SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/wood-length-barely-changes

As wood loses moisture, how much does a board shrink along its length?

Almost none, usually less than 0.2%.

Start playing free

  1. About 3%
  2. About 8%
  3. Less than 0.2% ✔

Why: Wood changes size mostly across the grain. Along the grain, from fiber saturation to oven dry, normal wood changes by less than 0.2%.

Huh, didn't know that: Reaction wood and juvenile wood can shrink about 2% lengthwise from green to ovendry, 10 to 20 times more than normal wood.

The dad joke
What happened to the wooden car with wooden wheels and a wooden engine? It wooden go.
Like this card?
Play the game

References

Answer: Less than 0.2%. Wood changes size mostly across the grain. Along the grain, from fiber saturation to oven dry, normal wood changes by less than 0.2%.

  1. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material, FPL-GTR-282 (USDA Forest Products Laboratory, 2021) research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/62200
    usually amounts to less than 0.2% between fiber saturation and oven dry in normal wood
    Checked 2026-10-10.

Think this answer is wrong? Tap "Challenge this answer" on the card in the game and tell us why.

Test yourself in the game

Trades & ShopWhich direction does wood shrink the most as it dries?Trades & ShopAt about what moisture content does a drying board begin to shrink?Trades & ShopIn commercial practice, quartersawn lumber has growth rings at what angle to the wide face?

That's stuff everyone should know.