Air-drying months from freshly cut to target moisture content by species and thickness.
Fresh cut ≈ 60%
12% interior · 15% outdoor
Estimated drying time
≈ 3.48 years
41.8 months
First MC meter check
Check roughly every third of the way through
Jun 17, 2027
Target-MC ready date
Oct 17, 2029
Stacking recommendation
Air-drying time scales with species density, thickness, and how much moisture you’re driving out. Softwoods like pine and cedar dry fast; dense hardwoods like oak and hickory are slow and want to check if you rush them. The rule of thumb for air drying to ~15% EMC is roughly one year per inch of thickness for softwoods, scaling up with density.
To hit 12% interior EMC you usually need to finish in a conditioned space or a kiln — open-air drying in most of North America stops somewhere around 13–15%. Use a pin-type moisture meter and verify before milling.
years = species_rate × thickness_in × ln(initial ÷ target) ÷ ln(60 ÷ 15)
months = years × 12