“It’s been fully seasoned”! . . . Excuse me . . . . what does that mean exactly?

We see all kinds of claims when it comes to “Seasoning Timber” One common misconception - "The tree has been dead for years the slabs must be dry". The truth – Logs / Slabs & Boards are hydroscopic and constantly adjust their moisture to balance the environment they are stored in.
The message in this page is that - saying “Seasoned for 15 years” is Bullshit! - You need the correct MC / EMC and the number of years is irrelevant! . . . I have just been told it is not good to use the word Bullshit on the web . . but I’m a Lumberjack and I’m a bit sick of this political correctness crap.
This what The Queensland State Forestry Dept. says about seasoning – “The term is so vague as to be meaningless”- well you might as well put salt & pepper on it! An extreme example – you “season” a Wooden Slab in a river for 5 years! It’s been seasoned! Right? But it is as wet as the river! Why? Because wood is hydroscopic and constantly adjust its moisture to balance the environment it is stored in!
When the wood is Balanced with its environment it has reached its Equilibrium Moisture Content or EMC and this point it no longer moves. This is the important part! Your timber or slab need to be at EMC for the environment it is going to be used in.Fortunately, the moisture content of wood is directly related to the humidity and temperature of the surrounding air.
So if you know the temperature and the relative humidity of the air you can calculate the EMC

Calculate the EMC for anywhere in Australia by using this EMC Calculator

How To Calculate The EMC required for Tongue & Groove Flooring / Slabs or Furniture

Buy a simple temperature gauge like this one I bought on Ebay Australia for less than $10.00
Put the gauge in the room that you will be installing your hardwood flooring and take the temperature reading in (oF) Now enter the Temp (oF)and the RH % into the EMC Calculator and Hay Presto you have the Moisture Content that the timber should be at in order to be stable.

One final (important) point – air conditioned homes are very dry homes (RH) – air dried timber will not be at EMC for inside applications! It needs to be Kiln Dried!
Want to know more? Here is a link to The Wood-database.com site
{ http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-and-moisture/
One More Good Site to learn about Wood Moisture Content
[ http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2010/09/03/moisture-content-wood-movement/ ]

Why You Should Buy Kiln Dried Hardwood

• Kiln drying kills borers, air drying does not.
• Kiln drying stabilises the timber and prevents it from cracking, twisting, warping, cupping and going mouldy.
• Dry timber = stable timber

All Timber– unless dried in a kiln;will never dry out enough for the timber to be considered dry enough for any furniture making at all. Not even close to being dry.

Wet timber can and probably will
Go mouldy, crack, twist and warp.

WHAT MAKES OUR TIMBER BETTER?

• We mill all our own timber
• We kiln dry all our own timber to ensure a dry and stable product
• We test the moisture content of every slab to ensure stability
• We have hundreds of slabs to choose from