Cheers folks, I'll rescue the wood monday and see what its like (fingers crossed) - need to put it in a safer place :roll: As a small bonus a few broken bits of scaff board arrived friday afternoon, if they havent hit the skip I'll measure them up see if I can get my stretchers out of them.

Ebay for a cheap moisture meter tommorrow I think...


Regards

 

[Rob Platt]

just to add timber ideally will be the same or as near as possible moisture content when you build. significantly different moisture levels will cause a lot of problems.
all the best
rob

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Cheers folks, I'll rescue the wood monday and see what its like (fingers crossed) - need to put it in a safer place :roll: As a small bonus a few broken bits of scaff board arrived friday afternoon, if they havent hit the skip I'll measure them up see if I can get my stretchers out of them.

Ebay for a cheap moisture meter tommorrow I think...


Regards

I got This $19.70 including postage. It will give a general idea.