I’m trying to dry some red oak (maybe some white in there as well) that I just had milled on site where I live. Is it absolutely necessary to sweep all of the sawdust off of the boards before they dry? Is there a better way–I’m beating this broom to death?
Also, can anyone recommend something I can use for “stickers”? I had to leave while the fellow was doing the milling and I didn’t get to ask him for more–I don’t have enough to stack all of this wood. I don’t own a table saw or bandsaw, etc, so making my own is a bit difficult with a skillsaw that is rather terrifying to use at this point in its life.
I once used garden stakes from Lowes, but that can be pricey. Maybe it is my best option?
Replies
i use tobacco takes. Maybe you can get some discarded palets and rip rhem apart. I don't think you can use too many stickers. Make plenty. And be sure to sticker close to the ends to reduce splitting while your oak dries.
BJ
I know just the place to get my hands on some pallets. Thanks for the advice.
Can I seal the ends of the wood with paraffin wax (melted and brushed on) to prevent checking?
Sorry, but I missed this question of yours last night. The answer is yes you can. It would help a bit. Anything applied to the exposed end grain to partially block the pores will help reduce the speed of moisture loss from the last 150- 200 mm of a plank's length. And this should reduce end splitting. Other materials used for this are paint, bitumen, and special waxy formulations, eg, Anchorseal, see here http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1760
On the other hand I know many of the timber yards, wood driers and the like I deal with that consider end sealing a waste of time and effort, and the losses are too small to bother investing in the materials and the labour. Slainte.Richard Jones Furniture
Thanks for all the helpful responses. I'm getting a late start, but I now at least have an idea of how to go about all of this. I am also happy to know where to find the end grain sealer. I think all of the oak I have has already started checking because it was down for a while before it was cut. HOwever, I have a sweetgum tree that I cut the day before it was milled, and the wood is pretty, perhaps I will start with sealing that one.
Thanks again,
BT
BT - Like you, I cut up most of my self-sawn timber as a result of blow-downs from hurricanes. I've a good deal of experience drying oak. Yeah, it's essential that you get the sawdust off of the planks, but you can use a leaf blower for this if you have one or can borrow one. You can use pine, plywood or maple for stickers. In my experience, it doesn't matter tha much with red oak, just be sure that the stickers are not very wide - no more than 1-1/2 inch.
Also, if you're short on cash, don't bother with a special end-sealer formulation. Just use any old housepaint (preferably oil-based, but latex is OK too so long as it's the glossy version intended for outdoor use), or if you have them, old spray cans of rustoleum or similar enamel. You can also use old cans of polyurethane. Just about anything is better than leaving the ends open to the weather.
Until it's partially air-dried, use roofing tin to protect the top of the stack, or a sheet of outdoor plywood. If you don't have any, check whether there's a Habitat for Humanity re-use center in your area. You can usually get used plywood and roofing tin from them very cheaply.
For end sealer I have used asphalt roofing paint, Discontinued white roof paint, tag ends of latex enamel. Stuff that was cheap or excess.
I have been taught that on should sticker very close to the ends because the cracks don't run past the first sticker. I haven't proven it.
Sweet gum is one of the most unsplitable woods. But it warps like a crazy ski. You will need to get it stickered and weighted.
Your pallet wood deck board wiil be wider that the inch and a half max. You shouldn't have trouble ripping it with a circular saw but watch out for those nails.
BJGardening, cooking and woodworking in South'n Murlyn'
BeeJay
I hate weighting stack of wood!
The most commonly used items is a cinder block which sheds small grains of sand etc.. to lodge in the wood.. only to be discovered by your planner blades!
What I do is strap wood.. use those cheap ratcheting tie down straps everybody is selling and set them right over the stickers.
tighten them up and now you have a drying guage.. you'll need to retighten them the first week and every other week for about a month.. then once a month and then every other month.. when you've dried them for about two every other months you're about 80% dry..
crude but effective.. plus it keeps you planner blades from finding grit!
B,I have dried a bit of wood, a lot of it oak, and found the best stickers to be 1 x 2 firring strips from the big box home centers. They sell them in bundles, they are relatively cheap, and uniformly sized. I have reused them with no degrade and they are kiln dry so I have never had a mold/moisture problem where the stickers are located. And if you cut them when they are bundled, it is fast and painless. I cut them to stick out about 6 inches either side of the stack, and throw a tarp over top to keep the rain and sun off. the stickers being long help air circulate around the sides, and until the stack is mostly dry, I leave the ends open to the prevailing wind. Stack it as level and straight as you can, sticker every 16 inches or so and then wait.Good luck with it.AndyMa ka hana, ka 'ike.
In the work, is the knowledge.
A good commercial product is ANCHORSEAL. Unfortunately this is not handed out for free. I suspect that melted parafin will do as well or maybe even better but application for a large amount wood is a challenge.
A "neutral" hardwood like maple would be preferred, but if you can't get it, then use what you can get. Rather than the garden stakes, I would go for the general purpose grade stakes over in the concrete section. They're short--the longest are only about 24"--but they're much cheaper than the garden stakes.
I haven't tried it yet, but I've toyed with the idea of wrapping stickers in clear plastic packing tape, the intent being to prevent the wood in the stickers from interacting with the wood in the boards.
-Steve
Thanks for the tip. I'm trying to pinch the pennies at this point in the project. Got in over my head.
Steve, maple of any sort isn't a first choice with any of the timber merchants, sawyers and wood driers I can think of and deal with. Most maples' propensity to develop mould very rapidly when wet counts against it because the mould and staining transfer to the drying planks.
Traditionally most timber yards used a neutral dry softwood such as 3/4", 1" or 1-1/4" square section pine for sticks, the thickness chosen depending on how fast or slow they want the planks to dry.
Nowadays of course there are plastic stickers as well as grooved stickers, each designed to improve airflow and reduce the chance of sticker stain or sticker shadow developing. The plastic stickers are about £2 (US $4) each, plus 17.5% VAT, and the yard where I photographed these examples has over £25,000 invested in them.
I suspect this sort of cost isn't within bft's budget, ha, ha. Slainte.
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Richard Jones Furniture
Edited 5/15/2008 3:39 am by SgianDubh
I'm sure it depends on the particular species involved, but the softwoods typically available around here are also prone to staining. My lumber drying experience is very limited, but from what I've observed, if the sticker material is dry to begin with, and planed smooth, then the moisture transfer from the rough-sawn planks to the stickers seems to be pretty minimal.
-Steve
I'm still curious--will the sawdust stain the wood while it dries. Do I have to sweep all of it away before I stack the wood?
"will the sawdust stain the wood while it dries. Do I have to sweep all of it away before I stack the wood?"
Yes. The major reason is that sawdust traps moisture on the wood surface and this encourages mould development that can lead to all sorts of faults, eg, blue stain, sap stain, spalting, dry rot, etc. It depends on the fungus that gets a toehold, and several fungi can infect the same piece of wood all at the same time. Slainte.Richard Jones Furniture
This is probably irrelevant but I'm curious. Why go to all the trouble to dry that much wood when you don't have the shop machinery to mill it/work it? If your plan is to use it rough sided for some kind of rustic construction then I don't think it really matters what you sticker it with -- use what you have, or what you can get cheaply.
So far I've only worked on small projects and used only handtools. I'm in medical school with no income and zero free time. I like trees and I am salvaging them from a recent storm that took out thousands of trees in my area. It's the least I can do. Otherwise they end up in the landfill.
I've used pieces cut from old sheets of plywood for several years now (I've been cutting my own wood with an alaskan sawmill setup for 10 years off and on), and never had any problems associated with the stickers being from cheap old plywood. No staining where the stickers were in contact with the wood.
I've used plain old pain and later the parafin sealer for the ends, especially on flatsawn boards. I cut up some oak 2 years ago and tried to cut most quarter or rift sawn and not had much splitting (these were VERY wide boards anyways). I always try to sweep as much of the sawdust off the boards as I can. I just use a stiff nylon bristle brush - its probably some sort of deck scrubbing brush - its about 8-10" long and about 1/2" wide (the bristles are about 4" long). I usually brush right after the cut - it lets me see what the board looks like.
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