testing moisture in lumber

[Lyle_Brumm]

I recently bought a Mini-Ligno to check the moisture in my air-drying lumber, mostly red oak.  What is the recommended level to be stable and usable.  At this point mine registers 12.  How much will this fluctuate with weather conditions?

[CHARLIE]

Usually cabinet grade lumber is dried down to about 7% or 8%.  It's usually kiln dried but air dried can get down there too if you dry it long enough and have it in the top of a barn or somewhere where it gets warm.

[ohsoloco]

I don't think it will dry much more than that if it is stacked outside.  Charlie has some good suggestions for getting the MC down more.   I've used a lot of air dried lumber for furniture with very good results, ya just have to know how wood moves, and construct the piece so the wood can do just that...of course, ya need to do this for kiln dried lumber as well.   I have some furniture with breadboard ends on the top panels, it's neat to see how much the wood moves from summer to winter