Building with green wood

[solidwoods]

Is there a good source of information on building with green wood?

Yes- Don't

Anyway, I'm looking for information.

*see above

Nate
[/quote]

Wood bends best when its wet and hot.
Green wood bends easy, also not restricting it during drying allows it to warp easier.
Buiding with green wood (except for projects that exploit the assests of green wood) is like trying to re-invent the wheel.
jim

[Nate Surveyor]

I live on a hilltop. The wind never stops for long. If I mill wood, and sticker stack it, it looses 1/2 it's weight in about 3 wks. (just guessing) So, I guess I am not really using GREEN wood, but NOT all the way dry, like a kiln does.

Is there a device to measure moisture in this wood?

So far, it all seems stabilized. Slight shrinkage is all.

I am building a kids cabin for a test run.

Nate

[Ianab]

Is there a device to measure moisture in this wood?

Thats a moisture meter 

If you dont have one you can actually use weight of the wood to measure the moisture content. To get a rough quide as to how dry it is, take a sample board and weigh it. Put it back in the stack, wait a week and weigh it again. It should be lighter because it's lost water. Do this each week, and when it stops loosing weight, its 'dry'. This doesn't tell you EXACTLY how dry, but it's as dry as it's going to get in that location.

If you want to know the exact moisture content you can also use a small sample board, an oven and some accurate scales. You weigh the board, then bake or microwave it on low power untill it's bone dry. Weigh again and see how much water your sample lost. That lets you work out what the M/C of your sample was.

It's also an interesting experiment to weight the 0% moisture sample again over a few weeks and watch how it gains moisture again from the atmosphere and ends up at a similar moisture content to the original air dried wood.

Cheers

Ian

[stonebroke]

baileys sells moisture meters.

Stonebroke

[andybuildz]

I have this one http://www.amazon.com/Sonin-50211-Rapitest-Concrete-Moisture/dp/B0000224DA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1200936690&sr=1-3
It's cheap but it works great for me. I originally bought it from my paint store. I wanted to check the moisture content of the cedar shingle siding I put up so I'd know when it was safe to prime and paint it.
It really is a good little meter especially for the price.
Most paint stores sell them or you can get it from amazon cheap enough.

[scsmith42]

Nate, Delmhorst manufacturers meters primarily for measuring wood MC%.  You can buy one through Nyle Corp (FF Sponsor).

Bailey's also sells meters.

If you're only measuring 4/4 wood, then a pin-type meter with 1/2" pins (or 3/8") will work fine.  If you need to measure 8/4 or larger, you will either need a meter with a slide hammer and 1" pins, or a pinless meter that will measure at least 1" deep.

I have a Merlin HM8-WS25 pinless meter designed for kiln operators (made in Austria - supposed to be very accurate, and measures up to 1-1/2" deep), and also some Delmhorst units.  They both work well, but the pinless meter is much quicker when I have access to the surface of the boards.  The slide-hammer works better when measuring inside the kiln.

Scott

[Jeff]

Built fresh off the saw, from framing to siding. Siding was logs one day and nailed up the next.  It still looks as good today as it did when we finished it. 



Here is the story of building it...

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,14094.0.html

[logwalker]

 

Dry wood is great but not mandatory. If you are using large timbers you need to know it takes years for them to dry. I have built or helped to build several homes & large shops and never once used kiln dried wood except for the glued-gusset trusses to cover the back half of the above structure, our current home. Framing with green wood is actually preferable for the ease of nailing and lack of splitting when nailed. By the time the roof is up and the frame is sheathed the the framing will be at or below 18% in most cases. Remember you have to build smart. I have seen builders use a temporary brace to support a heavily loaded beam as it dried but it probably wasn't necessary. Joe

Hey, I forgot how cute that place was. 

[HOOF-ER]

Built a large horse barn  this summer. Used 10" white pine BB
Owner was in hurry so put up boards soaking wet. I watched and put the cup toward the building and angle nailed it. The west side got the most sun and cupped the worst.
Renailed some of the worst. Looks great though. I would use heavier battens next time .   Just got the picture thing down tonight thought I would repost this with the pics Here is the stalls too. The stall doors have pecan around them  with wormy red oak for the center walk area

[Norm]

Very nice!

[Don P]

I'll second that 
Got any pics of the roof framing?

[solidwoods]

Why make things hard on yourself?
Just air dry the wood for a few months,, BOOM no bad lessons learned.
jim

[HOOF-ER]

DonP , No pics of the framing. I made my own trusses with two rows of 4x4 to help support. Owner did not care about the post in the loft , so I like to over build. The 4x4 's are over the lower 4x6's.

[StorminN]

Hey guys,

An update here... I got a Lignomat MC meter and tested some stuff... the western red cedar siding I milled last week varies from ~40-60% MC, depending on where in the log it came from... however, the WRC siding I milled and stickered just after Christmas* is now about 20% MC... and the rest of the frame of the cabin (fir and hemlock), is about 18% MC... this includes some of the kiln-dried stuff that has been under cover, but not closed in... so I think I'm going to start siding pretty soon...

-Norm.

[SwampDonkey]

Most all the barns and sheds, with exception of a potato storage shed, we built on the farm in my lifetime was from green ungraded lumber cut from the farm. 

[Dale Hatfield]

Hey guys,

An update here... I got a Lignomat MC meter and tested some stuff... the western red cedar siding I milled last week varies from ~40-60% MC, depending on where in the log it came from... however, the WRC siding I milled and stickered just after Christmas* is now about 20% MC... and the rest of the frame of the cabin (fir and hemlock), is about 18% MC... this includes some of the kiln-dried stuff that has been under cover, but not closed in... so I think I'm going to start siding pretty soon...

-Norm.

Norm Can ya run a few tests for us? Take the high tech toy to town and grab a few tests from the 2x4,s or whatever  lumber size that you have to compare at the lumber yard one indoors and one out. Lets see how the numbers work out.
Dale