I'm trying to figure out a better system for somewhat temporary stacking/stickering all the different lengths and sizes of lumber. Currently I just level out some 8' beams on the ground and it's hard to sticker when start mixing beams into the pile. I was thinking about building some portable lumber racks I could load onto the flatbed or dump trailer for quick setup and be more organized but struggling with design and looking for suggestions. There's got to be a better way than what I've been doing
have you searched pallet/skid? What do you mean by rack. I am picturing a tall structure with arms or shelves.
Pallet dimensions and design in Drying and Processing (forestryforum.com) (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=108743.msg1712877#msg1712877)
and some have made platforms with the spacing they want to stack on.
@firefighter ontheside (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=26921) .
the key is to not have to handle and or restack the lumber.
At most mills, I've seen 3x4s used to put down to stack lumber. Usually 4' and bundles are made 42" wide. Put down as many as you need to support the product you're stacking. We separated all of our products. If done by length, it is a lot easier to do the stickers. Longest logs first, and work your way down by length to the shortest.
If you're doing portable milling, you can just leave them at the site without too much expense or added cost to the client. We cut our 3x4s from low grade log hearts that weren't good enough for pallet stock. Highly portable and lots of uses.
I am confused also. If you are mixing sizes you are going to have to restack. I use stacking skids as Doc describes above with the first row of stickers already nailed to them as a go-by. I only use them in the long term storage location because I don't have adequate MHE to move them. When sawing I throw the waste slabs on the forks of my undersized FEL and stage the boards on 2 sawhorses. When I am finished sawing I go pick up the lumber on my forks and take it to the waiting storage skid.
If I had bigger MHE with more capacity I'd place the skids next to my mill and stack directly on them then haul them off to a permanent storage/drying area. When sawing mobile I often have the customer make several such stacks of stickered or flat stacked lumber just so it is easier to tally at the end of the job. If I were moving sticked stacks on my property I'd have to rachet them into tight bundles before moving them because of the slope and rocks I'm driving over. If I were a lumber yards I'd want the drive smoother and more level but I am a sawmill operation and prefer to custom cut lumber on demand.
I was thinking about something like this but smaller. Like maybe 2' wide and just build multiple ones for different lengths. I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out a to stack and sticker all the different lengths and size's more efficiently than I'm doing now in non permanent type of settings.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/70990/IMG_1940.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1699452846)
How portable do you want? I have had a design in my head for portable modular firewood racks for a long time. The idea could easily be adapted for boards and beams. It would be a steel frame with receiver hitches both ends. One end would get a tongue inserted into it and the other would get a set of wheels. then you could lift the front with tractor 3 point hitch and it becomes a lumber trailer you drag to where you want and either set it then remove the wheels to go to the next rack or unload.
I had planned on building a bunch and offering them for sale for firewood but I didn't think anyone would want to pay the true cost for one of the racks. In my opinion it would be great cause you could stack your firewood on it anywhere and when heating season came you could drag one rack to the house or into the garage at a time.
Well, I was thinking of building them similar to picture out of 2x4's, a couple ft wide. No roof or walls and spacing them apart as needed. I could use the tractor or crane to load/unload a bunch of them. But it's probably just a bad idea and I'll just end up adding more spots with leveled up beams. 8' 4x4's work fine. Again, just trying to figure out a better way
what is the actual goal of these racks? I would not want to have to restack a stack that is already stickered. so you have a tractor with a crane that can lift a whole stack?
by portable do you mean mobile over the road, or just movable around you place?
Were you thinking welded up metal so it can be lifted by a single point, or wood that forks can get under.
The goal is something quicker to setup than leveling out a bunch of 4x4's ( or similar) to stack on. I'm milling 8-16' anything from 1x4's to 6x6's depending on the log and the lumber could sit a month or 2 before I get it moved. I have a tractor with forks and grapples and a flatbed knuckle boom truck and a gooseneck flatbed. My milling is slow being a manual but I really hope to eventually be able to afford a hydraulic mill but really need to get the handling time down. I've got the slab wood dialed in good but the lumber part is a disaster lol
As much as I hate double handling the wood I found that when I am sawing I take the boards off the mill and put them on my 5x8 utility trailer on edge. when I am done sawing I drag the trailer to the area I want to stack then stack it. I found trying to stack and sticker during sawing leaves the sawmill idling more than it needs to. It also allows me to thoroughly sort the boards and stack them accordingly.
That gives time to borate as well. If there are 3 of us it can all happen at the same time efficiently.
I like to use a couple of junk 8x8s the length of the lumber. Shim them on the ground and sight them in plane with one another. Now you are not trying to level each bunk, just the 2 tracks. Then 3x3 bunks at 2' centers across those "tracks". Sticker on top of the 3x3's and go. If you use pallets then just drop a pallet on the 8x8's.
I need to build some pallets with tin on them to lift onto the top. If I had a dime for every sheet I've chased down.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22883/IMG_3702~0.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1569162307)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22883/IMG_3715.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1569162309)
This is what we came up with for a portable wood rack. It is similar to the permanent racks that we built. This one's posts sit on pavers on top of the ground. The permanent ones have posts which go into the ground. We've never moved this one after getting it leveled.
It sounds like how we all started out. We didn't know how to be organized/the best way to do it. What most of use have come to in the end is using lumber pallets, that is assuming you have a machine to move pallets? They are super handy became you can have a spot that you've already prepared/leveled for pallets and move pallets around as you need to.
First you need to standardize the lengths you are cutting. I use 3 pallet lengths for the most part, 4ft, 6ft, and 8ft. I also have some 10ft pallets but that was for an odd situation. Unless you're doing trim, which is preferred to have longer lengths, stick with the 4,6,and 8. Make your boards 3 to 6" longer than the pallets for trim. I screw my first set of stickers to the pallet, then just stack and sticker after that. I make my pallets 46" wide so that 2 can fit across an 8ft trailer bed. Lastly, if you have 7ft or 5ft boards that you can't bear to trim, you cam mix them in the 8 and 6 foot pallets respectively. You just will have some air spaces in the pallet and if you have them kiln dried, the straight calculation for BF will be slightly more than is actually on the pallet.
As far as thickness differences, you just need to make the same thickness for a given layer, and the next layer can be different. The down side to this is that if you then want to Kiln Dry, different thicknesses will dry at different rates and it's preferable to dry the same thickness material in a kiln drying cycle. If it's material that will only be air dried, then it's fine to mix thicknesses in a given stack on a layer basis.
When you're done milling for the day, you can do your best to complete a layer so you can stack maybe another pack of material on top of the one your working on for weight. Then when you go to mill again another day, uncover it and continue adding layers.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_3403.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1693981863)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_0023.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1695949663)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16191/IMG_3364.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1693981784)
I've had a lot of these 12 foot long material pallets that hardie board or other material has been delivered on, so I cut them down to 8' and add more stringers for more support, then screw stickers to the top above the stringers. I've built my own pallets before, but this is by far the easiest. If you can find where building materials are being delivered on these most people want to get rid of them.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/19307/IMG_5278.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1699470769)
Bur oak flitches for planks and the wind hasn't moved the rain cap yet.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/19307/IMG_5281.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1699470769)
Quote from: Crusarius on November 08, 2023, 11:09:02 AM
As much as I hate double handling the wood I found that when I am sawing I take the boards off the mill and put them on my 5x8 utility trailer on edge. when I am done sawing I drag the trailer to the area I want to stack then stack it. I found trying to stack and sticker during sawing leaves the sawmill idling more than it needs to. It also allows me to thoroughly sort the boards and stack them accordingly.
Double handling sucks but if you are rough with the wood the more times you handle it the more the sawdust falls off.
My (kind of) solution to the OP's problem is a running gear with two long beams on it and no deck. I park it about 4 feet from the side of the mill. I stack wood across the beams on it perpendicular to the mill. I try and keep the lumber sorted by length, width and thickness. At the end of the day or the beginning of the next I pull it to each lumber pile and stack what needs stacking than on to the next pile. It is far from ideal but it works and it allows me to have as many as 8 or 9 different stacks on the wagon at any time.
I also connect a snatch block to one of the beams on the running gear to load logs on the mill. I usually keep the logging winch on my tractor and connect the running gear to the hitch on the winch. The cable runs to the snatch block, turns 90 degrees, goes over the sawmill, around the log and connects to the center of a chain that is connected at both ends to the mill. That way the tractor never has to get disconnected from the wagon and I can still use it to load logs.
I'll do some thinking on it. Really appreciate all the advice/ideas. I was testing my new removable log bunks today
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/70990/IMG_1992.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1699492128)
But you didn't answer the question... Do you have a machine with forks that you can move lumber pallets/packs with?
I do. I can see where pallets would work. Just not sure as I do a lot of 16' stuff. I have leveled up a couple long beams in parallel and put 4x4's every 4 feet. It's actually what I'm using now. Just need to make 3 or 4 or 7 more for the different sorts I guess . Would be nice to have a few portable lumber racks about 8' tall that would support multiple different sorts of the same length that are easily leveled. Would take up a lot less room. Just have to tinker and make some failures to see if it's even feasible
they make cantilever racks for mounting back-to-back or against a wall. might give you some ideas. @tomthesawyer had some 14 feet tall so not portable on the road. set on concrete but gave him room for some variability. so, you do not want to drive down the road but exchange different ones for in your yard? Use the limit of your ability to lift, both weight and height, to arrive at width and length of a pallet. With what you have said, I see a rack that can hold various pallets and stack them to add to later with your different lengths of boards. Still trying to understand your goals.
If you make skids with uniform distance between runners, then they can all stack on top of one another with alignment of the runners. you can stack and unstack to get to different length packs. then all you need is a flat concrete slab to station pack for air drying.
Thanks again everyone. Doc, my goal is to improve my process for somewhat temporary lumber stacking. It can take me a couple months before I get a chance to move the lumber home. I think the idea of stacking the parallel boards would be like making pallets? I like the cantilever idea simply because of the space saving but not sure how to build in a mobile setup. I like caveman's idea but would need multiples for the different sorts and would take up a lot of room
Even if a guy had to do some assembly of a rack type system I think it would save a lot of time in the long run. I'm trying to figure out how to build with lumber instead of all steel to save money. Also a design that could be leveled quickly on uneven ground. The ground I do most of my milling is all glacier run boulders with a sprinkle of top soil so good winter job but can't blade a flat spot. I keep going back to caveman's temporary idea as well but modified taller and adjustable somehow?
You could use scaffolding adjustable feet as corners. Adjust easy as needed
the cantilever stuff needs a firm attachment to something. if back-to-back, more like a T then you need to balance the load. go to a big box store and look at their stuff for pallets. they make standard that the shelf/arm either lock into or bolt onto. with wood, I would make it a broad base (not cantilever) more like a shelf or rack. someone had pics, but it was loaded from the end, by hand. not sure you could lift the whole thing. so yes, over the road? good luck and keep us posted.
After ruining lumber and handling it too much I learned : you need a forklift. Saw all the same items from the same lengths [and thickness]. Sticker and bundle in a standard width for all bundles. Thick stock, squares etc. do not mix with boards and if stacked with said bundles go on the bottom. These bundles you make are the platform for more until you can't go any higher. If custom sawing for someone who needs odd sizes then they have to deal with it, leave that stuff loose.
I have my mill under a lean-to that is deep enough to have 2 stacks under roof and still have room the walk around the stacks. Originally the stacks where just set on blocks but it made it time consuming to get to the inside stack because I had to move the blocks out of the way and then relevel them when I put them back. So I came up with this
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21920/IMG_0305.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1699621893)
mn It's made of 4" channel with adjustable feet made of threaded rod. It's sized for my pallets to set on it. When I need to move it out of the way I just pick it up with forks on a tractor, when I put it back it only takes a minute or two to level it and it's ready. I do have the blocks spaced so don't move them.
I'm trying to wrap my head around using pallets. The shortest boards I cut are 8'. Most of what I cut is 12's and 16's. Would a 16' pallet work? In my mind it's just too wide
I was reminded that the lumber will support itself for the most part. maybe flex some with the skid. If it is stickered, it may flex more but you can add straps to keep it together. for a 16-footer, I might use thicker top boards, like 3/4 or 1 inch.
I like the metal moveable adjustable base shown below.
your pallets need a standard depth and distance between the runners. Mine are 42 inched deep since that is the length of my forks. I use 2-inch-thick runners 4 inches tall. and spaced every 18 inches on center. so, my standards, are 6-foot 2 inch and 9-foot 2 inch. I can stack them one on the other and the runners make a column and will support and weigh down the lumber as tall as I can stack them.
Quote from: Nealm66 on November 09, 2023, 09:30:30 AM. . . Doc, my goal is to improve my process for somewhat temporary lumber stacking. It can take me a couple months before I get a chance to move the lumber home. . .
So, let's see. You've got a skidder and a band sawmill at the logging site. And you want to build up a stash of properly air-drying lumber at the logging site/landing. Then, when you get the chance, you'll hand bomb the partially dried lumber onto a truck or trailer and take it home. No forklift or loader w. forks to be had. Correct?
.
That's going to be two lumber storage sites; temporary at the landing and a permanent one at home?
My suggestion for the log landing is to go with caveman's long beam base design. Use the blade on the skidder to push up four mounds of dirt/rock, then use a shovel and work them so that they're level with each other. You say that you mill 12 and 16 foot lengths, mostly, so mill two hefty beams. That will serve as your base. Gather decent quality and standard sized discarded pallets from wherever you can scrounge them, and lay them out on the two beams. lay down your stickers and start stacking your lumber. Get some waterproof material or used metal roofing and lay that down on the top of your sticker lumber pile and throw a few rocks up on top to keep the wind from blowing them away. Now you've got stickered lumber, drying straight and level, safe from both wet ground and from rain. In a few months the wood will be marginally drier than when you milled it. But it'll be off to a good start until you get it home. Minimal $ investment and lots of sweat equity.
You'll want to have some kind of setup ready when you get all those sixteen footers home; remember they're only partially dry. Like Doc mentioned, a temporary light weight strap ratcheted round each end of the stickered stack will keep it all together. I threw up some pictures of the open bottom pallets that I use, and they really are a time and effort saver, but they need a set of forks on the loader to be of any use. What you build for the home system is a time, money, and effort puzzle that only you can answer.
You're getting great advice from all that have replied - learn from our mistakes/experience and save your back.
If you're taking the lumber home, what's the advantage of sawing in the woods? They used to do that 70-80 /yrs ago. That was to allow the waste to stay in the woods. I remember seeing some big stacks of slabs from past timbering when I marked timber. It went out of style when waste started to show value.
We used metal carts similar to the one shown. But, we worked on a concrete slab and could pull them out one at a time with a fork lift. No leveling required. We also worked from a green chain to make things easier.
Quote from: Nealm66 on November 10, 2023, 09:08:21 AM
I'm trying to wrap my head around using pallets. The shortest boards I cut are 8'. Most of what I cut is 12's and 16's. Would a 16' pallet work? In my mind it's just too wide
A 16' pallet may be a good start but is not really the answer. When the lumber is shorter than the pallet it takes up room, rots and is a tripper. The steel base shown in the above post is the way to start, after that cross pieces for the forks and another bundle and so on. Last in my case is a roof panel made heavy for wind [on top].
Imma tell you two things I hold to be true:
1. Every time you touch a board it costs you money.
2. Most guys here would tell you they spend as much time handling lumber as they do cutting it.
So to me the idea of stacking timber to be restacked later is a bit... problematic. It's one of the reasons why way back when I got out of playing portable sawmilling and bolted it down under a roof really quickly.
So I'd tell you to stack it once and stack it properly - broken out by species, sizes, grades, whatever - strap it down as packs are finished, and that is the pack that goes to the next place wherever that may be. Level an area up, drop a bit of conveyor belt on it so you can operate without things sinking too much, throw some dunnage down to put your packs on, and get on with making sawdust.
I tried pallets, made a whole three of them before I figured out that pallets are less than ideal on big packs of long boards as when you lift and the ends sag either the pallet boards break or the screws pull. So I use racking frames to build my packs (or to shift unfinished packs about) but once strapped down they get stored on dunnage. Bit of a PITA handling dunnage but so would be having a couple hundred pallets in the system, and my sticker placement is uniform on 18" centres making dunnage placement precise enough aside from length variations.
I dunno, we all figure out what works for us individually but the idea of all that double handling from temporary stacks storage sounds like hard work to me.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/32746/IMG_20231109_055352.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1699671278)
A new rack, we do them in a couple lengths and fabrication is one of the make work tasks I set staff on if things slow down or there's a breakdown. They can be a bit slippery shifting them when half loaded due steel on steel. One day I'll get around to welding fork pockets underneath them. One day...
I definitely spend too much time handling the lumber. Those metal pallets look great! I drew up a couple different ideas today. Not sure on anything yet. Really appreciate all the advice. Hope it helps others as well
Well, this is what I did today. Took about a half hour. Ground is solid rocks so nothing will settle. I'm going to stack on it for a good ways and see what happens
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/70990/IMG_2010.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1700099201)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/70990/IMG_2011.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1700099294)
That looks great. for fast drying wood, you do want thicker stickers. how thick are those in the pick. I would do at least 3/4 inch.
Yes, those are 1/2" stickers. I really need to cut 1" although in our weather I wonder if anything could actually air dry lol
I'm going to build a couple more of these. I just used a chainsaw, level and a screw gun and about 30-60 minutes? All of its waste would except the outside boards. For my home I'm thinking of a lumber tree to save space. I'm thinking I can get 4 sorts in 8'x? Spaces. Those will be more permanent
soft wood can dry fast, so I should maximize that airflow whatever your EMC. Here we can get sown to about 12 % airdry. the area inside the stack may reach 100% + (condensation) so even 70% RH air can dry the fresh cut wood. What is your EMC?
Our local Lowes has tons of used shelving outside and bundled on pallets. If your big box stores had the same, you might see if you can buy some if it fits your needs. It looks like it is replacing newer stuff, as it has been there a while.
This is meant as constructive criticism for the next one. Load it and watch it before copying it, I think that is model #1. Having knocked over an 8' tall stack yesterday at the end of the day, which put us on cleanup till dark... Don't park anything of value withing falling distance of that if there is much weight on it. It looks like it is hanging on its fasteners rather than the timbers being notched in. The long 2x timbers are only laterally supported at their ends. A tall narrow beam fails under load by the top edge laying over, some interior "joists" well attached or even strapped around will prevent that. I do have a bunch of old Lowes racking, which is good up to 103" long stuff IIRC.
Oh, I also pack piles kind of tight in the barn. The dawg snaked his way in until he could not go forward or back yesterday, he was calmly chewing overhanging stickers trying to get out, at least he is not the type to go nuts when trapped, that took very careful moving of a couple of stacks to get him out. I either need to go dead tight or critter loose from here on. I was very nervous about squishing him between stacks.
I agree. some of the joist should be setting on top of some part of the post. you might also put a post at each of the points you plan to sticker so the weight transfers down to your solid footing. As is the joist may sag and transfer that to all of your lumber. think of the sticker cross beam as a column that goes from the top down the stack and to the solid ground.
glad you are moving forward and keeping us in the loop. It looks good. we are anticipating things that if they do not happen in an instant, may occur over time. you will be stacking thousands of pounds of green material. are you near a major city? If you are comfortable sharing that or look up your average humidity, we can help with the estimated equilibrium moisture content for your area, or what MC your air-dry lumber and be expected to attain.
some even just set posts in the ground and have cross beams, and no long 2x down the sides. Use a string to get things level and flat. It would be easier to get under the whole stack with a set of forks as well. I think @firefighter ontheside (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=26921) did it this way for temp stacking, but his are not moveable.
firefighter lumber rack (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36921/386470874_1432475300661118_1133407628009634302_n.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1696270347)
nope I was wrong, but some have.
I can't seem to get a google answer on mc but I'm in eatonville Washington. I see the logic on the crossmembers on the support posts. I chainsawed off the tops after leveling so not exactly flat though. I'm definitely not going to try 8' on these. Pretty simple and quick to assemble/unassemble but wouldn't say I'd trust them with that much weight. I am going to start making some 1" stickers and see if I notice any difference but I can see where the stack would get taller quicker for sure. Well, I'll keep posting pics of progress as I get time to mill. I've got a tremendous amount of logs to try and get done and very little time lol
I've got a nice flat slab so that's where I stack my pine. But even there, I space my supports closer that what yours appear. I do between 18 and 24 inches. I have a bunch of 2x2s (nominal, 1.5x1.5 actual) and that sure makes a stack grow! I'm "indoors" (unfinished cabin daylight basement, no roof) so I need the spacing to avoid mold. The stack on the right I ran out of big stickers so I used some 1" in the top half.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30640/1000006553.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1699978427)
I'm just making framing lumber so not too critical but it seems to stay plenty flat with that spacing ( about 4'?). When I build the permanent racks at home I'll go a little tighter for sure. Those are some serious stacks!
I built 2 more today and should get me through. Going to mill while I have a couple dry days and then when the rain comes I'll start on the racks at home. Nothing like a kart before a horse to keep things interesting
looks like the RH is 32% in winter and peak of 52% in winter.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/85/d5/4b/85d54b9b6d57a6884b9160171d06a793.jpg)
looks like air dried EMC is between 7 to 10%
This is an old standby;
Equilibrium Moisture Content of Wood in Outdoor Locations in the United States and Worldwide (usda.gov) (https://www.fpl.fs.usda.gov/documnts/fplrn/fplrn268.pdf)
I'd would have never guessed a guy could get wood that dry around here! I have seen the inside of my house get to about 25 during the winter with the heat pump and the wood stove but the outdoors is never close to 7-10. Wouldn't the outside have to be that low to get wood to dry that much?
I've been digging through the drying forums and reading about the different kilns and hoping I can build something someday. I'm probably just going to sell framing lumber that doesn't really have to be that dry if compared to the big box stores. They're stuff shrinks, cracks and bows like it has never seen a kiln. But, I do some tree removals and would like the ability to dry some stuff. When I built my sharpening shed I insulated almost air tight and have an oil heater unit that dried the big benches I built very quickly so I might just try something similar. I keep thinking about using a wood stove somehow to pitch set
actually, we can dry here to about 12% outside on average. depends on the relative humidity and the resulting moisture content. So, 7 to 10 off that chart does sound too low. I have covered stacks with clear plastic and got to 7% here. humidity peaks at the coolest temp at night and is lowest at the hottest part of the day usually. most framing is under 20%. interior woodwork, we like at 7%. Interiors are dryer in the winter and more humid in the summer, here.
Quote from: Nealm66 on November 16, 2023, 09:49:15 PM
I'd would have never guessed a guy could get wood that dry around here! I have seen the inside of my house get to about 25 during the winter with the heat pump and the wood stove but the outdoors is never close to 7-10. Wouldn't the outside have to be that low to get wood to dry that much?
Relative humidity and wood moisture content are not the same thing, although they are directly related.
this is a good discussion with several links to more reading on it;
Relative humidity vs. moisture content in Drying and Processing (forestryforum.com) (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=112145.0)
Framing lumber is typically kiln dried to 19%, this gets it below the moisture fungi work at and where it can come off stickers. I can air dry under cover to 12-14% and I want 8-10% MC for interior woodwork in a climate controlled house. 70°F at 50%rh = about 9% mc.
Now that you mention it, I remember when I got my new epa wood stove and was fiddling with recommended moisture content it seems it was around 19 which is about where you end up real world air drying around here at least checking it mid winter. That makes sense about the framing lumber as well since it would definitely be moldy if it wasn't stickered. It's what threw me into a panic and trying to figure out these lumber racks. It was like a light switch when the rains came and my non stickered piles were trying really hard to become firewood. I also noticed the big 2x4 mill up in Morton uses 1" stickers when they're drying. Would be interesting to see their kiln. It's an old mill but still slams out a lot of lumber
Not sure if I hit the maximum weight or if the cows were scratching themselves but had to stop as it appeared one of the legs was listing
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/70990/IMG_2063.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1702222219)
So far these have worked pretty good except placement for tractor access. Been cutting true dimension and it's very wet and heavy but stacks have stayed level and no noticeable bows at least sliding a 6' level. Hope this helps someone in my situation
If you are planning on leaving at 4' sticker, eventually you will see a sag. Best to space at 2'.
One thing I learned stacking different lengths of lumber is to use 2" stickers at the transition from longer to shorter material. That way I can get forks under the short stack when I inevitably need the longer material underneath.
That's an excellent idea! I am going to try to remember to do that also.
I'm definitely learning as I go. Im now just trying to clear the landing for some logging where I'll need enough room to spin up to 115' poles to get the butts all facing the right way for a self loader. I'm going to try and set up the mill at my home but definitely not as good of ground so probably won't work but worth a try. I'll take these lumber racks apart and put them back together but more strategically for forking. I think they work great. Quick to assemble/unassemble, level, flat, portable.