Replies

1. 
   jackplane | Oct 28, 2004 04:40pm | #1

   since you're air-drying, the rule of thumb is one year per inch of thickness. use any moisture meter that works. for furniture 6-12% emc is the range, i prefer 6-8% but it depends on your climate being mostly dry and arid, or wet.

1. 
   user-6494 | Oct 28, 2004 07:20pm | #2

   thanks jackplane  would it help if i put a heater in the shed?  i allready have a small vent fan running 24/7   as soon as i get all of the wood in i will put a fan inside to circulate the air

1. 
   jackplane | Oct 28, 2004 08:56pm | #3

   yes, but be sure it is a safe setup to avoid any fire hazard.

2. 
   IronDog | Oct 29, 2004 12:26am | #4

   Hi Pin,

   I have air dryed cherry successfully, I think it is a species that

   lends itself well to air drying.

   The basics are.

   Make sure the stack is level as possible.

   Use stickers that will not stain the cherry, if possible use cherry stickers.

   You want the wood to dry out but not too fast. So make sure the ends of the boards are sealed. That is where the most moisture is lost. Then maintain air movement, especially in an enclosed space but adding heat can be tricky. Drying wood is

   not really a science. So attempting to dry it out too fast can lead to

   case hardening and perhaps checking.

   I'm sure if you do a search on the web you'll be able to get tons of information.

   Good luck!

   Tom

1. 
   Gene | Oct 29, 2004 04:41pm | #6

   I'm getting a local cherry tree milled into lumber this weekend.  (right place, right time as some trees were being culled in a local park)  I've never attempted drying my own wood before.  Are there any species of wood that make particularly bad stickers?  I'd hate to end up with a lot of discolored wood.

   Now, I just need to find somewhere to put it!

   ~Gene

1. 
   IronDog | Oct 29, 2004 05:20pm | #7

   Yes,

   There are definitely some "bad" or incompatible woods for drying cherry.

   Oak for instance would be a disaster as it has tannins in it that would leave

   black stains on the cherry.

   Often times in the milling process a lot of sticks will be generated so

   using cherry stickers would be best.

   If not that consider using perhaps inexpensive furring strips from Home Depot

   and cutting them up into stickers.

   They are usually made of hemlock, spruce, pine and I don't think there would be a staining problem but don't trust my word on this! Check it out from numerous sources.

   You're drying material that will be worth thousands of dollars so make sure it's done right.

   There are books on the subject. I'll try to dig mine out and see if there is any more

   useful info...

   Tom

1. 
   IronDog | Oct 31, 2004 11:42pm | #8

   Here are the "sticker rules" from a book I have "Woodworkers Guider to Selecting and Milling Wood" by Charles Self auth. / Better Way publisher.

   Stickers should be dry, otherwise they will stain the lumber you are drying even if they are same species, no thinner than 3/4". Space them at every 2' or closer if need be.

   Definitely seal the ends with sealtite 60 or aluminum roofing compound (cheaper but messier), I actually used some old paint which was really thick and gummy.

   With the quantity of lumber you have you might want to do two stacks.

   One for the really perfect straight grained stuff, keep it all together.

   The lesser grade could go in another stack, it will tend to move more when drying and you don't want it distorting the good stack.

   Hope that helps!

   Tom

1. 
   Gene | Nov 01, 2004 07:44pm | #9

   Thanks for the advice!  I don't have the 1000 BF that the originator of this thread will be drying, but I've got enough to make it worth doing right. 

2. 
   DaveHeinlein | Nov 01, 2004 11:21pm | #11

   One important point about stickers, they must be dry, and preferably not a 'colored' wood that could stain the lumber. The best stickers I have used are plywood, Poplar, and Maple.

   Wet stickers will cause stains from the mold and bacteria that that will grow at the contacted area. In most cases, it will plane out, but not always. I have seen some extraordinary curly Maple that was ruined this way.

3. 
   mike4244 | Oct 29, 2004 04:24am | #5

   Cherry will dry fairly quickly. I just checked a pile of 5/4 this morning. 14 % was the average reading in this pile cut from green logs in June of this year. As other posts mentioned you want to get down below 10% for furniture. Dryer if you live in a dry climate like Arizona. The boards will accimate to the relative humidity in the area you live, no matter how dry you get the pile. I do not use heat, I do not use a fan as my pile is in an outdoor shed with only the roof for covering. I will bring some of the cherry into the loft of my shop in the summer. I have windows at each end and also use a box fan to move air thru the pile.

   I use an inexpensive moisture meter from Penn State Industries (about $40.00) that works well compared to a friends expensive one.I have found this moisture meter accurate with hardwoods that are under 12% relative humidity. When checking boards that are fairly green, the meter can be off about 3%.

   mike

1. 
   user-6494 | Nov 02, 2004 05:50pm | #15

   thanks for the info. do you have a phone number for central industries?

   Highland hardware has one for 58.00

   if i want to sell some of this to defray expenses  what should pricing start at? some of the pieces i have are 2" net 12" wide & 10' long

2. 
   user-6494 | Nov 03, 2004 03:37pm | #16

   i tried to reply earlier but the message went to the wrong place  thanks for the info, i need a phone # for central industries

   thanks

   john pin

4. 
   tommy2 | Nov 01, 2004 09:03pm | #10

   would it be wrong to use a dehumidifer instead of a heater just asking

1. 
   IronDog | Nov 02, 2004 04:27pm | #13

   Tommy,

   I think that there would be a place for using a dehumidifier if it was a

   closed room and especially in summer. That would of course keep the air dryer so the wood would dry quicker and the dryer air would

   help prevent any bacterial staining as well.

   Tom

5. 
   KeithNewton | Nov 02, 2004 06:06am | #12

   Any DRY soft wood will work best. Hard heart wood is not very absorbent, thus more moisture will be traped under the sticker rather than soaked up and transfered out like soft woods do. The stain is also much worse in Summer, and in white woods that have little resistance to decay. Cherry is in the middle of this range.

   You can find everything you need to know about it at woodweb archives, which is the far right column. Scroll down to sawing and drying, make coffee first.

6. 
   HowardAcheson | Nov 02, 2004 05:09pm | #14

   Before you do anything else, seal the ends of the wood with AnchorSeal and get the boards stickered and stacked. The most critical part of drying is in the first few days. Be sure that air has free access to all surfaces of the boards and that air actually flows through the stack. The air must be kept moving. Storage in a fully enclosed area is not correct for the initial drying time. Nor should you use any type of hot air.

   The "one year per inch" rule is not a "rule". Rather, it's very rough extimate. Each species is different and the environmental factors have a big affect. For example wood cut and stacked in the fall will take much longer to dry than wood cut and stacked in the spring.

   If you want some info on drying wood, go to http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr118.pdf . That should answer most of your questions.

   Howie.........