Replies

1. 
   pauldowns | Feb 19, 2004 10:07pm | #1

   Depends on your space available, how fast you use your lumber, and your ceiling height. We store vertical because we have high ceilings, turn over our stock constantly, and have a lot of wall space. The vertical boards are much easier to pick through, also. (Although you MUST be careful not to let a stack start to fall on you - you won't be able to stop it). If you don't have much room and tend to hoard wood, then horizontal is fine, and probably safer.

   Paul

2. 
   robert1 | Feb 19, 2004 10:45pm | #2

   I've tried it both ways. For my shop, vertical storage works better as my garage has tall ceilings and floor space is at a premium with children's toys, bicycles and other stuff packed all around. I have not seen an appreciable difference in cupping of my wood whether it is stored flat with stickers or carefully stacked vertically. Other woodworkers may have noticed a difference and I would be interested in hearing their experience.

1. 
   bones | Feb 19, 2004 10:55pm | #3

   Thanks for the input. My perspective is from a user (hobby not profession) who will keep from time-to-time 1-3 hundred bf of lumber in a two-car garrage. I currently store lumber vertically but was currious since I have seen it both ways. 

1. 
   JohnWW | Feb 20, 2004 01:19am | #4

   For convenience vertical storage is great, you can easily flip through the wood to pick out individual boards.  On the down side, I have found that the boards have an uneven moisture content when stored that way. 

   On vertically stored wood, the bottoms are moister because the air at floor level is cool and often damper, especially if the floor is a concrete slab.  The top ends are quite a bit drier because the air at ceiling level is much warmer if you are in a climate that needs a heater running to keep the shop comfortable.  On vertically stacked wood I'll often find that the top ends have end checks from rapid drying while the bottoms are crack free.

   The solution, if you store wood vertically, is to choose the wood for a project and sticker it up horizontally, at around bench height if possible, for a week or two before you do the final sizing and joint cutting.

   John W.

   Edited 2/19/2004 5:23:49 PM ET by JohnW

2. 
   OneofmanyBobs | Feb 20, 2004 02:02pm | #5

   I have 500 or 1000 BF on horizontal racks.  Quite inconvenient, but no space for vertical in my shop.  Hard to see what you have and hard to get the stuff in the back.  If I had space, I'd have vertical for the longer pieces and shelves for the shorts and scraps.  If you do horizontal, keep the shelves narrow.  Mine are wide and stuff gets lost back there.

1. 
   hatchet | Jul 16, 2004 07:39am | #6

   How wide is too wide for storage shelves?  I just finished building a 20 feet long one with 36 inch wide shelving.  If my air dried rough sawn lumber has been moved from the drying barn should it still be stickered or can the boards be stacked without the spacers?

   Hatchet

1. 
   JohnWW | Jul 16, 2004 02:59pm | #7

   Hatchet,

   Wood that has been stored elsewhere should be brought into the shop and allowed to adjust to the shops environment for a week or two before it is used.  It may need additional time if the stock is especially thick or if the shop is much drier or damper than the than the area where the wood was stored earlier.  

   The wood must be stickered, and have good air circulation around it, to get even stable moisture levels.  If the humidity in your climate varies from season to season all stock should stay stickered until used.

   John W.   

2. 
   forestgirl | Jul 16, 2004 08:03pm | #8

   Hi Hatchet, welcome to the forum!  Somehow, your post got addressed to "Bob" but I'm assuming you meant the question for all of us. 

   You say your unit is 20 feet long, so I'm thinking you want to know how deep the shelves should be.  That would depend on how easy it is to access the stock you want, and how much strength you can build into the unit.

   As far as stickering goes,  I think it would help us to know what kind of climate you live in.  For instance, I live in the Great Northwest, very very damp, so if I brought air-dryed wood in from a drying barn, it probably would still have a fairly high moisture content, and I would sticker it for quite awhile to get it settled to a stable and low(er) MC.

   It's my impression that once the lumber is truely dried and acclimated to your shop area, it really doesn't need to stay stickered in a relatively stable environment.  forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

3. 
   hammer1 | Jul 17, 2004 01:12am | #9

   The more shelves the better, just make sure you don't overload. I sticker my lumber all the time. I use some factory trucks and basically offload from one to the whatever and then to the empty one, moving culls as I go. I don't quit for the day without stickering. If you have organized your pieces for grain or matching, this helps keep you from repeating the process over and over. Unless you are doing thousands of feet the few minutes it may take are good insurance.