I may be being overcautious, but I am wondering if I should be concerned about transporting wood in the back of my truck when it is cold outside and the wood has been in my warm house. My commute to the space is about 20 minutes.
Thanks for any insight!
Humidity matters more than temperature.
While ambient temperature plays a part in wood movement, relative humidity is more important. A lot could be written about the two independently as well as how they coincide. Not necessary for your thread.
A 20 minute commute really shouldn’t matter so long as the humidity or moisture levels don’t differ wildly, IMO.
be cautious of any moisture if you are planning to use the saw stop. I almost cut some “dry” hardwood that got sprinkled on when I was driving over. Maybe OK, maybe not. But not worth finding out the hard way.
The cold air which is dry would only help dry it out, but as said above temp isn’t really the biggest factor, but location actually matters a lot, for instance if you built a table in your garage and It was in the garage the whole time while making it, once you moved it inside it’s pretty surprising how much the wood can move just from out in the garage to in the house, but that’s speaking in terms of weeks, a quick trip to the space the wood won’t even notice
A cheap tarp from HF might be a good investment - especially against any rain and mist. Will also limit area exposed.
The Stop Saw advice is something I hadn’t even considered as a very light surface moisture could trip it.
With the saw stop there’s an easy test though, with the blade NOT RUNNING but the saw turned on, if you take the material and move it close to the blade and make contact with the blade again STATIONARY and the light stays green you’re good, but if it starts blinking red and green whatever you’re cutting will most definitely trip it while cutting, now this test isn’t even close to a sure thing just a general rough guide, and it’s only testing the outside surface so always use the saw stop with a solid understanding of weather or not what you’re cutting is ok or not