I have some pine that is green that I will be using for a cabin, and I need to dry it out to a certain degree before I can use it properly.
The ideal method is to store the wood up for 2 years, but I need it by June.
I don't expect to get it fully dry, but I need to get as much of the shrinkage taken care of as I can.
These beams will be 4 inches thickness and 6 to 12 inches high, eastern white pine.
I am not overly concerned with surface cracks opening up, to a certain degree. I know that will happen with forced drying.
I make my timber stacks with spacers 2' on center of the supporting blocks which are also 2' on center.
I level my piles front to back and left to right and then slope whatever I'm using for a roof cover. To allow the rainwater to run off.
Space them out evenly and allow lots of air flow.
Seal the end with anchorseal and put some extra weight on top of the last top row to hold the top row down as well; or it may move on you.
Other than that I don't know what else to tell you.
Jim Rogers
get them kiln dried. from now till june you wont get hardly any air drying .
I'm familiar with the normal procedures for air drying. But time is short here, so I'm looking for other options.
I have been running through my head something some of the old timers did way back when, when they needed to get things up in a hurry. But it scares the dickens out of me to try it.
Sometimes they would build a makeshift structure out of their timbers stacked on top of each other, roof it with the boards they'd be using in the structure laid across the top but leave a hole in the middle, maybe lean some boards against the side.
Then they'd start themselves a good fire, managed so the smoke and all its steam would go up, but radiant heat would work to help drive moisture out.
And if the future outside faces are all turned in, this would smoke the wood, helping to preserve it.
But like I said, that scares the poop out of me.
Like Red Oaks says, you can get it kiln dried on your timeline.
Well, DLB, if for any insane reason you do try your old indian trick, please be sure to document and share it with us. ;)
I am looking at getting it kiln dried. probably the best option.
But I did think I'd throw the old trick out there, see if I could make any of yall wince a little!
You could put a hog in there and smoke it at the same time.
WDH,
That's how they done it alright!
The more I think about this though, the more I think it is actually a realistic idea.
A well built fire pit in the center with a slow, gentle, smoky fire could keep the interior temperature at a good drying temp, and the excess smoke would penetrate and stain the wood, helping to preserve it.
Quote from: D L Bahler on April 02, 2012, 10:23:52 PMA well built fire pit in the center with a slow, gentle, smoky fire could keep the interior temperature at a good drying temp, and the excess smoke would penetrate and stain the wood, helping to preserve it.
Especially with the pork fat in the smoke.
Maybe the smoke would keep the wood borers at bay.
I saw this picture one of a stack and they call the center a flue:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10095/Lumber_stack_with_Flue.JPG)
My biggest concern with an open wood fire is overdrying and case-hardening the pine. If I am thinking correctly, I would want to keep the temperature fairly low, correct? What would you recommend as a target RANGE. I stress range because with a fire, it would be very difficult to maintain a constant temp.
Another thing to consider, if we do this, and I stress the if, then we would not be running the fire hot during the night. There is simply too much risk involved in that. That would give the wood a few hours each night to normalize and stabilize itself. I am afraid if we would run the fire during the night, it would be too hard to monitor and there would be an associated risk of catching our pile on fire.
I don't want to have anything to do with this ( :o) but target temperature would be 180'F.
the longer you fool around with this foolish idea(my opinion) the less time you'll have to get them properly dried. if you need them by june they should be on some ones kiln schedule by mid april to dry them slowly for best results.
If the pile catches on fire at night, be sure to get the hog out ;D.
Well I should note that I do have a lot of experience with slow, tightly controlled fires. I know how to hold it right where I want it.
Also, the timbers aren't ready to go into the kiln yet anyway, so I'm not wasting any time fooling around with silly notions!
Central European carpenters used this practice a lot back in the day, and I imagine some still do. It's really one of the earliest forms of kiln drying there is.
I have also read in German-language sources of the value of smoking your exterior wood, particularly shingles. The tars in the smoke penetrate and seal the wood, and act as fungicide and pesticide for years to come.
I'm in Central Indiana too. I've got a customer that builds cabins with 4 x 6 and 6 x 8 White Pine cants. He gets the cants from Tennessee and dries them up here.
He used to do the drying, but I think he has someone else do it now. If you need help finding someone to dry the timbers, let me know.
The work I do for him is cutting some of the timbers into trim boards for the inside of the cabins.
MH, that must be a great assignment-- resawing white pine cants. If only the rest of saw milling were that easy!
It's easy, but only good for about 3 to 4 hours each time, and only 3 to 6 times a year.
Originally he bought cedar boards for trim. Then he wanted to get some use out of some warped cants. He liked the results, the White Pine boards were cheap, and they matched the rest of the cabin better than the cedar.
With the economy right now, he doesn't have many orders. I think the last time I sawed for him was October or November last year.