So I decided to try my hand at one of the many outdoor Adirondack chair
plans out there. Kind of a rite-of-passage, right? Anyway, the stuff I
picked up a the local Borg was not quite dripping wet, but it sure was damp.
Actually, the 2x6 material wasn't so bad, but the 1x6's were.

Any suggestions how long I should let them set? I've got them stickered and
stacked, but it would be nice to build something with them for this summer,
not next. If nothing else, they make my shop smell nice! I have no
moisture checker, and I'm not sure what's good for outdoor furniture anyway.

TIA!

Clint

Too bad you don't have a moisture meter. For those of us interested, I
believe the correct MC is 15%

In article O3H8e.1054322$Xk.948686@pd7tw3no,
"Clint" wrote:

So I decided to try my hand at one of the many outdoor Adirondack chair
plans out there. Kind of a rite-of-passage, right? Anyway, the stuff I
picked up a the local Borg was not quite dripping wet, but it sure was damp.
Actually, the 2x6 material wasn't so bad, but the 1x6's were.

Any suggestions how long I should let them set? I've got them stickered and
stacked, but it would be nice to build something with them for this summer,
not next. If nothing else, they make my shop smell nice! I have no
moisture checker, and I'm not sure what's good for outdoor furniture anyway.

Outdoor furniture will be at a pretty high moisture content compared
with household furniture - something likely on the order of 15% if
you're anywhere but a desert.

One way to tell if wood has excess moisture is to merely feel it - if it
feels damp then it is. Store it in a sheltered area away from rain,
direct sunlight and excess heat. You may be able to use it by mid to
late summer depending on just how wet it is right now. (I know what you
mean by Borg wood not quite dripping - but it certainly doesn't seem too
far from it.)
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
____

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 04:54:06 GMT, "Clint"
wrote:

So I decided to try my hand at one of the many outdoor Adirondack chair
plans out there. Kind of a rite-of-passage, right? Anyway, the stuff I
picked up a the local Borg was not quite dripping wet, but it sure was damp.
Actually, the 2x6 material wasn't so bad, but the 1x6's were.

Any suggestions how long I should let them set? I've got them stickered and
stacked, but it would be nice to build something with them for this summer,
not next. If nothing else, they make my shop smell nice! I have no
moisture checker, and I'm not sure what's good for outdoor furniture anyway.

I'm kind of wondering about this particular project myself (the wife
wants some patio furniture for our new home) So, I figured I'd jump
in while there's an open thread, and add a couple of questions. So,
does red aromatic cedar have the same weather resistant properties as
the dull white/brown variety, and is moisture content of the wood as
important if it is jointed with deck screws instead of glue? (To
clarify, I intend to use traditional joinery, with screws in addition
to wood glue for that little extra bit of protection from the
elements)

Also, is it better to use a finish like shellac, or to just get
something like Thompsons water seal (or whatever other deck
weatherproofing product floats your boat)?



Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

In my experience, eastern white cedar dries very fast, a few weeks outdoors
properly stickered and that should do it. After all, you are going to be
using it outdoors!

finish - Depends on if you want the color to remain as-is, or to
weather to silver/gray, in which case you don't finish it at all.
If you use shellac or poly, any film finish, you'll be sanding and
refinishing every few years and it will show. Even with marine varnish.
If you use water seal or behr or some other oil based pigmented stain,
you'll still be re-doing it every couple years, just won't have to sand
the peeling areas of film finish, and it won't show.
I kinda like that silvery color, considering the labor involved in
re-finishing already assembled furniture.

Do you have a scale? Choose a board you can weigh, mark the weight on
it, and weigh it again now and then. When that board stops loosing
water weight, it is dried to the climate it is in. You'll notice most
of the water dries out in the first few weeks. The wood does not have
to be perfectly dry to use, unless you're jointing up table tops or
other panels out of it. Wide, flat sawn boards will cup the worst. Keep
in mind the wood will shrink ACROSS the grain, not along the grain,
when determining fastening techniques.

Prometheus wrote in
:

snip
I'm kind of wondering about this particular project myself (the wife
wants some patio furniture for our new home) So, I figured I'd jump
in while there's an open thread, and add a couple of questions. So,
does red aromatic cedar have the same weather resistant properties as
the dull white/brown variety, and is moisture content of the wood as
important if it is jointed with deck screws instead of glue? (To
clarify, I intend to use traditional joinery, with screws in addition
to wood glue for that little extra bit of protection from the
elements)

Also, is it better to use a finish like shellac, or to just get
something like Thompsons water seal (or whatever other deck
weatherproofing product floats your boat)?


'Cedar' covers a multitude of vaguely related woods. You should check with
your local suppliers, and see what the deck and fence folks are using for
their higher end work, and look at the economics of that.

We just did a set of benches in locally harvested Western Red Cedar (a
backyard tree from a friend), and an arbor/pergola in redwood. I think the
next outdoor furniture project I do will be in ipe, or something similar.
That way, the joinery will be less like framing or fencing, and more like
furniture or cabinetry.

Patriarch

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 16:21:16 -0500, Patriarch
wrote:

Prometheus wrote in
:

snip
I'm kind of wondering about this particular project myself (the wife
wants some patio furniture for our new home) So, I figured I'd jump
in while there's an open thread, and add a couple of questions. So,
does red aromatic cedar have the same weather resistant properties as
the dull white/brown variety, and is moisture content of the wood as
important if it is jointed with deck screws instead of glue? (To
clarify, I intend to use traditional joinery, with screws in addition
to wood glue for that little extra bit of protection from the
elements)

Also, is it better to use a finish like shellac, or to just get
something like Thompsons water seal (or whatever other deck
weatherproofing product floats your boat)?


'Cedar' covers a multitude of vaguely related woods. You should check with
your local suppliers, and see what the deck and fence folks are using for
their higher end work, and look at the economics of that.

The only stuff I'm interested in working is what they carry at the
local hardwood supplier- it is a very deep red/purple with strips of
white and black in it. There's a link a picture of the specific
species I have access to right he

http://www.harmonycedar.com/images/c...-grain-500.jpg

It comes in 4/4 stock, and is kiln dried- so there should be no
problems with waiting for it to dry out. While I can't say that money
is no object, I'm not terribly concerned about the price of a set of
deck chairs and a little table. I think this stuff is about $2-3/bf.
I can't afford to hunt down Teak or Honduran mahogany or anything like
that, but cedar should be appropriate to the application in any case.
My second choice is Redwood from the lumberyard a little ways down the
road. Also not a bank-breaker, but it doesn't have as much character
as the cedar.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 16:21:16 -0500, Patriarch
wrote:

'Cedar' covers a multitude of vaguely related woods. You should check
with
your local suppliers, and see what the deck and fence folks are using for
their higher end work, and look at the economics of that.

The only stuff I'm interested in working is what they carry at the
local hardwood supplier- it is a very deep red/purple with strips of
white and black in it. There's a link a picture of the specific
species I have access to right he

http://www.harmonycedar.com/images/c...-grain-500.jpg

It comes in 4/4 stock, and is kiln dried- so there should be no
problems with waiting for it to dry out. While I can't say that money
is no object, I'm not terribly concerned about the price of a set of
deck chairs and a little table. I think this stuff is about $2-3/bf.
I can't afford to hunt down Teak or Honduran mahogany or anything like
that, but cedar should be appropriate to the application in any case.
My second choice is Redwood from the lumberyard a little ways down the
road. Also not a bank-breaker, but it doesn't have as much character
as the cedar.

Aromatic or eastern red. One of the driest in the log of domestic woods,
with the heartwood barely above the fiber saturation point. Also one of the
toughest to get a finish to stick to. Shellac is what I've had luck with.
Lot of oil and resin in the stuff.

For outside, let 'er go naked. Lots of hillbillies did.

Have made many of these chairs, usually out of cedar (mostly heartwood) it
takes only about 2-3 weeks for "rain wet" cedar to dry out in the shop.
Whatever finish you put on it, I recommend a final coat of Arm-R-seal.
Protects from U.V. rays and holds the color of the wood. I HIGHLY recommend
using stainless steel or brass screws and construction adhesive (caulk gun
type for like $1.47) on all the joints. A bead spreads out nicely and it is
a waterproof glue.

Hope this helps...
Schroeder

"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 04:54:06 GMT, "Clint"
wrote:

I'm kind of wondering about this particular project myself (the wife
wants some patio furniture for our new home) So, I figured I'd jump
in while there's an open thread, and add a couple of questions. So,
does red aromatic cedar have the same weather resistant properties as
the dull white/brown variety, and is moisture content of the wood as
important if it is jointed with deck screws instead of glue? (To
clarify, I intend to use traditional joinery, with screws in addition
to wood glue for that little extra bit of protection from the
elements)

Also, is it better to use a finish like shellac, or to just get
something like Thompsons water seal (or whatever other deck
weatherproofing product floats your boat)?



Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Thanks for the input from everyone. I was going to "templatize" the project
anyway, so my first step will be to cut out all the appropriate pieces in
some 1/2" plywood I've got kicking around. I figure if this one goes well,
I'll probably be making more. I'm planning on using the Wood Magazine's
version; see how that goes.

In the meantime, I'll probably wait till the middle of next month before I
get too agressive in cutting wood for this project. If I can find someone
with a moisture meter, I'll take a board over to their place and see what's
up.

I'll also try to post some pic's in the binaries group, if anyone's
interested.

Clint

"Clint" wrote in message
news:O3H8e.1054322$Xk.948686@pd7tw3no...
So I decided to try my hand at one of the many outdoor Adirondack chair
plans out there. Kind of a rite-of-passage, right? Anyway, the stuff
I
picked up a the local Borg was not quite dripping wet, but it sure was
damp.
Actually, the 2x6 material wasn't so bad, but the 1x6's were.

Any suggestions how long I should let them set? I've got them stickered
and
stacked, but it would be nice to build something with them for this
summer,
not next. If nothing else, they make my shop smell nice! I have no
moisture checker, and I'm not sure what's good for outdoor furniture
anyway.

TIA!

Clint

"Clint" wrote in
news:A_b9e.1072902$Xk.963401@pd7tw3no:

Thanks for the input from everyone. I was going to "templatize" the
project anyway, so my first step will be to cut out all the
appropriate pieces in some 1/2" plywood I've got kicking around. I
figure if this one goes well, I'll probably be making more. I'm
planning on using the Wood Magazine's version; see how that goes.

In the meantime, I'll probably wait till the middle of next month
before I get too agressive in cutting wood for this project. If I can
find someone with a moisture meter, I'll take a board over to their
place and see what's up.

I'll also try to post some pic's in the binaries group, if anyone's
interested.


If you don't need a moisture meter for another reason, I wouldn't bother.
Weigh a sample board every week or so, and when it essentially stops losing
weight, it's ready for your purposes. This kind of project is pretty
forgiving. It's what my dad calls 'country work'.

Very few people want to sit on the back porch with a frosty beverage in a
priceless Chippendale...

Patriarch

It comes in 4/4 stock, and is kiln dried- so there should be no
problems with waiting for it to dry out. While I can't say that money
is no object, I'm not terribly concerned about the price of a set of
deck chairs and a little table. I think this stuff is about $2-3/bf.
I can't afford to hunt down Teak or Honduran mahogany or anything like
that, but cedar should be appropriate to the application in any case.
My second choice is Redwood from the lumberyard a little ways down the
road. Also not a bank-breaker, but it doesn't have as much character
as the cedar.

Aromatic or eastern red. One of the driest in the log of domestic woods,
with the heartwood barely above the fiber saturation point. Also one of the
toughest to get a finish to stick to. Shellac is what I've had luck with.
Lot of oil and resin in the stuff.

For outside, let 'er go naked. Lots of hillbillies did.

Nope, I've gotta have a finish on it now. If I want to see hillbilly
stuff, I'll go visit my parents! That, and I want to keep the color.
Thanks to you folks that responded- I'm going to make sure to look
into that arm-r-seal stuff, and see how it goes.
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 05:42:49 -0500, the inscrutable Prometheus
spake:


It comes in 4/4 stock, and is kiln dried- so there should be no
problems with waiting for it to dry out. While I can't say that money
is no object, I'm not terribly concerned about the price of a set of
deck chairs and a little table. I think this stuff is about $2-3/bf.
I can't afford to hunt down Teak or Honduran mahogany or anything like
that, but cedar should be appropriate to the application in any case.
My second choice is Redwood from the lumberyard a little ways down the
road. Also not a bank-breaker, but it doesn't have as much character
as the cedar.

Aromatic or eastern red. One of the driest in the log of domestic woods,
with the heartwood barely above the fiber saturation point. Also one of the
toughest to get a finish to stick to. Shellac is what I've had luck with.
Lot of oil and resin in the stuff.

For outside, let 'er go naked. Lots of hillbillies did.

Nope, I've gotta have a finish on it now. If I want to see hillbilly
stuff, I'll go visit my parents! That, and I want to keep the color.
Thanks to you folks that responded- I'm going to make sure to look
into that arm-r-seal stuff, and see how it goes.

I hate the "lovely silvery gray look", too. (If I wanted an old barn,
I'da built one.)

Instead, I'd opt for the Sikkens Cetol finish for my outside bench to
keep the color...if I could get both pry bars out at the same time.
'Taint cheap, and though I haven't tried it, I keep hearing that it's
the very best. Best adhesion, most UV protection, longest lasting,
etc.

http://www.nam.sikkens.com/product.c...egory=exterior
http://www.nam.sikkens.com/pdf/cetol1&23_App_Guides.pdf


--
The clear and present danger of top-posting explored at:
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote2.html
------------------------------------------------------
http://diversify.com Premium Website Development

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
Aromatic or eastern red. One of the driest in the log of domestic
woods,
with the heartwood barely above the fiber saturation point. Also one of
the
toughest to get a finish to stick to. Shellac is what I've had luck
with.
Lot of oil and resin in the stuff.

For outside, let 'er go naked. Lots of hillbillies did.

Nope, I've gotta have a finish on it now. If I want to see hillbilly
stuff, I'll go visit my parents! That, and I want to keep the color.
Thanks to you folks that responded- I'm going to make sure to look
into that arm-r-seal stuff, and see how it goes.

I hate the "lovely silvery gray look", too. (If I wanted an old barn,
I'da built one.)

Instead, I'd opt for the Sikkens Cetol finish for my outside bench to
keep the color...if I could get both pry bars out at the same time.
'Taint cheap, and though I haven't tried it, I keep hearing that it's
the very best. Best adhesion, most UV protection, longest lasting,
etc.


http://www.nam.sikkens.com/product.c...egory=exterior

You run into a problem, of course, with the oils and resins weeping through.
If it is kiln-dried and resin set "cedar", a bit less.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...ily_woods.html

Nope, I've gotta have a finish on it now. If I want to see hillbilly
stuff, I'll go visit my parents! That, and I want to keep the color.
Thanks to you folks that responded- I'm going to make sure to look
into that arm-r-seal stuff, and see how it goes.

I hate the "lovely silvery gray look", too. (If I wanted an old barn,
I'da built one.)

Instead, I'd opt for the Sikkens Cetol finish for my outside bench to
keep the color...if I could get both pry bars out at the same time.
'Taint cheap, and though I haven't tried it, I keep hearing that it's
the very best. Best adhesion, most UV protection, longest lasting,
etc.

http://www.nam.sikkens.com/product.c...egory=exterior
http://www.nam.sikkens.com/pdf/cetol1&23_App_Guides.pdf

You might have a winner there- looks like one of their dealers is a
local furniture and finishing supply shop. I always like to support
the local vendors when possible!


Aut inveniam viam aut faciam