Woodworkers’ Cheat Sheet for Drying Live-Edge Wood

In recent years, live-edge wood furniture has been incredibly popular. Customers appreciate its unique, rustic design, while woodworkers enjoy making these works of art and their high selling price.

So when you’re working on a high-value project like this, there’s no room for error. You want to know how to dry your live-edge slabs in just the right way so they don’t end up damaged or warped.

Wood drying, however, can be a complex process. Especially with limited equipment and resources.

So let’s break down the process into easy steps, along with tips to help you preserve the quality and durability of the wood:

• Why you should dry live-edge wood slabs
• How to dry them
• Tips for optimal drying
• How to tell when the drying process is complete

Let’s start by addressing what makes drying live-edge slabs so important.

Why should you dry live-edge slabs?

In short, live-edge slabs should be dried to prevent moisture damage.

Live-edge, or natural-edge wood, is cut wood that still has its natural curve (and sometimes bark) from the tree, giving it a natural yet sleek, artistic look. This type of wood is a common choice for unique-looking shelves, wall art, headboards, benches, and dining tables.

But, like any type of wood, live-edge slabs are susceptible to moisture damage.

If they aren’t dried properly, these lovely pieces of wood are subject to:

• Warping
• Cracking
• Splitting
• Swelling
• Mold
• Mildew
• Pest damage

And tat means wasted time, money, and effort.

Even if your live-edge project seems fine in the shop, it could still warp or split after you’ve sold it, resulting in not just a damaged project, but an unhappy customer and a damaged reputation as a woodworker.

And because live-edge wood is more expensive, failing to properly dry a live-edge slab will only lead to greater financial loss.

So here’s how to prevent the costly consequences of moisture damage and dry a live-edge slab the right way.

How do you dry live-edge wood?

There are two main techniques for drying live-edge wood—kiln-drying and air-drying.

Both techniques have their pros and cons.

Kiln-drying is faster and more thorough (drying the wood so intensely that it also kills any bugs living inside). But because it’s more intense than air-drying, there’s a higher chance of accidentally overdoing it, bringing its moisture content too low and causing it to crack.

On top of that, it isn’t the most accessible drying method, especially for beginner woodworkers. Getting your wood kiln-dried by professionals can be expensive. However, while it can be difficult, you do have the option of creating a DIY kiln at home.

Air-drying is typically the go-to option for woodworkers. You don’t have to pay anyone to do it for you. All you have to do is stack your boards in a dry environment.

The main disadvantage, though, is that it takes much longer to dry. What might take a month or week of kiln-drying may take a year or two of air-drying.

Generally speaking, one inch of wood requires one year of air-drying time.¹ As most live-edge slabs are one to two inches thick, it typically takes one to two years for wood to dry using the air-dry method alone.

Some woodworkers are willing to wait that long, but for those of us who don’t have the time (or storage) for this kind of wait, kiln-drying may be a better option. And while kiln-drying can be expensive, air-drying can be just as costly if you think about all the sales you miss out on while you wait for your wood to dry. Air-drying also comes along with the potential risk of mold or bug problems.

So what will it be? Fast and thorough drying with a kiln? Or slow and steady air-drying?

Whatever method you choose, you’ll want to go through the following steps to ensure damage-free drying.

1. Choose your drying method

First, you’ll need to determine whether you’ll use air-drying or kiln-drying (or a combination of both).

If you plan on air-drying, make sure you have a suitable place to store your wood, along with all the materials you’ll need to stack and cover it.

If you plan on kiln-drying, find a reputable sawmill kiln near you, or invest in a DIY kiln. Or there might be another DIY kiln nearby that you could use.

Many woodworkers combine these processes, typically beginning with a period of air-drying to lower the moisture content before putting the wood in the kiln. This is because air-dried lumber is much less likely to crack or split when put into a kiln than green lumber. Meanwhile, kiln-drying ensures that the air-dried wood is free of insects.

2. Seal the slab’s sides

Before you do anything with the wood, you’ll want to coat both ends of your live-edge board with a sealant.

This is because the ends of a board dry faster, causing them to split and crack even while the rest of the board is still drying. Coating them in sealant prevents moisture from exiting from the ends so the wood’s moisture can release evenly from the entire board.

There are different kinds of sealants you can use, including end-grain sealer, latex paint, wax, and linseed oil.

Different sealants will have different properties. Some of these options may be easier to use than others, and some may be more eco-friendly.

Look for a sealant that suits your needs and experiment with it to find which one works best. (Just remember, whatever sealant you use, you’ll want to apply a thick coat of it to each end. The thicker it is, the better it’ll keep moisture from leaving through the ends.²)

3. Test moisture levels

Once you apply the sealant, you’ll need a reliable wood moisture meter to test the wood’s moisture levels.

This will help you understand how much moisture is currently in the wood, which tells you how long it needs to dry to reach its ideal moisture content. This significantly helps you avoid over-drying or under-drying your wood.

4. Stack wood

Next, make sure you stack your wood for optimal drying.

The process works the same whether you’re air-drying your wood or kiln-drying.

All you have to do is stack the wood slabs on top of each other, adding stickers (or small pieces of wood about one inch thick) between the slabs to maintain space between them. This will allow for better airflow so the slabs will dry more evenly and be much less likely to warp or crack.³

In supporting the weight of the slabs, the stickers will also keep the slabs from leaning on each other and bending.⁴ Additional weight can be placed on top of the wood stack to achieve the same result.⁵

If you’re air-drying your wood, you’ll want to protect it from the elements by keeping it in a covered area, or using a tarp, metal sheet, etc.

5. Test moisture levels until the wood has finished acclimating

As your wood dries, check its moisture content regularly to prevent overdrying. You’ll want to be especially diligent about this if you’re kiln-drying, since it works much faster and can damage your wood if you’re not careful.

Your live-edge wood will be ready to use when it’s reached its target moisture level (more on this later).

That’s the basics, but here are some additional tips and best practices.

Tips for optimal drying

As you dry your wood, remember to:

• Choose wood that’s larger than your target dimensions:⁶ Because wood shrinks as it dries, you’ll want to choose green wood that is slightly larger than what you need.

• Don’t put your slabs in an unconditioned environment:⁷ Putting your wood in a room with unregulated ambient conditions could set the drying process back as your boards could absorb more moisture. This is especially true if the boards are laid directly on the floor and your floor contains additional moisture. This is why it’s always a good idea to put the wood in a regulated environment on top of a dry material like a tarp or dry plywood.

• Use dry stickers with the same thickness:⁸ The stickers you place between your wood slabs can sometimes cause stains if they have too much moisture in them. So they need to be properly dried and tested, too.

• Research the drying qualities of your wood species:⁹ Some wood species dry faster or slower than others. Softwoods like pine and cedar tend to dry quickly, while hardwoods like Red oak, white Oak, and black Walnut take longer to dry.

• Wait until your wood is at 20% moisture content to put it in a kiln:¹⁰ The drier the wood is before entering a kiln, the less likely it is to crack or split.

As you keep these tips in mind, remember, the most important part of drying live-edge wood is understanding your wood’s moisture levels and when it’s ready to use.

How do you know when the drying process is complete?

You’ll know your wood has finished drying when it has reached its target moisture content.

Ideal moisture content depends on the Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) of your region and the end purpose of your wood—whether it will be used indoors or outdoors.

You can find your region’s EMC value by looking at this chart. Typically, a moisture content of 12% or less is expected for outdoor projects, while indoor projects are around 8%.¹¹

How long it takes your wood to dry will depend on a variety of factors—what kind of wood you’re working with, how thick it is, and how you’re drying it.¹² So, instead of determining when your wood is done based on how long it’s been drying, you’ll want to judge the wood by its measured moisture content.

This is why everyone who wants to dry lumber needs an accurate moisture meter.

Bessemeter’s moisture meters are especially useful for measuring live-edge wood.

Some of our meters are pinless, meaning they won’t leave behind unsightly pinholes. They can also be adjusted to get accurate readings on a wide variety of wood species. One of our meters even enables you to measure woods of varying thickness.

Open the way to a better, more accurate drying process.