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I finally learned why my shop teacher always yelled about checking wood moisture
Last week in my home shop in Spokane, I built a set of maple cabinets for a client. I didn't check the moisture content of the boards before I started (they felt dry to the touch, you know?). Three days after I installed them, the doors started to stick and the drawer fronts developed gaps you could see from across the room. The wood must have still been holding moisture and it moved after it warmed up in the house. Has anyone else had a project go wrong from wood that wasn't fully acclimated?
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andrewr656mo ago
How much did that mistake end up costing you?
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victorb176mo ago
Maple in Spokane with that dry air and you didn't check the moisture? That's a bold move. I saw a whole custom tabletop split down the middle after a week in a heated house. You can't trust the touch test at all, gotta use a meter. That shrinking sounds brutal, hope the client was understanding.
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troyreed5mo ago
Come on, meters are just another tool to overcomplicate things. I've worked with maple for years and you get a feel for it. That tabletop split because it was poorly joined, not because of moisture. Wood moves, that's the craft. Relying on a number instead of experience is how you lose the touch for the material. You ever think maybe the heated house had wild temp swings, not just dry air?
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