Hi,
I wanted to share some pictures from some milling I recently had done. The nice folks at Blackberry Lumber brought their LT40 to my house and cut up about 25 ash yard trees logs. Surprisingly, no metal was hit! I believe some of the logs would have qualified as 'uglee', but they made some nice lumber. I got mostly 4/4, with some 6/4 and 8/4 mixed in. The sawyer estimated it is about 1800 bdft. I used my tablesaw to make a bunch of stickers from some SYP 2x12s, and stacked all the lumber in my barn to dry. Any tips on drying ash or other comments are welcome!
Thanks
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30240/20141024_103033.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30240/20141025_082148.jpg)
I sure wish I had a pile of Ash like that, sitting in MY shed!!! Nice!!
John
QuoteAny tips on drying ash or other comments are welcome!
My tip would be to re-stack those piles, get the stickers closer together and out to support the ends of the boards. Also up off the ground more with plastic vapor barrier, and don't have so much width to the stack (looks like two stacks pushed together). I don't see that stickered ash as good drying, although being ash it may do okay. Would not like to see you lose all your hard work with unsuccessful air drying.
Looks like they did a good job on your logs! I bet that feels a lot better having it done. I'm no stacking expert, but might tend to agree with beenthere, It does seem like the lumber behaves better when stripped closer to the ends.
Thanks for the suggestions; I'll try to re-stack with them in mind.
Beautiful wood, but I would also leave a minimum of two feet between your stacks especially in a steel building with a gravel floor. Thanks for the pics.
i would re sticker the lumber outside for good air flow. beenthere is right,your stickers need to be within 2" from each end and 18"between stickers.
ash is a fairly light colored wood so mold stain will show alot more than darker woods
You probably would be ok on your sticker spacing if you can go back and add some close to the ends as ash stays good and flat and straight when drying at least that has been my experience. It does not have all the bad qualities as oak such as twisting, cupping, and splitting. The vapor barrier may could be put between what you have on the ground it definitely helps. I try to put it under all my stuff. You can also put used motor oil around anything you have touching the ground such as timbers, pads, blocks, or whatever and the termites will not come thru it to eat up your lumber.