Boat Lumber Moisture %??

With woodworking the best practice is to be ahead of the actual work. I have 20yrs air dried timber, mostly norway spruce in my boat shop.

 

Agreed Teddy, but not always practical, especially for small builders. Storage alone can be a problem for many.

 

Certainly some timbers here in the UK you do have to plan ahead for. Like WR Cedar which mostly is like a wet sponge - well in excess of 20% if you buy reasonable size say 16' long 8"+ X 4" pieces. I personally allow 3 to 6 months + to dry it out. Very dependent on merchant, whether stock is outside etc etc but even shed stored stuff I've found, you can just press with finger and see the water oooze out....

Trouble is, you can't ignore finding good Q/S stock so better to buy it a bit wet and let it dry out than never find the same quality.

 

I'll be dead in twenty years, and my youngest kid will be fifteen.

 

I heard an interesting story about Oak. I think it was Oxford University, or it might have been Cambridge. Some of the really heavy oak timbers where reaching the end of their lifespan, finally showing signs of structural weakeness after more than 400 years. So the engineer or architect approached a forester to inquirer if there were any suitable substitutes as in was unlikely that there were any oak trees available of sufficient abundance and girth. Perhaps something might be available from the tropics? The old forester broadened his smile and the twinkle in his eyes over his spectacles brightened up a bit. "We've been expecting you", he said. Apparently 400 years or so previously the university had seen it fit to set aside some acres and replant some oak trees occasion these very same timbers were replaced.

queue English hymn ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAA0A5WpZE4

 

It may have an element of truth - local to me are some oaks planted for the Royal Navy circa 1840 - the Alice Holt Forest. When I first drove through there I thought, now those trees are plantation but according to the spacings of around Henry VIII when optimal straight growth oak was worked out.

One of the biggest bits of worked oak I've seen was the main table in Leicester Guildhall. A massive plank from the centre of the tree at least 3" thick about 40"-42" wide and 28' long in one piece.....

I would not have fancied sawing that by hand...