Time to acclimate…then BUILD!!!
Over the past weekend I finally took the time to take care of a couple of pressing matters – first, I had to make some room in my shop for my recent shipment of 5/4 maple from the folks at Bell Forest Products.
This isn’t always easy considering space can be tight in the basement workshop. And given this is easily an extra 700-800 pounds of lumber, I decided I didn’t want to risk overloading my lumber rack since I’m not sure how long it’ll be sitting there until I can start building my new workbench.
The second matter I needed to take care of was physically moving the lumber into the basement. This part is actually pretty straightforward. I start by picking it up, one or two boards at a time and carefully navigate it through a couple of doors and down a flight of stairs.
I will admit though…about a third of the way through the pile I was really starting to think a garage shop is what I should have instead.
After about an hour I finally had everything in place and all this maple is staged up and off the basement floor on a few bricks to help ensure I get good airflow around the pile.
Once it was in place I was able to move my tools back into position and it’s time to let the wood acclimate to its new environment.
But I have to make a confession at this point. When it comes to acclimating stock in my shop I have a bit of a “do as I say and not as I do” hypocrisy. I frequently recommend that folks bring their materials in the shop up to 2 weeks before they start their project. But the reality in my shop is that I often barely wait a full week before I break into it.
This is because I buy my stock from lumber mills that I know take the time to make sure their materials are properly dried before they’re sent out.
What this means for me is that the majority of the wood I purchase is practically ready to go as soon as it hits my shop. The moisture content is usually about the same of what I already have in my shop so it’s usually just a matter of resting inbetween unloading and getting started…and apparently I just need a lot of rest after exerting myself that much?!

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Is that a roubo bench in the rough?
That or a Vanderbo lol!!!
What was the total board feet of an order that large? I bet this is gonna be a pretty nice bench, are you making it with your own plans?
Is it bad that I can’t remember the total BdFt? I think it’s about 100???
As for the plans I think I’ve narrowed it down to one from Taunton, but I’m sure I’ll modify it myself.
Nice… Just curious cause I’m getting ready to build a Doug fir roubo as a practice run to see what I like….I like John Tetreaults design with those massive old barn wood pieces and it knocks down easy if you ever gotta move shop…good luck man!
Good luck to you too! I have a feeling this workbench may have to stay in the basement permanently…
Yes!
, great project, I can’t wait see it progress
Matt, you could have stacked those boards four wide and use it as a bench while it acclimating…say, about ten years…lol
(chortle…)
Eric, you seem to do things my way….
I too am sometimes bad about letting wood acclimate properly. I am always on both sides of the spectrum. I either bring it home and use it right away or it sits in my shop for a year or two. I also just took delivery on some Bell Forest lumber and am going to try do it right by letting it sit in the shop for the next two weeks. Fortunately I have a few other projects to distract me while I let it acclimate.
Looking forward to watching the bench build. I wanted to build a full size bench myself but I just don’t have the room yet. So I am going to settle for a joinery bench for the time being. Plus it’s a good way for me to use a bunch of white oak that has been sitting in my shop for two years.
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