odd variation in moisture content

[heteroscedastic]

Any ideas on why two pieces of solid cherry furniture of approximately the same age, sitting next to each other in the living room for the last ten years, should display a 4% difference in wood moisture content as measured by my meter? One piece is a factory item (Virginia Galleries) and the other is a piece I made my self. Both are over 20 years old. All of the Virginia Galleries pieces in the house (like, 5 of them) show about 7% moisture at the moment. Every homemade piece is around 11%. I am wondering if these electronic moisture meters are influenced by the type of finish on the wood. The factory stuff is all lacquered, my stuff is either polyurethane or oil.

[ransley]

The meter Ive used Delmhorst has probes you stick into the wood, is it finished underneath so you can retest.

[dpb]

More than the effect of the finish on the meter, I'd suspect the effect of the different finishes on the moisture migration to/from the pieces.

A factory-cured finish on what was undoubtedly a thoroughly dried piece is much more continuous and impermeable than a hand-applied (particularly oil which is almost of no measure in that regard) finish. It's also likely the initial moisture content was roughly in the 10% in the raw lumber as opposed to that of the factory-built pieces at the start. That's about where most species will equilibriate in climates other than the very dry. Mid-winter may notice some drop if there isn't any additional humidification owing to the typical very low RH in heated air but that will generally rapidly return as warm, humid air returns.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, The difference is possible. Because raw material was different to begin with. Good wood has to be aged well. Look at how they used to build pianos in old days. Our ~100 year old grand piano is very stable throughout every year holding good tune. Modern piano in the same house is not, needing frequent tune up. Because old wood was naturally aged(dried) upto 20 year before made into product. Modern woods are kiln dried. Computer simulation says that is as good as 20 year natural aging. In real world it is different.