Letting timbers sit for a while

[Engineer]

I have a big pile of logs left over from my frame project, and I need to saw them before they rot to dirt.  What I'd like to do is saw out a boxed heart timber, whatever I can get from each log and then pile them such as an air-dried lumber stack would be piled - stack, sticker and cover.    It may be two to five years before I can use any of them, but I have a barn frame in my future plans.

Will they be OK, or are there special considerations for 'saving' timbers?  One thought was that I should mill them as large as possible, to heck with any specific size, and then resaw as needed once I have a plan.

Other thought was that I could peel all the bark, endseal them and let 'em sit until I was ready to saw them.  All the logs that need cutting are white pine.  I also have a few white oak that I want to make posts out of.

[JimY]

Hi there,
I've got some timbers stored for longer than I meant for them to be (about a year now).  :(  They're doing well as far as I can tell.  Most are R&W oak with some tulip poplar.  Used four 8X10s, each on top of 4 blocks to make a support platform to support my 20' timbers.  Used tar paper to separate the timbers from the concrete and kiln stickers to separate the four 8X10s from the other timbers.  To me, an 8X8 crossing an 8X10 was just too much of an area to leave in contact.
     I cover with tarps (yes, they are a pain) and I'm lucky that the area they're in is pretty much shady.  I try to keep the tarps just on the top of the pile and not cover the sides.  They are endsealed and I've done some applications of a homemade borate/glycol mixture that I learned about on the FF   8) 8)  This was more for my peace of mind than anything else.  Other than expected checking, I haven't noticed any problems yet.  But I'm aware that this won't be the case forever and I hope to get them used soon.
    It is a large storage area (20X20) but its what worked for me.  The way it is, I can flip the timbers with a peavey if I want to because of the strong supports under them.  And yes they are spaced about an inch apart
     If I can help anymore Engineer just let me know.

Jim

[Ron Wenrich]

I don't see any problem with milling them to whatever size you want, especially the pine.  Leaving it lay on the ground will do the logs no good, endsealed or not. 

I've sawn timbers for the local P&B and he leaves them in our yard for a year.  He then has them planed, which gives them all a pretty nice look.  We just make sure they are off the ground, stickered and not touching each other.  We don't cover them, but it wouldn't hurt. 

We also have log cabin logs that sit for years (so it seems), and nothing goes wrong with them.  We get them milled and all seems pretty good.  We also cut pretty heavy to allow for machining and shrinkage.

I would make them all the same width.  That way they will lay flat.  If you have various thicknesses in a layer, you may distort some of the timbers. 

I have resawn dry pine on a circle mill.  It doesn't look nearly as good as the fresh stuff.  It kind of tears it instead of cutting it.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  I often get to many logs and just square them up.  Most of the time I saw them 7 x something, 9 x something and 11 x something.  It makes it easier to stack if they are all the same on one face in a row.  I can resaw them later into the size timber I need which is why I leave some extra on the sides.  If there is a barky face take a draw knife and shave the bark off as it is a starting place for bugs.