Sawmill Tour

[ElectricAl]

We hosted a tour of our sawmill and dry kiln operation recently. There are 2 wood working clubs in our area with a combined membership of approx 150. Two years ago we had 53 tour and this time there were 30 in attendance. This years numbers were affected by one companies demand of mandatory overtime.
Regardless, having a tour is a chance as a owner operator to show off your operation to potential new customers.
Be ready for some off the wall questions.
*Why do some sawmills stand there boards on end to air dry?
*Is 15% kiln dried enough?  ( Red Oak )
*How come your lumber is not thick on the ends and thin in   the middle?
*Wouldn't the lumber dry faster if you stacked it outside in the sun?
All good questions.


Allen

[Jeff]

O.K., how did ya answer those questions?

[ElectricAl]

Jeff,


*Why do some sawmills stand there boards on end to air dry?
-->There is a guy in his 80's in our area that does it, and claims the water runs out, if the butt end is down.

*Is 15% kiln dried enough?
-->NO !   We have another circular sawmiller 10 miles south of us that puts his lumber in his shop with a pot-belly-stove then sells the lumber as "kiln dried" By the way, he does not own a moisture meter either.

*How come your lumber is not thick on the ends and thin in the center?
-->We don't saw with an out-of -wack circular saw.   Plus we will take a shim cut if the cant starts to bend.

*Wouldn't the lumber dry faster if you stacked it outside in the sun?
-->Sure, but we choose slow drying quality over speed.

Any one else get questions like these?

Al

[Jeff]

We dry small quantites of lumber on end in our mill for our own use. It does dry faster then stickered in a pile, but I think it has more to do with surface area exposed to air movement then gravity. If its going to cup and twist it'll show within a couple weeks standing.

[Scott_R]

The only dumb question is the one that goes unasked! Scott_R

[Bibbyman]

My uncle use to lean lumber against an old house I assume to dry.  Guess it would shed water better and maybe have some chimney effect to the airflow.  Don't know if he used junk lumber on the outer layer to protect the inner ones from the direct sun.  If I get a chance,  I'll ask him. :P

He would also stack and stick lumber outside and cover the stack with a big pile of slabs.  He'd stack the slabs bark side up so that they overlapped and overhang and would shed water.  The dozen or so heavy slabs also weighted the stack down.  I've used the same method on some of my off-all lumber and it worked great – even after being stacked like that for over a year. :

[Bud Man]

Allen   Sounds like a great Idea, How do you get the word out and have you benefitted from any of those questions from the novices ?

[Don P]

I saw an old time method of stacking upright at Mabry Mill on the Parkway. 2 posts are set about head high with a beam nailed across near the top. Boards are alternately leaned up edgewise from either side making a inverted v ,or maybe a short leg x would be a better description, stack. The only advantage I could see was the runoff, it sure looked space intensive. Have also seen triangle flat stacking in a couple of small operations, no stickers needed.
So do I need a pot belly stove or will any old woodburner do? :D

[Tom]

Don,
That's the way wood was dried around here until recently when the big mills came. It was set up just as you describe and the pole lenth was relative to the length of the lumber to be stacked.  The mills would fill the fields with long rows of boards stood on end and leaned on edge.  

I had seen it but didn't know how to do it properly.  I got a chance to talk with some old-timers who let slip the fact that they used to tend the drying yard.  As it turns out, it is more labor intensive to dry wood in that manner.  The Yard Tender's job was to stack wood and frequent the stacked wood every so many days (at least once a week) and turn the boards over. That was how they kept the degrade to a minimum.  In a big yard that job was allocated to one or more people who did nothing but that.

I would rather sticker it in stacks and not have to mess with it.  Some people who are anal about their wood will restack stickered stacks frequently, but I'm not one of them. :D

[Ron Wenrich]

I haven't used slabs on top of lumber, but we have used a lid which was made from thin boards nailed to skids.  It helps keep the sun off the top layer, as well as help shed water.  The only problem was the wind would sometimes blow them off at times.  

When I first started sawing, we didn't have a building.  So, I made a small shed just to keep the sun off the saw.  I used to throw slabs up there for a make-shift roof.

I've never seen lumber set out to dry as described.  Setting it in a hot room has been used.

[Steve]

The main reason I stack lumber on end against the wall is so you can sort through it so much easier and faster than in a conventional sticker pile.

 :-/

[ElectricAl]

Bud Man,

We were contacted by one of the club presidents. Who's two sons and a daughter buy lumber from us.
This club is exclusive to employees of this particular company.
The other club is open to everyone else in the area.

If no clubs have contacted you, ask some of your better customers if they know of any.

Also, search the internet  " woodworking clubs " might be a start. Maybe the Chamber of Commerce could research it for you.

The questions are not to bad. The biggest thing to me is, will we convert buyers from another mill to our mill.

We basically have 3 days of down time, plus about $200 expenses for our show.
Had to mow some pasture for parking, clean shop, move lumber to safe area, break down log piles for saftey,set up working displays.  etc.

So, how many new guys spending "X" amount does it really take to break even?  Or is it chairity work to help educate your fellow man or woman?

Don P,

We know two brothers who built a "kiln" using 2 - 55 gallon drums as the burner. That lasted about 3 months when the "kiln" burnt down. Now they only saw, and sell on the green market.


Al

[RavioliKid]

On a TV show, I saw a "kiln" that was a large box with a hinged lid to permit access and to let moisture out. The box was painted black and located in a sunny place.

I tried a similar thing once when I was drying "tree cookies" to use in school. I set the slices in a black barbeque grill and put it in the sun with the vents open to let the moisture escape. It worked pretty well.

[Jeff]

I remember making a solar hotdog cooker in Boy scouts. We made the dish from carboard and tape, then covered it with foil. It had a wooden rod that projected out from the center of the dish to the focal point. It worked well. You stucak a hotdog on the end of the stick and it would be hot through in about the same time it took to cook one on the bonfire. (at least till the clouds came) Boy Scouts. Be Prepared. Build cooking fire first just in case. ;)