Do stickers need to be the same species as the wood you are drying?

[Glenn1]

I was speaking with a Nyle representative who suggested that I use the same species for stickers as the wood that is being dried.  I had planned on using Poplar for all my drying since it is a white wood.  I'd be hard pressed to cut my walnut or cherry into stickers when drying the same species.   :-\

If you are drying 5 different species of lumber, would you have five different groups of stickers?  Hopefully, a stack of fully dried white stickers will work for all the lumber.  I plan on drying walnut, cherry, white oak, red oak, and hard maple.

[WDH]

Not in my experience.

[Glenn1]

Not in my experience.

What wood are you using for your stickers?

[WDH]

Indonesian hardwood (commercial sticker) and southern yellow pine.  A few red oak and ERC.

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

Using the same species is more uncommon than common.  Apitong and keruing used to be very poplar species for stickers.  Oak and cedar have often been used too.  Very soft species are usually avoided as the sticker become thinner and break.  Species with water soluble chemicals in them, like redwood or walnut, are not used.  Pine and hemlock are widely used.  I have seen a lot of tulip poplar or yellow-poplar used.  Aspen poplar is too soft in most cases.

[YellowHammer]

Not in my experience.

What wood are you using for your stickers?

Poplar, hickory, cherry, poplar, cedar, maple and more poplar. ;D
It's much more important that the stickers be dry.  I don't like using walnut for stickers.

[Glenn1]

Thanks for all your input. I had run a UF 6/3 wire 125' from my house to the kiln. I realize that there will be a drop off but that's already been calculated.   The shop was much closer but the electrical cost per kilowatt was twice the price.  The shop was zoned commercial when it was installed over a decade ago. 

The first load of poplar goes in today (although it's only 100 bf to be used as stickers). It's been a long 4 month process building the kiln.  The extra fans and 4 halogens have also been hooked up and are ready to go!

Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.    8) 8) 8) 8)

[Ga_Boy]

Used oak for durability.

[Blackgreyhounds]

I'm very small time, <10Mbf dried over the last 5 yrs, all for my own personal usage.  However, when I went to a local lumber yard (Groff and Groff, Quarryville, PA) and asked to buy stickers from them, the suggested using 1x3 lathe from the local millwork shop (soft wood, ?species).  That's what they use, faster and cheaper than they can cut their own.  I rip them in half and wind up with 1 1/4 x 3x4 stickers.  It has worked great for me.  No stain, no mold, etc.

[Peter Drouin]

Red and White Oak here.

[red oaks lumber]

yellowhammer nailed it .... as long as the sticker is dry anything will work i tend to use a hardwood it holds up longer

[YellowHammer]

The first load of poplar goes in today (although it's only 100 bf to be used as stickers). It's been a long 4 month process building the kiln.  The extra fans and 4 halogens have also been hooked up and are ready to go!

Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.    8) 8) 8) 8)

Good luck!  One suggestion, whenever I'm drying white wood prone to sticker stain, such as poplar, I always knock a few of the stickers sideways, an inch or two, in different positions of the stack as I load it into the kiln.  This way, if I get sticker stain, it's easy to determine if it happened when it was air drying, (it will show where the sticker was) or in the kiln (it'll shows under where the sticker is).
YH

[Peter Drouin]

Back in the day the old timers here would dip the stickers in varnish. I remember going to a yard one time where I think they thought more of the stickers than the lumber. :D :D :D