Building Furniture With Air-Dried Lumber: Complete Guide

If you consider building furniture from the very trees you cut down, you may also be thinking about how you will dry your wood. It is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle, as it will affect whether or not the wood cracks or warps once it has been transformed into furniture. 

Air-dried lumber is a suitable option for building a patio and other outdoor furniture. It is more affordable and gives the builder freedom in choosing wood pieces. However, it can be risky to build indoor furniture with air-dried lumber because the moisture content will likely not be low enough. 

This article will explore exactly what it means to air-dry lumber and go over some of the pros and cons of this drying process. Later on, I will discuss some alternatives to air-dried lumber, such as kiln drying or a combination of both methods. 

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What Is Air-Dried Lumber?

Just like humans, over half of a tree is made up of water. The ultimate goal of drying lumber, regardless of which method you use, is to draw out as much of that water as possible, leaving the woodworker with the driest possible wood. This makes it much easier and more predictable to work with. 

When a tree is cut down and turned into lumber, it must be dried out before it can be turned into anything useful. As lumber dries, it will change shape, which is why you must dry it before building anything with it. To avoid any warping once the wood has been turned into furniture, you have to ensure that the wood’s moisture content is equal to its environment’s moisture content. 

The process of air drying wood means that it can only become as dry as its environment. For example, you are air-drying lumber in a moist, humid environment such as Louisiana; it will not reach as low of a moisture content compared to wood dried in a dryer environment such as New Mexico. 

Tips for Building With Air-Dried Lumber

• Ensure you have the correct moisture content for your project. The ideal moisture content for building furniture for inside use is around 7%. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to reach using the air-drying method. However, if you are building furniture for outdoor use, the ideal moisture content will be around 12%. 

• Wait as long as possible before cutting the wood. Too often, woodworkers will not know that wood is too wet until it is too late. It can be avoided by determining the moisture content ahead of time. There are a few ways to do this, but the easiest way is using an electric moisture meter. This Tavool Wood Moisture Meter is accurate, affordable, and easy to use. You do not have to make significant cuts to get an accurate reading. 

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Pros of Building Furniture With Air-Dried Lumber

There are a few reasons that builders or woodworkers might choose to air-dry their lumber instead of kiln-drying it. Many woodworkers advocate for air-drying lumber because it is more cost-effective and easier to work with than kiln-dried lumber. 

• First, it is more affordable to air-dry lumber. Beyond cutting the tree down and turning it into lumber, you need minimal equipment for the process of air-drying. Alternatively, it can be quite expensive to kiln dry your lumber. Pricing varies on size, thickness, moisture content, and type of wood, but you could pay as much as $3.00 per foot. 

• Air-dried lumber is a great choice for building outdoor furniture. If you are building a picnic table, patio furniture, or an Adirondack chair, then air-dried lumber would be perfect for that project. Because it has gone through the drying process in the same environment in which it will be used, you do not have to worry about any warping type. 

• You will have more options for the wood size and shape. If you are air-drying your own lumber, you are only limited by what you can cut down yourself. However, the alternative will leave you limited to what can fit in a kiln or what the lumber yard has to offer. 

• Lastly, air-dried lumber is much easier to work with compared to other methods. The slow and natural drying process of air-drying means that the cells in the wood collapse more slowly. During the process of kiln drying, the cells are forced to collapse much more quickly. This makes the final product less stable compared to lumber dried naturally. 

Cons of Building Furniture With Air-Dried Lumber

Despite the above-mentioned benefits of air-drying lumber, it does come with a few drawbacks. Some of these drawbacks include the time and space it takes to air-dry and the overall lack of control over the elements. 

• First of all, it takes quite a bit of time and space to air-dry lumber. You have to have enough land to lay out the lumber pieces for an extended period of time. It can take months or even years to properly air-dry lumber. For perspective, the primary alternative, kiln-drying, can take as little as a few weeks. If you have many unused lands and plenty of time and patience, then air-drying may be the right choice for you. 

• It can be prone to bug infestations and fungus. If the wood is not stacked and spaced properly, it attracts beetles and other harmful insects. A stunning piece of wood can become effectively useless if beetles eat it. 

• Air-drying lumber inherently lends itself to very little control for the builder. Since you are at the mercy of Mother Nature, the drying process can be extended for reasons completely out of your control. It can depend on your geographic location, wind speeds, temperatures, and winter duration, as colder months slow the process quite a bit. 

• Lastly, air-dried lumber does not make for high-quality indoor furniture. As I mentioned earlier, wood is likely to change shape as it dries out. Because of the humidity differences between outside and inside your home, the furniture is likely to bend, warp, or crack as it begins to acclimate to the lower humidity in your home. 

Alternatives to Air-Dried Lumber

There are two main alternatives to air-drying lumber: kiln drying and a combination of the two methods. 

• Kiln-dried lumber is a process in which the lumber is dried rapidly at scorching temperatures. Some woodworkers prefer this method because it is much quicker, and there is no risk of bug or fungal infestations. It also gives you a bit more control over the process, and you can ensure the lumber is dried evenly. However, it can be expensive to dry large amounts of lumber. 

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• You could also split the difference as many woodworkers prefer a “best of both worlds” situation. For this process, you would start off air-drying the lumber and finish it off by kiln drying it. Benefits of these options include cost reduction and ensuring that all bugs are killed not to ruin the wood.

Final Thoughts

In closing, you can see that there is a lot to consider when it comes to drying out your wood. Air drying has many perks, including cost-effectiveness. It also makes great outdoor furniture, making the wood more stable and easy to work with. 

The natural process of air-drying may help you feel more connected to the wood. Despite a couple of drawbacks, air-dried lumber might be the right choice for you if you have the time and space and want to build outdoor furniture. 

Sources

• Thompson Mahogany: Air Dried vs. Kiln Dried Lumber: What is the Difference?
• Woodcraft: How To Air-Dry Lumber
• United States Department of Agriculture: Water & Forests
• WordPress: Air-dried vs. Kiln Dried – Journeyman’s Journal
• United States Department of Agriculture: Air Drying of Lumber
• Woodworker’s Journal: Why Is Kiln-dried Better than Air-dried?