The purpose of this paper was to determine the mechano-sorptive strains produced during desorption of moisture from Eucalyptus nitens specimens, from a perspective of modeling wood drying stresses. Eucalyptus nitens samples were tested in the radial and tangential directions. The mechano-sorptive strain was measured by cantilever bending during desorption. The runs were performed in a conditioning chamber at constant low temperature and variable equilibrium moisture content. Four load levels were considered for testing. The results showed that the mechano-sorptive strain during desorption of moisture was proportional to applied stress and reached the maximum value in the tangential direction. Also, the mechano-sorption coefficient depended on wood orientation and reached the maximum value of 5.46 x 10(-2) in the tangential direction.