I'm a low level producer, a good day for me is 300bf sawing. I've just been making big stacks of lumber and air drying it thus far.
i can't keep track of how long many of my boards have been in the stack. One thing i've been kicking around is using a woodburner to put the month and year into the end of the board when I saw/stack it. Of course, I'd want a stamp to do this, does anybody do such a thing?
I used to do it when I first started and wished sometimes that I still did. When you get mixed stacks of species, it's handy to have them marked. You don't need a burner though. Use one of thos indelible black markers. You can write what the board is and all the information on the end of the board. You don't have to write on every board because you can write yourself a letter and describe everything. Stuff like what species, when it was sawed, where it came from, like whose yard, how many boards are stacked there from that log, whether you think the are good boards or not, etc. Color the end of the board and you can tell at a glance which one has all the info on it.
FWIW, when I have clients who have trouble telling one wood from another ask how to keep track of what's what, I have them assign each species a color and paint the log ends. I would think that would work for you too, not because you don't know the species :D but that way a quick glance at the end of a stack would tell you whats in there.
Much like what Tom describes, I mark all my stacks with a lumber crayon on the side of one layer of boards giving the species, date cut and approximate grade of the bulk of the lumber in that stack.
EDIT:
I just re-read your post and nothing I said in my rambling pertains to your question. smiley_heh_heh
I think I would go with Tom's suggestion first. Having hot irons around a sawdust producing machine would worry me. Also, I would think the end would need to be flush and true in order for the iron to leave a good imprint, and I know the logs I get are anything but!
I typically leave a 4" trim length on my logs, I'd stamp the end of the board on the edge or top, not the end grain.....
Yes, writing on the end grain is futile but writing on the flat surface or edge of the end of the board makes a nice tablet.
Dan,
I use diffrent color lumber crayons to mark for species. I have never given thought to date sawn, this is something to ponder.... :P :P
I'll give you a call about the green lumber question.
Mark
i thought about using a sharpie, but figured the rain/dust/darkening of the wood would blot it out, wood burning would be a bit more "permanant"
I could always get a date stamp and try that.
Quote from: Tom on March 20, 2006, 10:16:36 PM
Yes, writing on the end grain is futile
And here I always thought "Resistance is futile" ;D
I bought a bunch of little tags from office depot. I label them and staple them to the end of the last board sawn for the day.
Dakota
I use a lumber crayon and date the end of the last board for the day. This has worked well for me and two years on the dates are still legible.
I am having good results writing on the lumber with crayon as well. There is a company in Oregon...AMARK...that makes bright crayons in a variety of hardness to accomodate the cold or hot days of milling. They are on the web, very friendly and send free samples!
I am also about to cut some tyvek scraps into tags and use a stapler rather than buy tyvek tags that coat more money.
Inventory control is a "bugger"!
KD