Sticker Question

otherguy · September 25, 2009, 05:48:28 PM

Is PT wood okay to use for stickers?

A store here sells 2x2 PT balusters for railing, and cheap to. If the PT wouldn't hurt the wood I might do it for my first batch. After that I will use off-cuts and what not to make stickers, but I need something to start. They also sold them in cedar for a bit more.

Someone mentioned using that 1" construction foam (usually pink) for stickers, one guy said he has been doing it for years. Is that stuff really that durable to stand up to the weight.

WDH · September 25, 2009, 06:03:23 PM

I would think that PT would work fine as long as it is dry. The stickers must be dry or you will get sticker stain that will ruin the lumber for any visual use.

red oaks lumber · September 25, 2009, 06:13:09 PM

if you don't have dry lumber buy the cheapest s4s pine boards rip them 1 inch wide to use for stickers. don't use pt you'll get bleeding into the wood, don't use foam it will crush under load.. never use green stickers always use dry. also make sure they are all the same thickness. if you are putting the effort into sawing put that same effort into piling your lumber the best you can. good stickering results in good lumber

tyb525 · September 25, 2009, 07:52:30 PM

I do what red oaks does, I find old pallets and scrap 1x boards, usually free or very cheap, to rip 1" thick stickers out of. It doesn't matter how think the board you cut them from is, as long as you always put the 1" dimension vertical.

Also you could cut them out of your edgings but you should wait till they are dry before use.

otherguy · September 27, 2009, 07:57:45 AM

I will either use pine if its cheap enough or use plywood and cut it down into strips. Someone mentioned for be to be on the look out for Trex type balusters, said they picked some up on clearance real cheap.

tyb525 · September 27, 2009, 02:25:07 PM

Anything straight, uniform in size in at least on dimension, fairly resistant to rot and won't compress, will make a good sticker.

woodmills1 · September 27, 2009, 07:57:46 PM

I would say stay away from 2 inch thick stickers cause you will have a lot less lumber in the stack

Dodgy Loner · September 28, 2009, 11:55:28 AM

I would agree with all that's been written so far. My recommendation if you're just starting out would be to buy the cheapest 1x lumber you can get and rip them into 1" stickers. Or, if you have time to plan ahead, you can saw and sticker some 1x pine using wet stickers, and then saw the 1x pine into stickers when they're dry. All of your stickers will end up stained, but who cares?

James P. · September 28, 2009, 06:48:35 PM

Hi , I just recently started sawing and ran into a sticker problem, didn't have any. I have stickered lumber before but logs were hauled to an amish mill and I had time to prepare. Well I since moved and built my own mill. I basicall had to cut up whatever I had around that was kiln dried 3/4 to stack the wood but also took out the worst boards I had sawn and ripped a 100 or more 1 1/4 in stickers and stickered and stacked them. I will take better care of them this go around as its painful to rip good lumber into stickers when time is of the essence.
James P

tyb525 · September 28, 2009, 08:00:27 PM

James P.: I know the feeling, when I first started sawing I was scrambling to cut stickers. Luckily, dad used to collect pallet lumber from work and we had a huge stock of KD 3/4 pine, free of nails. Most of that is now in sticker form. :

:D They may seem like disposable things sometimes but they really are valuable. You can never have too many.

James P. · September 28, 2009, 09:21:44 PM

tyb your right about that. you use what you have but it is nice to have good knot free ones that you can reuse for a good while. You know when your ripping a mess of 3/4 there is always a couple knot that make a sticker good for kindling.

tyb525 · September 28, 2009, 09:32:02 PM

Especially when they break in half at the knot as soon as you pick the sticker up! :D Not to mention I had a knot hit my forehead and draw blood while cutting them on the TS (good thing I was wearing safety glasses!) Now I cut them on my mill, I clamp a bunch of boards side by side so when I cut them I get quite a few at a time.

Dodgy Loner · September 28, 2009, 09:59:58 PM

Cutting them on the mill sure makes less drudgery of it, doesn't it? And it's a lot safer than spending an hour ripping thin material on the table saw, for sure!

James P. · September 28, 2009, 10:12:20 PM

Dodgy, I cut them on a 16 inch table saw. I actually am pretty comfortable with it. Its an old American Woodworking machinery No 1. Babbitt bearings, quite and cuts as smooth a glass. when I get more comfortable running my mill. I will give ripping on the sawmill a try. It did take a little while. I had to cut everything down to five feet so I could handle ripping them. I need to build a roller table that is adjustable with raising the table. I love the saw but old tilt tops are tricky to add tables and out feeds to.

Tom · September 28, 2009, 11:31:00 PM

Short stickers, even those that broke at a knot, are still usable. You just put them end to end or staggared, if you have to. Short stickers come in real handy, don't throw them away.

Cedarman · October 01, 2009, 08:00:43 AM

I have used ERC stickers for years. We make them from edging strips. Most start out with bark on. We put the strips in a jig and use a chain saw to cut to length. A lot of times we send out stickered lumber and they make a one way trip. Never a problem staining with cedar. We reuse if possible. You all can be envious if you want. Cedar lets me do things that would not be possible if we did hardwoods.
Like let a stack sit 4 years in weather and not cup, bow, or rot. Top layer has to be planed a little extra to get rid of check marks. But you can't tell it from 2 month old stock.

I wonder how ERC stickers would work on hardwood or pine?