2" Oak boards..how long to season/dry out?

[topchippyles]

15 hours ago, openspaceman said:

I can't see this myself, down here it would settle out at 10% at the end of summer or inside the house but unheated it would gain to a bit less than17% wwb.

 

Also I'd want to see a better support than shown, a block under each line of stickers and more weight on the top

As a carpenter joiner i would need it as 10% for joinery use otherwise would have problems shrinking.

[openspaceman]

12 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

As a carpenter joiner i would need it as 10% for joinery use otherwise would have problems shrinking.

Yes, which is why you buy kiln dried or air dry then bring it into the house to stabilise before use, I am not a carpenter or joiner, @Woodworks is.

[Woodworks]

On 20/08/2019 at 14:17, openspaceman said:

Yes, which is why you buy kiln dried or air dry then bring it into the house to stabilise before use, I am not a carpenter or joiner, @Woodworks is.

Sorry, not on here much these days. 2" oak would probably need  at least 3 years. The old rule was a year an inch plus a year but that is not the end of the story. Generally air dried is still a fair way off the humidity in a modern dry home. Once down to the external ambient moisture content (14-16% if your lucky) I would look to rough out the boards but still leaving them oversize. If you can bring them into the home or a low humidity environment and leave them in stick for as long as you can but at least a few weeks. They wll move some more in this period. Now they should be fairly stable but wood will keep expanding and shrinking with changes in humidity. My old gran had an oak dining table as a wedding gift made from old barn floors (probably at least 100 years old). All was fine until the 70s when she had central heating fitted and large gaps appear on the board joins as the breadboard ends stopped the boards being able to shrink and stay joined. In the ideal world you want them down to 8-10% for a dry modern home.

[Forest2Furniture]

Because of the humidity you'll be hard pushed to air dry timber in the UK below 16% m/c