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Stickers

Started by SkyDoc, January 20, 2017, 08:43:27 PM

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SkyDoc

I am just getting started with, what will become, my milling business. I do not have stickers cured and ready to sell to customers. I was contemplating telling customers to rip 1/2" plywood down to 1" pieces to use as stickers.

The way I see it, they wont compress, they're already dry etc.

Can anyone tell me why not to tell them to use plywood for stickers?

Thanks
Doc
Dad always said "its easier to learn from someone else's  mistake than to make it yourself". Thats why I am here....

Brad_bb

 I'm not sure what types of which you are cutting, but what about going to another mill and buying low-grade boards to cut into stickers?  You don't have to tell them that you're a Mill, but just that you need some lower grade fours for a project.   It's just a one time thing to get you started. If you are  efficient, you should get stickers from every logs cut from then on.
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

WV Sawmiller

Sdoc,

  I'm no expert but I seem to have always seen the minimum thickness recommended for stickers was 3/4". Many of us use 1" because we get them off the edgings of our 4/4 lumber or just rip up some low grade boards.

   I like Brad's idea about just buying some lowgrade dried boards from another mill if you are in a rush.

   I don't know of any issues using plywood but if I did I'd use something thicker than 1/2" sheets.

   Good luck.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

paul case

Go ahead and cut some stickers. Get them a little dry and go from there. It depends on how high grade stuff you are planning on cutting and stickering whether it would be worth the extra or not. Surface dry will do on a lot of stuff in my opinion.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

Nomad

     Many times I cut stickers for customers from ¾" plywood.  I tell 'em to rip the sheets to 2x8, stand a dozen or so on the mill, and start slicing.  They can then cut them to length.  Cheap, dry, and makes a lot of them in a hurry.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

WDH

Cut some from pine, sticker the stickers, put a fan blowing on the stack, and in about 2 weeks, you will be good to go.  I like 1" x 1" stickers to get just a bit more air flow to thwart sticker stain and gray stain. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

SkyDoc

So, the take away is that plywood can be used, 1/2" is too thin, and green stickers can be dried out in two weeks with a fan blowing on them.

However, my next project is a 1600 ft/sq rough cut camp house for a friend. I am reasonably sure that he's going to put it up green or it'll sit for 6 months and then he will erect it.

Can we dead stack them instead?
Dad always said "its easier to learn from someone else's  mistake than to make it yourself". Thats why I am here....

Bruno of NH

I do what WDH does with the pine or hemlock
Works well for me
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

Magicman

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

fishfighter

Heck no down here. Mold will grow real thick in just a few days. More so in the summer. Sawed some syp and didn't sticker them for 3 days. So much mold, I had just threw them on the burn pile.

When you going to be back in? I got some SYP trees out your way to go look at. ;D About 40-50 I am told. They still standing, so I know what I will be getting. Best part, they are for free. ;D

paul case

If it is framing lumber, green sticks will be ok as no one will ever see the stains that may be on the wood. I just cant imagine the thinking behind cutting up some $30/sheet  plywood for sticks when you can make them out of the stuff you would otherwise throw away.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

Greyhound

I've had very good luck with 1"x3"x8' plastering.  I rip down the middle and cut in half lengthwise.  Each board yields 4, 3/4 x 1 1/4 x 4' sticks.  It's a pretty economical way to get started.  Ideally, I'd like them closer to a full 1" thick, but I've dried over 5 MBF for myself this way and never had a single problem.

Magicman

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Andries

Good advice from the Magic Man and WDH.

Odd, up here, I've had dead stacked burr oak and elm piled up for the last 6 weeks and, nope, no stain or fungus.
O'course our average Temps are -13°C.

LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

paul case

Froze together does tend to stop that mold dead in its tracks,

I thinks I will stay put as it is 65 degrees today and very nice for the 4th week of the year.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

SkyDoc

Can you use treated wood as stickers? We have scrap laying around.
Dad always said "its easier to learn from someone else's  mistake than to make it yourself". Thats why I am here....

scsmith42

Although I make them for my own use, I find that it's not profitable to make stickers for sale.

A good, commercially available sticker option is to use furring strips  (1" x 2" x 8'), and cut them in half to yield two 4' stickers.  Item 4511 at Lowes, and 160964 at Home Depot.
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Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

BigZ La

I took some old fence boards I had and ripped them up to make stickers for the last lumber I had cut up. Worked good for me. Sometimes you can find them for .50 to  a dollar a board used.

YellowHammer

I've made speed stickers when it's hot enough, by sawing them from poplar, laying them out on sun heated asphalt (my driveway) rolled them around a few times periodically, like hot dogs on the grill, and by the end of the day they were pretty much cooked and done.  Sometimes I left them out a couple, three days at most, whatever it took to get them dry.  The hotter the day, the faster the drying.  The are thin and narrow, so dry very quick.  Of course you must use a species that will take that kind of rapid moisture loss without cracking.  Either way, almost instant stickers....

YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Nomad

Quote from: paul case on January 21, 2017, 12:27:44 PM
If it is framing lumber, green sticks will be ok as no one will ever see the stains that may be on the wood. I just cant imagine the thinking behind cutting up some $30/sheet  plywood for sticks when you can make them out of the stuff you would otherwise throw away.

PC
A lot of my customers don't have or want to waste any wood and often want live edge slabs.  A 4x8 sheet of CDX sells for about $23 around here and will yield at least 320 linear ft. of stickers.  Pine 1x2 furring strips were $0.98 each, last I checked.  Seems pretty economical to me.
Buying a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter
WoodMizer LT50HDD51-WR
Lucas DSM23-19

fishfighter

Doc, I think treated plywood would bleed and stain your lumber. Pine stickers are your best bet. I had sawed some 3/4"x3/4" and they dry real fast down here. I never had a problem with them staining straight off the mill when stickering pine right off the mill together. Don't forget to use a sheetrock knife to scrap saw dust off boards. That saw dust will draw moisture. A 12" knife works great. More so on syp.

One thing that I really think that helps is when I stack lumber, I try to keep my stacks under 2' wide. Started doing that due to I use 8"x16" cinderblocks as my base under stacks. Also, the tin I use to cover my stacks are only 26" wide. This got me thinking that air flow would be better and helping in drying out lumber faster. Besides that, my tractor can only handle X amount of weight to move stacks. Also, I have the room to stack them anywhere out the way.

Brad_bb

I think we've given him our recommendations:
1. Green stickers
2. Buy low grade from another sawyer and make stickers
3. Get some pine/white wood from Big box store

Most of use think Plywood or treated wood is not a good idea.
Now he can take our advice or not.

PS. I have a bunch of Ash stickers because I mill more ash lately than anything other single species.  I just put together a load of timbers for shipment and used ash stickers to make "T" separators for the timbers.  The Ash stickers were dry, and the timbers are pretty dry, on the outside at least.  So as long as they don't get wet, shouldn't stain til they are used.
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

SkyDoc

Thanks for all the input FF members! I really appreciate it.

I really like how Brad rolled it all up for me. Thanks Brad!

Doc
Dad always said "its easier to learn from someone else's  mistake than to make it yourself". Thats why I am here....

5quarter

Hi Skydoc...I know you're just getting started, but I'd like to see you get off on the right foot. Don't use plywood unless you are sure it will never get wet. any side exposure to rain  will cause the ends to swell and delaminate and lift the outer edges of your stack. don't ask how I know this.  ;) >:(  Do not use low grade for stickers...bad logs make bad lumber...period. Instead, take your very best log, square it up and make 1½" 2Xwhatevers, stand them up and cut 7/8" down to the bunks. cut the stickers into 4' lengths, cull anything with a knot or part of a knot and sticker like WDH recommends. run them all through a planer down to ¾". They will make you good lumber and last for years. I would love to have back all the hours I wasted trying to quickly and cheaply cobble together enough stickers for a whack of lumber I had just cut.
   alternatively, look for salvage lumber from older buildings, special order lumber (especially trusses) that wasn't ever picked up at the box store/yard, or even furring strips (the clear, fingerjointed ones). However you decide to go, remember that taking a little extra time up front will save you a lot of time and lumber down the road. Best of luck.
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Blue Harbor Refinishing

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