air drying

[jimmy]

I would like to know the best way to stack your lumber for outside? How far apart to put your stickers? Should your stickers be dryer then the wood your stacking?What size should your stickers be? As you can see i'm new at this. I would appreciate any help.

[Tom]

General Rule of Thumb

Stickers 1"x1"x8
put stickers within 3" of the ends of the boards and 18" intervals

Line stickers up to form a column. crooked column's mean crooked boards.

Use dry stickers

Put an air space of at least 1 foot beneath the stack

A stack 4 to 6 feet wide provides the best air flow.
Don't exceed 8 feet wide.

Cover stack with a roof that does not hang over the sides.  Do not drape a tarp over the stack.

A pole barn makes a good drying shed.
Do not allow the sun to directly cook the wood
Do not stack against walls or in corners or up against other stacks

Here is a good picture of a stack that member Brian Baily consructed

https://forestryforum.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?board=sawmill;action=display;num=1054741061;start=4#4

Search the forum too. There is quite a bit of conversation about air drying wood.

[Brian_Bailey]

Thank you Tom for linking to one of my pictures.

The pic is kind of misleading as it appears that the stickers are set in from the ends of the boards. There are stickers at the very end of the boards, this is important because it will keep end checks from getting started or getting worst ( most times  :D ).

Tom is correct in that you don't want to cover a stack of lumber with a tarp. You want the air to flow thru it. The air is what carries the moisture away from the lumber surface and hastens the drying process.  But, you need to control the air flow, so that is why I use tarps on my piles. What I really need is an air drying shed, so I can get rid of those ugly tarps  :D.

The links below have good info on stacking lumber.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/usda/ah188/ah188.htm

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/pubs.htm

[Den Socling]

Air drying yards used to put a corrugated metal roof on top of the stack. I now see them using slabs of concrete.

Shade cloth is like a tattered tarp. It blocks most sun but lets most air through.

[AtLast]

Ive been very very fortunate with air drying. On the other hand my Dad has not seein as it's his garage I store the lumber in  ;D BUT like Tom said and showed in the pic  link. there really really is a right and wrong way to do it.

[oakiemac]

Anybody use Shade Dri (www.shadedri.com)? It is only 14cents a square foot and looks like it does a good job.

[dewwood]

I have been using shade dri for over a year now and it seems to be working quite well.  I have it on the back side of my drying shed.  It cuts out most of the sunlight but still allows air flow.

Dewey

[shopteacher]

That looks like a great product. I'm going to check into that a little further. Thanks for the heads up Oakie.

[oakiemac]

You are welcome. I'm definately going to get some.

[BW_Williams]

I like to have the end stickers right flush with the ends, we have real dry summers and I believe this helps with end checking, as does Anchor Seal.  BWW

[Brian_Bailey]

Here's a thought,  
If your boards have trimmed ends or are fairly straight across.  
Try using a wider sticker on the end of the stack and leave about 1/2" to 3/4" over hange the end of the pile.
This does a nice job of shading the ends from the sun.

[cozynest]

Brian that is some nice stacks of lumber you have pictured. Bet all you want for Christmas is a drying shed to hold that lumber before it goes into the kiln. ;D

If you don't mind me asking, do you sell your dried lumber wholesale or retail . Just seemed a lot for retail.

Steve

[Brian_Bailey]

Hi Steve,  

Your right, only I could really use a drying shed a lot sooner than Christmas :D :D.  I'm hoping to get one up this year  :D, I've only been saying that for the last 15 yrs or so !  :D :D  

Thanks re the stacks. They're fun to build and take pictures of  .  
The only downside is, it takes a long time to build them that way. It wouldn't be practical if your sawing a lot of bf daily and working by yourself.

I don't sell wholesale, just retail.
What I don't sell outright gets used in my woodworking business.
My operation is just a hobby business ( my accountant warned me to never use the word hobby publicly ) that gets a little out of hand at times  .

[cozynest]

Thanks for the info Brian. I too am a woodworker. I've been retired for three years now and I'm finding this hobby is starting to get out of control. My accountant says I better watch it as there's no return in a hobby. Pun intended

Keep up the good work!

Thanks,

Steve

[BW_Williams]

Good idea about the wide stickers on the end, Brian unfortunatley, I usually find that my chainsaw had cut the logs crooked, so those end stickers may be alot of bf!  :D