What Stickers to use In Walnut Lumber?

Sawdust Lover · May 01, 2013, 09:33:10 PM

Hello all, I have noticed sometimes when I place stickers in between walnut they stain the wood. I have an order for some high grade walnut and I don't want to screw it up with sticker stain. If I dont have dry stickers what type of wood should I stick the walnut with? Thanks!

Ianab · May 01, 2013, 09:56:53 PM

It's not so much the species, it's the fact the stickers aren't dry that's causing the staining. This keeps the surface of the wood under the sticker damp as well, so you get various chemical and biological things going on, and it stains.

The fix is dry stickers. Then it's not important what species you use. Cheap pine from the store will be OK. Some sort of cedar might be best of your are cutting your own as you can get that dry faster than most wood. Heck you can even use heavy plywood if you have nothing else.

Ian

terrifictimbersllc · May 02, 2013, 07:19:11 AM

8' 1x3's (firring strips) from Home Depot. Dry, light colored, cheap. Saw them down the center and cut in half to get 4 stickers from each one.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · May 02, 2013, 09:14:43 AM

If you use stickers that are too dry, the wood right under the sticker will dry fast and not oxidize as much as the wood between the stickers. As a result, you will see a light spot where the sticker was located.

As mentioned, wet stickers are also bad, as the wood near the sticker dries slowly and this allows the colored extractive s in the wood to move and concentrate near the sticker, giving a darker color.

So, make sure you dry the wood as fast as suggested in the book and use moderately dry stickers...12% MC perhaps.

dboyt · May 02, 2013, 12:08:50 PM

How deep does the sticker stain (from wet or dry stickers) go into the walnut? Does it come out in planing? Does the difference due to oxidation eventually disappear? Of course you realize that your answers to these questions will only generate more questions ???. Thanks for your input!

Sawdust Lover · May 02, 2013, 09:27:05 PM

Quote from: dboyt on May 02, 2013, 12:08:50 PM
How deep does the sticker stain (from wet or dry stickers) go into the walnut? Does it come out in planing? Does the difference due to oxidation eventually disappear? Of course you realize that your answers to these questions will only generate more questions ???. Thanks for your input!

The stains sometimes come out in plaining depends on how much you can take off the wood on the planer. With all the logs around I hate to buy lumber to make stickers and all the dry ones are being used. Dr. Gene, What if I used walnut stickers that were green would I still have the staining?

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · May 04, 2013, 10:04:28 AM

Wet stickers = more likely to see stain.

Depth of stain depends on the length of time that drying was slow. I have seen stain going 1/2" deep in some cases. Oftentimes, we will plane as little off the dry lumber as possible...1/32". Almost any stain will go deeper than that, so it is best to use the correct sticker MC. Because of th stain risk, many times the stickers will have grooves in them...one popular brand is Breeze-Dried. Prior to this patented process, the groove would go the full length of hte sticker; with these Breeze-Dried, the grooves go across at an angle.