A friend of mine has shut down his shop and has offered me approx. 1000 rough sawn 1″x8″x8′ white oak boards for a little over $2 a board. My problem is that like most I imagine, I’ve always bought what I needed as I needed it. I’ve never bought anything in a lifetimes quanity before. If I do this, would I need some special storage requirments beyond proper stacking to keep the boards from going bad? Is there a moisture requirement boards in this conditionquanity should be in where if they are not they should be considered useless for typical projects. And of course any other comments, suggestions or experiences you can offer that would be helpful. Resale of the bulk of this is also a thought. Thanks.
Don
Replies
Don -
I once bought 7000 bf of mixed rough hardwoods for about 30 cents/bf. What I didn't turn around and immediately sell, I kept outside, in stickered stacks, covered with canvas tarp. It was over 5 years before I got rid of the last of that lot. The hardwoods were walnut, cherry, white and red oak and Ash. Storing in this manner did not degrade the lumber at all. Just keep out of the weather and allow plenty of air circulation.
I could write a book on what all I made from that lot.
As a matter of fact, I have an old barn (80 years old) on my place up in Okla that is covered with white oak planks. I have pulled off a few boards and after planeing off the top 1/16", the old planks have made beautiful lumber. Like trying to saw concrete blocks though.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy
PlaneWood
Hi,Don. what, a deal; as far has storing such amounts of wood the main things to do are stack it flat and level off the ground and away from moister. dont lean it up against a wall for any length of time, this can cause bowing. keep it away from direct sun light. a good place to store it may be in your garage rafters.
good luck .
Mike and Woodshaver,
Thanks for the speedy replies. From what you've written I think I'll go for the deal as it seems fairly safe. 2k is not a life changing amount, but there are plenty of options on how to use it.
Mike, I know what you mean about "hard." My parents house has red oak trim about 100 years old. It bends naild, screws won't go into it, and it literally takes the drill press to usefully drill into it with small drills for pilot holes otherwise they break. The stuff is amazing!
Don
TAke it from one who has done that and learned the hard way, KEEP THE WOOD AWAY FROM THE ROOF!! Reason: very rapid heating will dry it out fast and cause warping and checking.When the going gets tough . . . it's tough going!
This is my first experience with wood in this quanity. Should I cut up some of the oak for stacking sticks, or would any thing do? Any rules to this? And, what are those sticks called? I assume they have a name.
Don
ooohh!! the only intelligent thing i can offer!!
they are called "stickers"
lol
I have seen boards layered 2 and 3 boards between "stickers" and I have seen them stacked 1 to 1. This wood is kiln dried, what method is appropriate?
Buy it by all means. But don't put it up in the garage "rafters". Those aren't rafters they're rafter ties and they aren't designed to handle any storage load. They're in tension just to keep the walls from tipping out. If you compared them to floor joists for 125 lbs/ft they are probably overspanned by 2 or 3 times.
John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
Thanks John,
The garage trusses are on 48" centers anyway so nothings going up there. I sometimes wonder about the weight of the automatic garage door opener the way it sometimes sways.
Just picked up the Delta 12 1/2" portable planer for these boards. There's nothing in the manual about height adjustment backlash. Do you, or anyone one else have any comments on this. Is it ever a problem? thanks.
Don
All threaded mechanisms are going to have some backlash. If you don't reverse (back-off) the setting it shouldn't matter, especially with a planer. You start thick and take light cuts to sneak up on the final thickness. I use a dial caliper ($25 plastic by General) calibrated in 64 th's. My old Foley planer moves the bed 1/16" per turn of the crank. At 1/64 per quarter-turn I rarely overshoot my final thickness.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
Thanks John,
I'm also well versed in the use of metal cutting machines where dealing with backlash and tool pressure is taken for granted. The planer, being a closed, non through cutting machine seems like backlash and tool pressure would be addressed in the manual. It's not.
Don
Maybe they're in denial about how much slop is in their machine.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
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