aclose

i want to be a woodworker. or, maybe i should say, i am an aspiring woodworker. but i don't have any wood, yet.
i typically buy wood for the projects i work on and have very little left over sitting around. but if i was to start stocking a bit of wood, how would i, should i, store it? and where?
my shop is in my detached 2.5 car garage. it isn't insulated or heated. i live about 45 minutes west of Chicago, so the weather, climate, varies greatly by the season. moisture content could be an issue.
so, my mentors, what are your thoughts? do i start stocking wood and come up with some storage system in my gara.., err, shop? do i try to carve out some space in the basement which would have a little more stable climate, but still may not be 'dry'? or do i just continue to buy wood on a project by project basis? which isn't really a problem, but you don't always get the best buy doing that. and then you don't have any scrap/leftovers laying around when that moment of inspiration/need for practice comes around.

Gerry KIERNAN

If you can find room in your basement aclose that would be the place to store as much wood as you can, especially for more immediate use. As your shop is unheated, and uninsulated, any dry wood that you store there will probably gain some moisture. As an example, wood that I have stored in my unheated shop, where the humidity is around 80% at this time of year, checks out with the moisture meter at about 12 to 14% relative humidity. Wood which has been in the house for some time, where the humidity is from 40 to 50%, checks out at about 6 to 7% relative humidity. If you should find a good deal on some wood don't be afraid to store it in your shop, just be aware that you will want to acclimatise it to the environment that it is going to live in before you work and/or finish it. Another thing, is that wood which is very wet will dry out considerably, even in your shop. Even though you can't heat it, I have found that if I leave a box fan running, directed toward the wood, there will be a significant reduction in moisture content over a period of several weeks.
Go find some wood.

Gerry