Machining and moisture content

[Crossroads]

I've seen on here that machining pine below 10%MC is difficult. Does that also apply to other woods such as maple, oak or walnut? 

[Southside]

No, you want those to be at 7% ideally.  

[Crossroads]

Okay thank you, how about Doug fir? 

[doc henderson]

There are conditions that can make machining at a higher moisture better.  including species, thickness, grain pattern, condition of equipment.  If I plane very dry, figured, 1/4 inch maple with dull blades, it sounds like a vacuum picking up a spilled box of paper clips.  I usually have some "extra" wood and can give it a try.  if it is a special piece, then I take fewer chances.

[Larry]

The wetter the wood the better it machines.  Ask any woodturner. 

One has to temper that with what happens when high moisture content wood is used.  Causes warp, problems with gluing, finish problems, and more.

With modern sharp tooling, and proper feed speeds one should be able to machine almost all wood easily no matter what the moisture content.

Personal opinion, but I want wood with tenons less than 4%, wood floors, house trim at 6-7%, wood for cabinets at 10% (because I'm positive which way it will move), carving wood and gun stocks at 10%.

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

For some reason, drying pine and some other softwoods below 10% MC makes the wood more brittle.  With brittle behavior, we see more chipped grain (which goes by a bunch of similar names).  This brittleness in hardwoods is roughly under about 6.5% MC. 

This behavior is thought to be related to increasing strength with drier wood.  However, aspen, a very soft hardwood, can be dried to 4% MC without any increase in chipped grain and a decrease in fuzzy grain.  However, below 7.0% MC for oak, and maybe a higher value, can be an issue with chipped grain.

As mention, grain angle, feed rate, and tool design can affect machining quality.

[Crossroads]

Thank you! This is all good information. In the CLT factory, the wood I was planning averaged about 15% and it planned very nice. All 3 of those planners were a lot bigger than what I'm going to be running though and the wood was for a different purpose. At this point, pine is the wood that I plan to work with the most. Turning it into T&G for interior paneling. Although, while on a milling job recently, I met a guy who installs hardwood flooring. He seemed very interested in the direction I'm going and asked me to stay in contact. So, I'm trying to gather enough information to at least get started once the moulder shows up. Thank you for the information and your patience. 

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

The knife angles and feed rates are different for pine, especially EWP, than oak.

[Southside]

What did you get for a moulder?  Vertical grain pine does very well for me in flooring, no other place around to get it, might be an option for you there.  

[Crossroads]

I ordered the wood master 721 with the pro pack and 3 sided moulder attachment. Hopefully it will be enough machine for what I have planned. My hope is to run this for a year or two and upgrade to a 4 sided planner moulder if it makes sense when I get there. In the near future, I may be running this on generator for a while. We've been off grid for 3 years and are in the process of getting power. The 750' of conduit is in, we're just waiting on the power company now, with the hope that they get to us before the snow flies. 

[Al_Smith]

I don't have all that high priced stuff as many ,Basically a 12" direct drive table saw and a 9" radial arm with every type of cutter Sears ever sold for a molding heads ( two ) .Plus a 12.5" DeWalt  planer .It's seldom I do much with pine ,more so oak or ash .However ripping pine using a Freud carbide cabinet blade it doesn't take much to gum it up, something the hard woods do not do .Then I need to use Easy-Off oven cleaner to clean it up . I will say running ash through a planer it really gets noisey planning over a knot .I have no idea what the moisture content is as it's all air dried and I don't own moisture meter  but it all seems to comes out okay .