The drying of timber

In drying timber water is systematically removed. The moisture content of freshly felled timber varies enormously from over 200 to as low as 40%. Once felled timber starts to dry, and provided it is not in contact with a moist body and is protected from rain, it dries eventually to a moisture content that is in equilibrium with the surrounding air: that might be as high as 20% in a humid environment and as low as 6% in a hot dry climate. In all cases the timber dries to below the fibre saturation point and some shrinkage must be expected.