Wood Drying

[Farrell]

I received a shipment of Sitka Spruce yesterday for soundboard panel and rib construction. The guy I bought it from thought (guessed) that the moisture content (MC) might be in the 15% to 20% range, as the tree had been cut last spring (it has sat for 10 months, but in the whole-log form). I dried a couple samples last night of what appeared to be some of the drier wood from the bunch. It toasted out at 40%+ MC. When you cut it, you can easily see that it is just shy of having water ooze out of it!   :-(

So, I need to dry some lumber. I've never done that. Obviously, I wish to minimize cupping, warping, twisting, splitting, etc. I would like to cut it into half-inch thicknesses for more rapid drying. But my concerns are what is going to be the consequence of going that thin - or is there good reason to go thicker (drying time increases exponentially). Then of course I need to figure optimal - or at least acceptable - drying environment - temperature, relative humidity, air movement, etc.

I thought maybe I would be building a soundboard this week, but instead I find myself sitting here blowing on this stuff to help it dry..............oh shoot, my breath has high humidity, doesn't it?

Anyone with any experience with drying wood? Any suggestions for reference material? Thanks for any help.

Terry Farrell