99% of Beginners Don't Know These 5 Mistakes Ruin Wood!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- These 5 woodworking tips will help you store your lumber so it doesn't warp, twist and crack as much. I wish I had known about these woodworking tricks when I started. This video is not sponsored. Some product links are Amazon and other affiliate links which means if you buy something we'll receive a small commission. This helps support my channel so I can continue to make content like this.
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You said in the beginning of the video you have your hard wood shipped since you have a lack of local sources. Im in the same boat was curious how you get your hardwood then
@@jacobnichols7762 links in the pinned comment to the suppliers I buy from. I use a lot of 4/4 walnut, 8 inches wide and 4 feet long is the size I ask for most of the time.
Thanks! Just cruised their website and its awesome how they have photos of pieces you can buy. That was my worry about ordering online is not getting what you were hoping for
Us poor folks use a bucket of rock salt, a fan and a bucket to catch the water when the salt is saturated. It's not ideal, but damn it works! Just make sure the fan can blow through that sale, sucks the water right out of the air. Desiccants would work (wood work?) , not sure how much they cost though.
I know I'm not the greatest woodworker around and have an awful long way to go, but I tell you what, when it comes to sitting around and doing nothing while the wood acclimates, I'm the best you'll ever see.
😂😂😂
Everyone is good at something. Don't let anyone tell you different
Man, do I resemble that remark!
Ha ha keep up the good work.👍
Know thyself…lol.
Somebody share this video with Home Depot and their suppliers. They need it desperately.
Learning all time. Every day is a school day
When I buy construction lumber, not only do I stack it off the ground supported as you suggest. But I stack it tightly together and wrap it every 4 feet or so with ratchet straps.
It takes longer to dry/acclimate, but all the warping forces cancel out and my lumber stays arrow straight. This works especially well with that dripping wet treated lumber.
I had thought of doing this if I needed to. I would add though instead of just putting stickers or fillets (the spacer boards) on the horizontal I would put them vertically too so all edges have air flow and it will dry out quicker
Thanks for the video! Storing beams and planks directly on the concrete floor was exactly the mistake I was doing so far! No splits and cracks but slight twisting.
I bought 3 bumper dragging loads of 16' pressure treated 2 bys "cull lumber" from Home Depot for a cabin I was building, about $100 a truck load. Seriously twisted up junk. I stacked them all in a block of sorts and ratchet strapped them tightly together and left them in the woods for acouple of months uncovered. They all straightend out perfectly.
Very true.
I made a desk for my son, I bought the lumber about a year before I even decided to build him the desk. The lumber was from Home Depot, when I used it the pine 2X10s were so dry and light weight. Much easier to work with. I know that 1 year is a very long time but letting it dry does make a big difference. I think you see more of the twisting and bowing on projects that call for longer lengths. I build a dinning bench for a buddy that was 8 feet long and the top twisted within a week… I used the lumber right away after I bought it….
Lesson learned
Great video! Wood storage has been my most recent project.
Really glad to see your back to woodworking videos, and not just pitching tools. Love that there’s a reason to come watch again!
I’m an novice, but a little tip I picked up to help prevent wood from shape-shifting is to always try and do the same thing on both sides on it; don’t just plane one side, or seal one side, etc.
I liked that you mentioned a dehumidifier. Once I was at my local lumber yard and noticed an odd unit if utility 1 X 4 Douglas fir that was of exceptional quality (all heart, vertical grain with very few knots) and less than 15% of the cost of clear heart, VG, kiln dried. My wife and I both LOVE Douglas fir. I picked out a lot of it. Put it in a room, stacked it with stickers, bound it with straps and turned on the dehumidifier for several weeks. The result was fantastic. We trimmed our guest cabin with it and it looked fantastic. It cost us less than $300 to trim a cabin with wood that would have otherwise cost almost $2,000. Thanks for the video Matt !!!
Another great video, thanks. I appreciate your comment about the A frame for wood storage since I plan to do that as well. I have some lumer from a tree that had to be taken down from our property that I plan to store on racks like you have used - they are long so probably will need 4 racks instead of just 2. Appreciate your response to my question, nice to know people read these comments.
Here's a tip for you:
If you accidentally get an unwanted hammer mark in your wood, as long as it doesn't break or splinter, you can use a damp cloth with an iron to pull out the mark 😉
I have heard that multiple time but it’s been a long time. Thank you for thr tip that I’ll make sure to implement!
Does it work for end grain as well?
I've tried this, didn't work for me.
You know those hammers with a ball on the other side instead of a claw? Wet the dent and tap it with that ball. The dent comes out. I’ve never known it not to work
My problem is that my local Home Depot and Lowe’s is so careless with their products that I can’t seem to buy any pieces of wood that aren’t already bent and twisted. It’s really frustrating how badly they care for their lumber. Also, gone are the days of actual local lumber yards. I used to work for one when I was a kid. They’re all gone now. The big box stores put them all out of business. 😢
Yes, and the Big box stores buy wood from Canada, New Zealand in bulk, nothing locally sourced these days.
American lumbers to expensive due to labor fixed costs. Plus with foreign suppliers, their moneys cheaper and so it’s more profitable for the US lumber retailers to source them from outside country.
The shipping of that wood in containers is what causes so much warpage. It sucks cause the lumber sits in those containers soaking in sea air. Once the containers opened, the wood starts drying and warping.
This very much depends on where you are. Here in the Hudson Valley region there are several excellent hardwood suppliers. My favorite is very near our local Homie’s Depot. The BigBox stores definitely changed the market, but not always for the worse.
You have to be wealthy to have nice, straight boards. Or risk your life using a terrifying jointer with it's enormous spinning blades of death. I can't believe in 2023, there hasn't been a machine made that can actually straighten a board. We can make a cell phone, but we can't improve the jointer that was developed in the 1880's?
Thanks for the info, enjoy your channel. I'm following most of these tips but it's tough in a 1 car garage space --especially when you need to move a car into the space (I always stress when I park my rain covered Jeep next to my expensive hardwood lumber). I'm totally for waiting days, if not weeks, for material to acclimate and dry out. I'm on Cape Cod and humidity wreaks havoc here in the summer. Board cupping is something I deal with all the time.
I have the exact same dehumidifier. Been watching your channel for a while now and it is by far my favorite wood working channel without question. My wife is dragging me into her new Etsy shop so I've had to learn a lot, very quickly to get things done.
Great tips, especially for a beginner like myself. I have been accumulating pallet wood and needed some place to put it all. So, I used some of the wood and long, narrow pallets to knock together a couple of racks. It all works and only cost me buying screws for it. I know the south is humid, but here in the Pacific Nortwest, I've got an actual Rain Forest just a short drive up the coast, so good info to have!
Knowledgeable, interesting, easy to understand and easy to follow. You're not afraid to let your light shine and I love that about you. I noticed your shirt before I ever opened up one of your "extra bonuses". Thank you.
Appreciate the tips! Picking up the hobby and the tips you and others share are invaluable!
I recently purchased redwood 2x4's and clamped them together to prevent warping as they dried. It worked and were good to go when I was ready for the project.
I totally agree with the dehumidifier. I have had one in my shop for several years. It was initially there for MY comfort, but I soon noticed that the wood was acting nicer as well. Of course in the winter I am running a small humidifier instead, again for MY comfort. (I am up in central Maryland, so the air does get cold and dry.) At the start of the day the humidity may be as low as 20%, but even after running all day it only goes up to 30% so I'm not too worried about that.
Here in South Jersey same weather, we are only 3 hours away but question about humidifier. I do need to up humidity from 20% also, running humidifier won’t rust table tops? I’m getting a lot of warping with construction lumber. Even after doing everything in video other then something weighing it down.
Great information! I typically store my wood elevated off the floor, not subject to sunlight. I normally am building with it right away, but I'm also only a few miles away from the lumber store. Once I finally build a storage rack, I will probably "stock up" on certain types, and let them sit for weeks until I figure out what I'm going to build with it.
I use those exact wood storage racks. Personally I think anything you can store “overhead” you should. It not only protects your wood, but it really clears up space in the shop as well👍🏼
I wish my garage had over head 😂.. single garage low asf roof and half the Mrs friends and families crap stored in there I have portable benches and the few things I've started building are outside in the driveway with wood I bought that day cause if I don't use it that day it's in the way
Nice work Matt! Very informative your videos are really great to watch thank you!🇺🇸
Thanks for the tips!
Almost forgot! I HATE notifications so I either disable them or silence the ones I want but don't want to be bothered with spam noises throughout the day. You're my only Sub and I definitely left the notifications on!
Very nice video. Entertaining and informative. “Stickering” the wood is paramount. It is especially important with treated lumber which has a much higher moisture content and is not cut as closely to dimension as white wood. Anybody building an outdoor project should buy their wood as far in advance as possible as most treated lumber (except at Lowe’s and Home Depot) is stored outside at the lumber yard. Take it home. Sticker it and let it dry completely. I will be adding to my deck this summer and my treated lumber is now in my barn drying out.
Thank you. These tips make a lot of sense. I appreciate it when you share your experience. The biggest takeaway that I had never really thought about was buying well in advance. I will now think about what I want to buy for use later this year. Thanks again.
Excellent topic ol boy. As a new woodworker I had an oak nightstand with Brazilian cherry top split after 3 months...both of them. Wood movement is a huge factor and one not discussed enough, not even close imo. One technique I've used with success is clamping boards together.
When I was cleaning out my grandfather's garage I found this perfect piece of 2x4 pine
It has to be the straightest piece of wood I've ever seen (at least compared to home Depot) especially for 200lbs of scrap wood sitting on it
Great video. I found your channel this morning and I’m a builder/contractor & wood enthusiast
Thank you for such amazing videos.
I want to put a clamp bar into the wall, but I smiled when I saw your husky shelves. I was lucky enough to have those for a long time before I figured they were perfect for stacking wood. I put rectangles of lauan behind each shelf with zip ties so stuff can't get knocked and fall behind it.
I also eventually figured out that those shelf supports make a good enough clamp rack for now. Just had the light bulb go off 2 or 3 days ago haha
Over the years I’ve seen all kinds of storage. I worked in a production shop for a long time, where we ran thousands of feet of poplar. That stuff came in, and went right into flat unstickered piles in the cutoff room. We never even checked moisture. Rarely had a problem with movement.
These days I’m in a small craft shop with varied storage. Some vertical, some flat on Bora racks. I have to say, the vertical is my least favorite. It’s fine for very short term storage. But long term, the lack of gravity so to speak, allows the wood to move more.
Great video! I always enjoy your content.
I'm about an hour outside of Toronto but it does get really humid here in the summer months. I built an insulated lumber shed with a de-humidifier and it's been great. I can get freshly cut maple slabs that have not been dried out for cheap, keep them flat in my shed for a year or so and then work them and get hardly any warping.
Thank you I'm wanting to get into woodworking and I could use all the advice I can get
Thanks! I didn't think about any of this before!
Thanks, for the video, bro. So helpful for beginners like myself; god bless.
Thanks for making this video you always have good and insightful information woodworkers.
Awesome information! Love it. Haven’t unpacked yet and still have a ton of tools at my mom’s house. Been remodeling her house for years so she can keep warm. Just got a house that has a 2 car metal garage. Can’t wait to bring the toys home and get it set up. Still got all my moving boxes there from early last year. Thanks. New subscriber. Just happened upon you. 👍
Hey thanks for posting this. It helped me.
Great video. I got some wood I need to move around. I was getting stewed about all the warping and twisting. Now I know why!
Awesome thanks! 👊
I live in a desert, and it is code for any wood (2x4's mostly) that touches the concrete slab (especially in a basement) to be treated. Even here where humidity is in single digits, moisture from concrete is still an issue. Definitely get the wood up off the ground. Great suggestion!
Nice video. The way they all should be done !!
Great info. Some things I've learned on my own, but some are new, any explanations help understand better. Great video, especially for someone new who hasn't had to experience the growing pains.
Glad it was helpful!
New subscriber. The episode title drew my attention, but your t-shirt got my subscription! 🙏🏻
I do have to store much of my longer pieces outside (my wife wasn’t willing to give up her half of the garage in the New Hampshire winters), so I can attest to up off the ground, covered well with tarps if not under cover in a pole barn or such, and stickered close together.
I’ll try to cut my pieces when I bring them in and then let them acclimate before a build. It just requires less space that way. Time wise it’s equal.
Good video. Especially sense I hear that little rodent is callin for 6 more weeks of winter!😖
I ain’t ever gonna get the wife’s half back at this rate!
You may have already thought of this but I bought two bora racks and put them side by side so there would be more areas supporting my lumber to help prevent bowing. I love all of your videos, thank you for sharing your knowledge!
I love my bora's!
I was thinking of getting the Triton wood rack which seems to similar to the Bora one mentioned.
Actual helpful information. Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
I have zero experience in wood working but want to get into it. I’m a carpenter and love building things. These videos specially this one is very informational. Thank you
Thank you, glad it helps!
I’ve got some wood in my garage that’s been acclimating for a few years now. Someday I’ll get around to building those shelves! 🤪 nice video! Appreciate the tips
Really informative video! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Hola! 🖐Really good info, thanks for sharing. Take care and have a good one, Adios!👊
Thank you!!
Fantastic video!! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Be careful using a tarp outside. Water may get inside the tarp and actually accelerate rot if left for an extended time. I wasn't paying attention like I should and lost some good wood that way. Thumbs up.
I live in southern New England and had a guitar shipped from MD and I had to leave in box for 2 weeks to acclimate, it was like torture waiting! I have basement shop and fight wood movement year around. Thanks for tips!
Lol...
I literally live on a family owned (going on 3rd generation) circle saw mill, and we almost do the opposite. We let our logs sit for years outside if possible, then cut it to order. After that, it sits outside off the ground until the client can pick it up...
of course, we deal mostly with construction stuff like lumber and turned logs so it needs to be able to adapt to random climates.
The blued pine though!
I am a single mom of a 15 year some who has started woodworking as a hobby/business. Thank you so much for your great example as a Christian man and the great tips for woodworking. I have been binging your videos to help him out. 😅
I picked up a set of the wall wood rack system. Great suggestion and right now, they’re down 43% at just under 40 bucks! That’s a steal!! I have prime so shipping is free. Can’t speak to price with shipping. 🤷🏻♂️
Good tips
Thank you. 👊👊👊
Lucky to have a very good family owned lumber yard in our area in Pennsylvania, that actually treats customers a ok ,
Hey great informative video. My workshop is in shipping container, pretty cold during winter months, the heaters are going while I’m working. One thing the I’m unsure about is how to handle finished projects, is it a problem bringing them into the warm house from a cold workshop once complete?
I do bush crafting woodwork so I don't get to choose my environment too much and the stuff I make always gets wet eventually, even though this is generally not a very humid area. I just choose to use pieces of wood for things based on their character to bend and split. If the piece is too hard to work with, I can always use it for firewood. Many times, though, the natural bend of the wood itself gives me an idea of a way I could use it and I enjoy that aspect. I definitely don't enjoy it when the wood splits after I've made something though but that's life. Even if I have to make it again, maybe I'll make a better version the next time.
Great job! Thank you very much! What type of vehicle was the blue thing when you opened the garage door?
Great video, very informative but I have a question. Once the timber is perfectly acclimatised to your own environment and you then spend a week crafting a beautiful piece of bespoke furniture for client who lives in an area which has a different climate. What would happen to that beautiful piece of furniture once it arrives in that new location with a very different climate? Surely due to differences in moisture the timber would either shrink or expand again thus ruining the piece. Please clarify. Thanks
Short answer - yes. Longer answer is, if you are going to make something for use in a very different climate, you need to get your timber (and ideally your shop) to similar conditions as where the furniture will reside.
I've always stored my sheet good flush against a wall and use 2 sash weights hanging by a cord fastened to the wall above my plywood (you could use anything weighing a few pounds). No worries of any bowing, even if they're there a long time and the weights insure no tipping over.
Thx
Great video - thank you - how do you fix wrapped timber?
I bought 6 2X4x10 a few months back for a train table project. I did the wood cutting on my porch, and after I had the right fit that wood was put in my house at the spot where it was to be screwed in place. Started around 8:30 AM and finished up around 2 PM. By the time I was about to screw this all together in my house, almost all of the long 2X4's had a twist in them. I did the best I could despite the twist. The problem is not so visible and it is built but they are not as strong as I hoped. The table part is about 3.5 feet by 9.5 feet with 5 of these as the main cross supports. I was hoping to avoid having to have a center support for the 9.5 span but almost right away I had to have a temporary one if I was going to put any kind of weight on it. Yet with older 2X4X8 I had almost no problem with strength or twisting in the past years using only 2 for the 8 foot span. About 6 years before I bought 4 of the 2X4X10's from the same local hardware store for a 2 foot by 10 foot shelf and they were fine and still are, with a span of about 8.5 feet, but even then I felt it wise to have at least one middle post where I could. (3 foot span and 5 foot span) I would guess I have at least 600 to 800 pounds on that shelf with no twist or bending. Wood can be weird!
I learned this one the hard way for sure. I made a really nice base for a project, glued it on and screwed it in, only to find it the next day to have pulled the main unit apart (it ripped other screws out it was so strong).
The last 3 years, I've been doing several projects with treated, or ground ready lumber. I have impeccable timing, and seen to always order my product, right after a truck has delivered it to the lumberyard. I often get treated lumber that is practically dripping wet. I tried storing a small amount, in a small area with a dehumidifier. The rest I set up on my driveway, with stickers as needed. As long as I cover the lumber on the driveway, when it's going to rain, the sun helps immensely, in the time it takes to dry. The wettest of it has dried in as little as 45 days. The pieces that I've put in the enclosed area, with the dehumidifier, have taken up to 8 months to dry. I'm not good enough, nor do I have the room, to take possession of my lumber, a year ahead of the project start date. I live in Iowa, 8 months is the whole outside working season for me. I don't have the room, yet, to order in the Fall, for projects the next Summer.
OTher saying be careful with treated stuff, the chemicals used off gas for months to years even after fully dry, sounds about right. only thing to watch with solar drying is it does not dry down to fast to avoid checking.
You also have to really be careful about dust control when cutting treated lumber, couple of coworkers have serious lung problems from it.
I don't use treated lumber for furniture projects. But I def use it for outdoor projects. What works best for me is finding the lightest dry out wood that is straight. Cuts down on the waiting time for paint or stain
🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔 Thanks so much, I really enjoy your channel and I get such an education on woodworking. You are one of the few Artists that I can actually trust. Jim
Hi! Love your videos and your t-shirts (wear the colors, brother!!)! Question: I have had occasions where I needed to buy some bulk deck boards that were, unfortunately, still wet with the rot-resistant treatment fluids. I knew that I the outer boards would dry on the exposed side quickly and warp, so I strapped them together with ratcheting tie-downs - not tight, but enough to keep them from major warping. It may have slowed down their drying overall, but it kept them straight and flat for the 1-2 weeks that I needed to store them before installation. Smart? Foolish? Better options? Keep up the great work and great videos!
Great information!
I live in Coastal Georgia, and high humidity is a year-round thing. Lol I use part of my garage for woodworking and the other part is storage of sorts. I have a nice dehumidifier that's luckily vent free that's on the woodworking side of my garage. Unfortunately I have to set reminders on my phone to remind me to check it on a regular basis because especially during the summer, it can get pretty humid in there. Lol
Great advice, thanks. Now for the big challenge, wet pressure treated lumber. How do you keep it from twisting/bowing/cupping as it dries. I’ve had several fence jobs turn bad only a few months after install.
oh boy just got my first batch of hardwood and it's been sitting on concrete for 3 days... time to fix that!
You are absolutely correct about staying off concrete floors but something you would not expect is that at any fixed temperature the higher humidity air is lighter than the lower humidity air. But because the moisture in your space is relatively constant the humidity near the floor will be the same as at the ceiling and there will not be any buoyancy effect.
I use the same ripping sled as you do but it’s about eight feet long so on the outfeed side it occasionally drifted away from the fence. I made a custom featherboard that fits in the miter slot and is lower than the thickness of the jig so the cutoff goes over it
So living in the UK we suffer from swings in humidity and lots of cold damp weather. Most kiln dried timber shipped from the states is at about 12% and wrapped in vacuum packed polythene…..as soon as you open it to the environment it starts absorbing moisture from the air and it moves….I have seen American Poplar and American Cherry bend like a banana. There is only one option. Patience. Let the wood sit. For a long time. You need a stock of timber. And big enough pieces to accommodate machining out the twist, warp, cup and bow. I have a pile of English Oak in my loft ready for a project. But before machining it I will let it sit in the downstairs cloakroom for a few months before I use it so the moisture content of the wood matches the environment it will be used in. In my opinion all a dehumidifier will do is dry out the wood…..if a piece of furniture is made and moved to a house that doesn’t have a dehumidifier then that wood will take on moisture and swell….and potentially move…..I have hung kitchen cabinet hardwood doors and had to revisit customers to fix warped doors because of the humidity in a kitchen. All part of the job unfortunately.
One thing I do that wasn't mentioned, is to really assess whether you need all those off cuts. I got so tired of all the spare wood I burned it all a few years back, and since then I really haven't ever thought to myself "gee I wish I had a 3 inch piece of walnut". If the scraps don't meet certain minimum dimensions, it goes in the burn pile.
Just an fyi, if you HAVE to store wood with only two racks, make sure the racks are 1/4 in from each end of a board. This will balance out the load and reduce bowing. For example, for 8' lumber place your racks 2' (1/4 of 8') in from each end. Each rack will then support 2' on each side.
Since the internet is forever it might be best to edit your comment to say a 1/4 of the way in from each side. Until I read your example I seriously thought you ment a 1/4 inch in. thanks for the sound advice!
I laughed out loud when I saw you unloading that lumber near the end of the video. It was obvious that you didn't buy that from a Home Depot or Lowe's. They've never had a piece of wood that straight. The second the steel bands are cut their wood looks like Pringles. Great video, spot on advice.
Thanks for this video! Would 24in concrete pavers as a top weight on a lumber stack, like on the Huskey shelf, be too much surface area covered on the wood? Thought that would be great since the shelf is 24in deep.
Good video, I’ve watched many 731’s. You have a nice selection of hardwoods.
I’m fairly new to fine woodworking. Are you able to share any sources/suppliers of hardwoods?
I've linked to the ones I used in the description. You can also check woodcraft and rockler websites for hardwoods.
Once again, another timely video as I'm making my first trip to a hard wood supplier this week or the next. Keep it up Matt
You didn't mention one thing I noticed you do that I have just started doing. When helpful label the end of the board. I am blessed with 10' basement ceilings so even though I am 6'5", the boards I have stored on higher fully shelved units might be hard to see when it comes to length and sometimes species. I have started labeling the end with the length and, if helpful, species. That way I don't have to keep pulling things out to see how long they are. If I cut a piece off I just remeasure and relabel the leftover. It also works great for other stuff, especially piping. You can easily store multiple smaller diameter pipes within larger ones and find the length you need without pulling a bunch out. I like storing things up high, it keeps my wife from thinking I have stuff all over the place
I have a dehumidifier similar to yours in size in my basement. Mine is black. Works good. Just have to check it once every five days making sure it's OK and clean the filter.
It's a good idea to seal the end grain of timber if it's to be stored for long periods, as moisture loss from the end grain causes splits along the grain. Thanks for a great vid :)
But how can you know that it doesn't do it when it's cut and assembled to furniture? I'm seriously curious.
Matt, very informative! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
a very good video
Thank you
Like your shirt. Amen!
Another great video. I built the wood cart by Tamar of 3x3 custom, because I needed everything in my 11'x11' space to be mobile. Before I started wood working, scraps from home projects got tossed on some pallets and I'd buy more wood vs trying to dig through the scraps. With the mobile cart, I've organized the wood, and I've used most of it, but I can move it around to make space as I need to. :D
Thanks Marion!
I throw in my two cents on my VERY long term experience with dehumidifiers. I have been through probably 10 and over pretty much the whole price range $150 to $1800. The bottom line seems to be they are all basically mechanically the same (compressor, condenser, limit switches) with each company throwing on their electronics package. So don't think because you spend more you get the same multiple increase in quality as you pay in price. I won't go into my experience with the big Sante Fe unit I had but suffice to say that for the cost and aggravation you are better off using the money to buy 4 or 5 cheaper units over the same time. Sure it had a warranty...for parts mainly..and it weighed 165 lbs. So even if you can get it back to the factory for free it is a big hassle. Take it local and your bill would pay for 2-3 cheaper units. Nobody, not even the "upscale" producers seem to put charging ports to add refrigerant. They are all pinched off copper tubes only. Aggressive DIY doable? Yes. Anywhere worth the time and aggravation? IMHO no..not if you ascribe to the paragraph below.
If you are using it in a basement (cooler area) make sure the operating temp goes down to what it will be used in.
The plan finally settled on is: Buy a well-rated unit from Amazon and .....even though I never think it is a good idea anywhere else....buy the 4 year extended warranty through Amazon. If it makes it 4 years past the warranty and you paid $250 to $350 for the unit and $50 for the warranty consider it the cost of not having to deal with wood changing shape and tools rusting. And who knows, maybe you get lucky and you get one made by angels and Santa's elves that will last more than 5 years. If it doesn't make it 4 years, all you have to do is follow the simple procedure for the warranty claim and Asurion credits your amazon account and you move on to the next unit. Yout cost is just the difference in cost in the units and the warranty. No finding repair people, no sending it anywhere, no hassles. Except finding a place to drop off the old one. And, as mentioned, these things are chatGPT. If you are handy there is a chance that you might be able to do a simple cleaning of a sensor or other simple fix (check TH-cam) and end up with a working unit as a backup to the replacement you just got. Just don't make my mistake and try that before you submit the warranty claim as you will probably need pics of the error code on the unit's display. I cleaned some sensors and had to wait a while for it to implode and show the error code again.
If I can save anyone the time and aggravation I have gone through it is worth it. Maybe some one will buy me a beer someday:) And we will all have more time to make stuff
There are some woods that are more sensitive to acclimation than others. For instance, Monkey Pod really dislikes large temp swings. it will warp and twist, etc. However, if you work in a climate controlled environment and the project will live in a similarly controlled climate ... and you spline the joints (45 degrees in my case) ... it will help a great deal. KNOW your wood.
The other issue is how it was dried and how fast. Naturally dried wood that will be used in the same environment as the project (say, maple seasoned in the same general area as it will be worked and used). This will likely do very well with some thought as to expansion/contraction. Harsher environments in which it was cured? Letting the wood sit and acclimate for a few weeks to years may be in order just to let it breathe and do what it's going to do.
Also, kiln-dried wood has a tendency to be wetter in the middle, which will cause a good deal of wracking in any direction ... twists, cups ... Just be sure you know how the wood was dried before purchase.
I like the idea of a dehumidifier, but where will the piece end up? Good for shop work, but not necessarily for the environment in which it will eventually live.
GREAT info about sunlight. I noted that you have purple heart. Okay, so ALL colored woods will turn some shade of brown eventually because the sun oxidases the oils in the wood, which turns everything brown. This will always happen eventually, even if you account for UV by coating with a UV or Marine (preferred) varnish. The trick to using colored wood (purple heart, tiger wood, pink ivory, bloodwood, etc) is keeping it out of the light. So, to preserve the wood color, coat in a UV resistant finish, and then keep it out of direct sunlight. In a few years to 50 years (depending on where it's kept), you'll have to sand and refinish, but that's always going to be the case with any exotic, highly colored wood.
I never, ever, store wood (even ply) vertically. Yes, it saves space, but it won't keep it flat over time. It will always deform. The only thing I've never seen deform when stored vertically? Melamine.
Honestly, if wood is going to bow, twist, or especially, split, it's going to anyway. Just let it sit for a few weeks to a few months and it will tell you what it will do. Then, don't trash, but compensate.
The most important thing you can learn is to let the wood tell you what it's going to do, and then listen. Accommodate for what it's telling you it wants to be, choose projects it's good for, and let the wood be what it will be.
What are your thoughts on storing your lumber on metal racks ( your bora or husky racks) discoloring the wood where it contacts the metal.
I remember my first project was a nice table and benches that I built of Douglas fur from Homedepot. It must have been fresh wood because a month latter my table was a warped twisted Pringle chip.
I very rarely watch TH-cam or use ANY social media whatsoever. I dont even know how to use Facebook! When I do watch videos, I generally watch what I'm looking for and then stop. Your videos have become my go-to and you've literally became my first AND ONLY person I subscribed to! After watching your vidoes randomly over the past year, I knew i needed to see your new vidoes when they post. Highly appreciate the great info!
Wow Marc! Thank you!