Storing wood

[zenobia]

Thanks for the replies. I began asking about this in the 'quiet in here' thread when I should have started a new one. So...

Storing wood; I tend to think it is better to let the wood move when it wants without overly stressing it by forcing it to stay straight by clamping. But,... I know nothing yet about building guitars and am happy to be corrected.
I usually keep my wood in a spare bedroom that is relatively constant temp and humidity and stays around 21 degrees. But the thin plates still move around a bit, even with air spacing. I think it is more than air space but air circulation etc Make me think of the forces acting inside a finished guitar when humidity changes even slightly.

Is there a correct way to store wood apart from controlling humidity as best I can?
Cheers
Dom

[kiwigeo]

Mine sits on shelves with stickers in between. Each pile is then firmly tied with bias binding tape and a weighted board placed on top of the pile.

As already mentioned in previous post humidity in my workshop is kept in 40-45% range. All wood is stored in the workshop where I build so theres no need to let wood acclimatise to building environment.

[Strungout]

I just picked up a small dehimidifier for about $200.00 which I am using in a room that I built that is about 4 sqmts.

This seems to be working OK ,(and getting warm)

I am also going to stick an A/C unit in there when I get time.

Hopefully this is working OK but time will tell!!

[Malibu]

Like you Dom, I know nothing about building guitars, but I'm rapidly learning!
I had some Maple shipped down from Queensland that I let sit for 4 weeks before I started work on it. The two back halves hadn't move at all when I started working on them but I found that the sides warped a little bit. I didn't do anything special for storage, but left them flat on the MDF support sheet that they were posted on. I turned them over and they straightened out again and so far they don't seemed to have moved any more.

I'd thought about storing in a heated/controlled box of some sort (I have an inside firewood shed that would be perfect), but I figured I'd be no better off because once the wood was taken into the workshop, the change of humidity would start the twist all over again. For me it would be preferable to control the whole workshop environment, but that's over 100sq meters and the cost factor (setup and running) would be a bit of a killer. My workshop is pretty steady at 18 degrees. I don't know what the humidity is, although I'd guess at it being fairly high, but it seems fairly constant.

As I said in the other thread, I clamp the carved plate overnight just with a few holding clamps... there's no stress on the wood and it seems to be working Ok.