Timbernation Rules

Awhile back I had Chris build me some stands for my eucalyptus harbet shl5s. Turned out gorgeous. And they were cheap too!!!

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I bought a rack from Chris. He was great to deal with, and the walnut rack is beautiful.
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Ha, guys with really nice racks!

Paul, I just went to the website and in the middle of the main page is a pic of what he built for you. Very nice, all of them.
 
I would love a solid wood rack like these mentioned here.

However, I believe they would not fare well in our climate. I've been monitoring the humidity in my primary systems' room and without lighting or amplifiers powered up the humidity is stable this winter so far at 25-26%. When the lighting and/or amps are on for more than two hours, the humidity drops to to 21% and remains until things are powered off.

In the summer we can have stints of 60-70% humidity for weeks at a time then drop to 30% or lower for weeks at a time.

Can anyone here prove my thought process wrong that these types of racks that are made entirely of solid wood (not laminated & not veneers over MDF) and secured with single-screw points or glued-only WOULD NOT have shrinkage or warp issues in this radical of a dry climate?
 
good question Mike. since all my racks are diy that ive had. ive tested this. the solid wood does tend to change with the seasons around here. the shelves of solid wood do seem to warp a little bit with the change in humidity. the racks frames which are 3x3's and 1x2's do not warp. the layered shelves do not warp either. its kinda like hardwood flooring(real hardwood) you need to bring it home and let it sit in its enviroment for a bit to get used to the climate. if you bring hardwood floor in your house and just lay it down immediately, you will be faced with lots of expanding and shrinkage. also these shelves are mostly made of maple for its non resonant qualities, and is a softer wood. thats why regular furniture(mostly) is made of oak, because its rock solid and wont expand or contract as much as other softer woods.
but overall its not bad . if your not looking for it(like i do) you probably wont notice it.
 
I know Chris only uses fully dried woods and guarantees them not to crack. As far as warping goes in extreme environments, I would reach out to him and ask. He is a really great guy. Certainly I have not noticed any issues at all to date. Good luck.
 
Petro85 said:
good question Mike. since all my racks are diy that ive had. ive tested this. the solid wood does tend to change with the seasons around here. the shelves of solid wood do seem to warp a little bit with the change in humidity. the racks frames which are 3x3's and 1x2's do not warp. the layered shelves do not warp either. its kinda like hardwood flooring(real hardwood) you need to bring it home and let it sit in its enviroment for a bit to get used to the climate. if you bring hardwood floor in your house and just lay it down immediately, you will be faced with lots of expanding and shrinkage. also these shelves are mostly made of maple for its non resonant qualities, and is a softer wood. thats why regular furniture(mostly) is made of oak, because its rock solid and wont expand or contract as much as other softer woods.
but overall its not bad . if your not looking for it(like i do) you probably wont notice it.
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All good points Steve, thanks for your input. I especially agree about letting wood acclimate when it arrives. We've done exactly as you say with wood flooring in the past.

I spoke to Chris and he said he's shipped racks all over the world including many to Arizona which can have even wilder humidity swings than Colorado does. He said he's only had a few racks out of a thousand or more that have ever had issues due to environment. Chris stands behind his product and guarantees their quality / stability so that's a great thing!

The Timbernation racks' looks and pricing are very attractive but I'm still a touch concerned about the solid-piece-of-wood aspect compared to the inherent stability that a laminated butcher block design would offer. All I know is that any solid timber that I've used in projects here (including true 3x12 Douglas Fir for deck stairs) will twist, shrink and check even with layers of protective coatings whether indoors or outside. About the only way I've ever been able to minimize twisting is to use multiple screw down points or "hangers" for framing. With solid woods in this environment its next to impossible to prevent checking and shrinking of timber no matter how many screws you use though.

I need to think about this some more....
 
FlexibleAudio said:
I know Chris only uses fully dried woods and guarantees them not to crack. As far as warping goes in extreme environments, I would reach out to him and ask. He is a really great guy. Certainly I have not noticed any issues at all to date. Good luck.
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Correct Paul, Chris does use properly dried wood in his construction.

But, I don't think "dried wood in Pennsylvania" is the same as "dried wood in Colorado" due to the ambient humidity differences normally seen in each location.

As mentioned above, solid wood has never done well in my home thus far.

Since Chris guarantees his product maybe I should just roll the dice and see how one of his racks would fare.
 
It gets pretty dry up here in Canada in the winter as well. Some people use a humidifier in the winter. I have the opposite problem as I have a few large aquariums that ups the humidity. I have to run a dehumidifier in the winter to get it under 50%.
 
MikeCh said:
All good points Steve, thanks for your input. I especially agree about letting wood acclimate when it arrives. We've done exactly as you say with wood flooring in the past.

I spoke to Chris and he said he's shipped racks all over the world including many to Arizona which can have even wilder humidity swings than Colorado does. He said he's only had a few racks out of a thousand or more that have ever had issues due to environment. Chris stands behind his product and guarantees their quality / stability so that's a great thing!

The Timbernation racks' looks and pricing are very attractive but I'm still a touch concerned about the solid-piece-of-wood aspect compared to the inherent stability that a laminated butcher block design would offer. All I know is that any solid timber that I've used in projects here (including true 3x12 Douglas Fir for deck stairs) will twist, shrink and check even with layers of protective coatings whether indoors or outside. About the only way I've ever been able to minimize twisting is to use multiple screw down points or "hangers" for framing. With solid woods in this environment its next to impossible to prevent checking and shrinking of timber no matter how many screws you use though.

I need to think about this some more....
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Wow, was this wood properly dried first (i.e., aged or kiln dried)? The moisture content of fresh cut is a whole different issue from humidity and one you will not need to worry about with Chris.
 
FlexibleAudio said:
Wow, was this wood properly dried first (i.e., aged or kiln dried)? The moisture content of fresh cut is a whole different issue from humidity and one you will not need to worry about with Chris.
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Hi Paul,

I would venture to guess that the Douglas Fir we used on our deck stairs (I'm pretty sure it was Doug Fir) was kiln dried and not all that well either. For an entire year after installation, we had seams of sap that were produced thru the stain on a few of the treads. Not knowing what Chris' source for wood is, I can't say what process he uses for drying.
 
MikeCh said:
Hi Paul,

I would venture to guess that the Douglas Fir we used on our deck stairs (I'm pretty sure it was Doug Fir) was kiln dried and not all that well either. For an entire year after installation, we had seams of sap that were produced thru the stain on a few of the treads. Not knowing what Chris' source for wood is, I can't say what process he uses for drying.
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The coniferous woods will do that. Hardwood shouldn't.
 
MikeCh said:
I would love a solid wood rack like these mentioned here.

However, I believe they would not fare well in our climate. I've been monitoring the humidity in my primary systems' room and without lighting or amplifiers powered up the humidity is stable this winter so far at 25-26%. When the lighting and/or amps are on for more than two hours, the humidity drops to to 21% and remains until things are powered off.

In the summer we can have stints of 60-70% humidity for weeks at a time then drop to 30% or lower for weeks at a time.

Can anyone here prove my thought process wrong that these types of racks that are made entirely of solid wood (not laminated & not veneers over MDF) and secured with single-screw points or glued-only WOULD NOT have shrinkage or warp issues in this radical of a dry climate?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that, any woodworker with limited credential knows how to build furniture in such a way that wood shrinkage will not make it split. Secondly one of the purpose of wood finishes is to slow down changes in humidity levels in wood. Thirdly when they kiln dry wood they bring the moisture down to 6-7% within the wood fiber , one of the result is that wood will never be able to absorb humidity like it used to prior to drying.

I live Montreal where relative humidity levels in a house goes from 80-90% in summer to 30% in the dead of winter. Been building hardwood furniture for over 20 years and never had one split.
 
RedSectorA said:
I wouldn't worry about that, any woodworker with limited credential knows how to build furniture in such a way that wood shrinkage will not make it split. Secondly one of the purpose of wood finishes is to slow down changes in humidity levels in wood. Thirdly when they kiln dry wood they bring the moisture down to 6-7% within the wood fiber , one of the result is that wood will never be able to absorb humidity like it used to prior to drying.

I live Montreal where relative humidity levels in a house goes from 80-90% in summer to 30% in the dead of winter. Been building hardwood furniture for over 20 years and never had one split.
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Thanks Dan!

Ken
 
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