Drying Plan

[MSU_Keith]

All my logs are down and landed, I'm lining up a sawyer and now need help with my drying plan.  Since all this came from a clear cut of a homesite and driveway I have a mixed bag of species:

Red Oak- 1300 bdft
Burr Oak- 2500
Hickory- 250
Maple (Hard) -800
Maple (Soft) - 400
Poplur - 500
Aspen - 600
Plus a few various crotches and spalted (I hope) logs.

Most everything is bucked to 16'.  The plan is to build three platforms:  4' x 16' consisting of concrete blocks supporting two 16' 2x4 runners, with 4' 2x4's cross members every 16" toe nailed into the runners.  Two platforms for the hardwoods and one for the soft woods and misc.   I figure the hard wood stacks will be 5-6' high each including 3/4" stickers.

The schedule is: air dry until May, kiln dry sometime in late May or June, process into flooring, trim and moldings and install in July/Aug. 

My concerns are:
- Are the platforms strong enough to keep everything flat and straight as possible?  or are they overkill - I am considering three runners instead of two.
-  Is this a good schedule for the oak to be used as flooring?

Sorry about the ramble and thanks for the help - Keith

[Larry]

Just my thoughts...I seldom see hardwood trees straight enough, or big enough to be bucked into 16' lengths.  Yield and quality goes way up if they are bucked shorter from what I have seen.

2 X 4's for your stack seems light to me...I use 4 X 4's.  Stack the lumber as high as possible.  Poor quality on the bottom two layers than your very best lumber with poor quality on the top.  The weight of the poor quality on top keeps your best flat and hopefully warp free.  Slabs, canvas tarp, old tin or something to keep the rain out of the stack goes over the top.

Schedule sounds good but if the building gets behind schedule hold off on the kiln drying... especially for the oak flooring.  You don't want it regaining moisture sitting around waiting for the building to get done.

[MSU_Keith]

I'll up the runners to 4x4's.  Most of the logs are straight - only a few hockey sticks which were bucked shorter.  I'm trying to keep the height/width/weight small enough so I can pick up half of each stack with forks to set it on a trailer for transport to kiln.  Is it possible to pick up a 16' long stack with 4' forks without cracking the lower layers due to bow?

[WH_Conley]

Hope this makes since, measure your forks, if concern is breaking, make rows of stickers to work out with this measurement, that way all weight is transferred to stickers.

Clear as mud?

[MSU_Keith]

WH,  Perfectly clear and thanks - I'll plan on lining up a line of stickers with the forks.  My forks are only 4 1/2' bolt on type for the tractor loader.  I'll have to really watch the weight.

[Dana]

I have absolutely no experience with kiln drying, however, last year I was looking to have some lumber dried.  I spoke with a local company about it. They didn't want me to air dry the wood at all. Instead they perfered it to be brought to them as soon as possible after cutting it up. I don't know if this was due to bad experiences with others stacking/stickering during air drying or not. If you are using someone else to do the drying you may want to find out their preference.

[WkndCutter]

Your plan sounds good.  The one thing I did not hear about is the where?  I find some people air dry outside or cover the pile with a tarp.  I don't like either.  I use one of those portable garages 10'x20'.  You can get them for $150 to $200, they keep the pile covered and out of the weather and still give good air flow around the pile while air drying or waiting for the kiln.  When drying is done you can take down the cover and roll it up and put it away until next time.  Just food for thought.  Good luck.

Andy

[Skip]

NEVER NEVER NEVER cover green wood with a tarp you will TRAP moisture and ruin the wood

[WkndCutter]

I have to strongly agree with Skip on this point.  Never cover a pile of green wood with a tarp.  The tarp will keep the moisture in and not give the pile good circulation.  This will lead to mold, stain and the wood will not dry properly.

[Minnesota_boy]

Your plan sounds good.  The one thing I did not hear about is the where?  I find some people air dry outside or cover the pile with a tarp.  I don't like either.  I use one of those portable garages 10'x20'.  You can get them for $150 to $200, they keep the pile covered and out of the weather and still give good air flow around the pile while air drying or waiting for the kiln.  When drying is done you can take down the cover and roll it up and put it away until next time.  Just food for thought.  Good luck.

Andy

You can add sides to those portable garages for more long-term storage once the lumber is air dried.

[scsmith42]

A few comments...

First, kilns come in many differents shapes and sizes.  Before stacking/stickering, check with whomever will be providing your kiln drying to see what width of stickered pile that works best in their kiln.  If they dry your load w/o any other customer's wood, they will need to match up the height/width of your stack with what works best in their kiln.  (I personally like a max of 42" wide stacks in my DH Kiln, but go narrower if I have a small load).  Also see if they are planning to mix and match any of your different species in the same kiln load.  Separate your piles by species (you can do this on the same pile by vertical separation).  It's always best to kiln-dry the different species separately; however there are some that you can safely combine.  If you have a variety of thickness of cut lumber, check with them also to see if they will dry based on thickness and if so you will want to separate your 12/4 stock from your 4/4 stock in advance.

Second, be sure to use pre-dried stickers.  VERY IMPORTANT -  your sticker separation should match up to the separation of the bottom supports on the kiln's carts.  If the carts have 18" spacing, then so should you piles.  Some carts have 16", some 18" - it varies.  If the kiln cart has a wide spacing (such as 24" or greater), then go on 12" centers so that you have plenty of support yet still line up with the kiln cart.  Be sure that your stickers all line up from top to bottom too.

Third, based on your tractors capability and thickness of forks, every 12 - 18" of so "double or triple sticker"  between your boards so that you can easily pick up a load of boards to load on the trailer for transport to the kiln.  Said differently, if you have a five foot tall pile of stickered lumber, every foot or so it should be piled with extra spacing between the layer to allow for the tractors forks.  If you have thicker lumber, put it at the bottom of each one of these sub-

Fourth - wherever you air-dry be sure that the approach to the pile is on the same angle as the stickered pile itself.  Otherwise your forks will not line up properly to pick up a load of boards.

Good advice from others on this string re keeping your stacks out of the weather.  Your overall plan looks pretty solid.  Good luck!

Scott