The ambient air and its properties are decisive for how wood behaves in this environment. Wood always contains water in bound form. If a quantity of water is present above the so-called fiber saturation point, this water is also known as unbound water. It is then located between the cell structures of the wood and is the water that first escapes during the natural drying process in the air.

Only when all unbound water has evaporated into the ambient air is the so-called fiber saturation point reached. Below this point, wood typically begins to deform and crack. To prevent wooden products such as furniture, interior finishing elements or even barrels from deforming or cracking uncontrollably, the woods used must be conditioned to the so-called wood equilibrium moisture content.

The wood equilibrium moisture content is the moisture content that the wood would permanently retain if the ambient climate did not change and remained constant. Under this assumption, it can be assumed that the wood will retain its dimensions and shape.

The wood equilibrium moisture content, also called “constant wood moisture equilibrium,” can be derived from various parameters of the ambient air: Air pressure, air temperature and air humidity. It is a dynamic state that the wood assumes when the ambient climate remains constant and sufficient time is available for equalization.

This adjustment should be driven by the specific drying of wood and should be controlled and monitored as well as possible. Two basic processes are used for this purpose, which can also be used in combination. The two processes are air drying and technical drying using equipment and/or machinery.
The drying of wood is absolutely necessary in order to be able to manufacture things from it that remain dimensionally stable and undamaged under constant and appropriate climatic conditions.

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