I just ordered some 1/2" & 3/4" x 6" width and 2"x8"x8' eastern red cedar,
green.

I'm planning on using it for deck planters and the like.

How long should this material be air-dried and how much 'shinkage' should I
expect?

Would stainless steel screws be the right choice here?

Also, any tips on air drying this would be appreciated.

ThankX
Ron

"Ron" wrote in message
...
I just ordered some 1/2" & 3/4" x 6" width and 2"x8"x8' eastern red cedar,
green.

I'm planning on using it for deck planters and the like.

How long should this material be air-dried and how much 'shinkage' should
I
expect?

Would stainless steel screws be the right choice here?

Also, any tips on air drying this would be appreciated.

In General, Softwood specific, Estimating times.

http://www.firstgov.gov/fgsearch/res...r/impgtr01.pdf

http://www.firstgov.gov/fgsearch/res.../fplgtr117.pdf

http://www.firstgov.gov/fgsearch/res...1/simps01b.pdf

Stainless would be my choice.

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 13:08:56 -0500, "Ron"
scribbled:

I just ordered some 1/2" & 3/4" x 6" width and 2"x8"x8' eastern red cedar,
green.

I'm planning on using it for deck planters and the like.

How long should this material be air-dried and how much 'shinkage' should I
expect?

The typical answer is one year per inch of thickness.

As for shrinkage, eastern red cedar is one of the more stable
softwoods, with 4.7% tangential shrinkage (i.e. along the flat-sawn
side of the board) and 3.1% radial shrinkage (i.e. along the
straight-grained or quarter-sawn side of the board). These numbers are
for shrinkage from green (or at the fibre saturation point, 33%
moisture content for eastern red cedar) to oven-dry. Numbers from
Hoadley, "Understanding Wood", p.74.

Total shrinkage will depend on your final equilibrium moisture
content. With a typical 8%, total shrinkage will be 3.6% on the
flat-sawn side and 2.35 on the quarter-sawn side of the board.
Calculations based on formulas in Hoadley, p.76.

Assuming you boards are flatsawn, you can expect about 3/16" shrinkage
on the width of 8" boards and about 3/64" in thickness for the
two-inch boards. The shrinkage in the 6" boards will be proportional
to this.

As these are based on averages, YMMV

Would stainless steel screws be the right choice here?

Probably the best choice

Also, any tips on air drying this would be appreciated.

When you are stacking the wood, place stickers between each layer to
allow for for circulation and put weights on top of the stack so it
dries flat.

Luigi
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