drying thin wood for coaster stock.

doc henderson · January 19, 2025, 05:04:52 AM

I use the planer then the drum sander then RO sander before and after engraving. They stay pretty flat. you need to try to get both sides coated the first time. then you do one side at a time to build. I usually give two coats. I use spray miniwax spar urethane. or a wipe on poly from general finishes. they hold up well. you get a rogue one occasionally that gets a bow but it is usually down (backside) so it sets well. drum sanding only one side repeatedly generates enough heat to make the whole board warp, so I generally flip side to side in the drum sander. If the stock is good and dry is does better than wetter. 7% is good.

doc henderson · January 19, 2025, 05:15:05 AM

lots of folks here have my coasters as I usually make them for the pig roasts and the sawing projects. What say you all. Ours at home look good, but I often do not use a coaster all though I have hundreds at home. I try to keep samples of the ones I make.

plowhog · January 19, 2025, 09:36:57 AM

Quote from: doc henderson on January 18, 2025, 11:28:10 PMPlow did you say you reviewed my other thread? and saw my clamp rig?

Yes, I need some tiny stickers like you are using. Making do with regular stickers now.

Does the pitch in pine clog up your drum sander? That is why I was hoping to plane 3/8 material down to 1/4.

doc henderson · January 19, 2025, 10:11:32 AM

depends on if it is dry and the pitch is set. You can clean the sandpaper with a crepe rubber block. sold on amazon and elsewhere. I get the 2 x 2 x 12 not the 1.5-inch size. so dry and hard pitch not the sticky stuff. I think my stickers are quarter inch wide, and half inch tall.

plowhog · January 19, 2025, 08:11:30 PM

Quote from: doc henderson on January 19, 2025, 10:11:32 AMI think my stickers are quarter inch wide, and half inch tall.

I understand small stickers for thin lumber, but I do wonder how high of a stack you could make before the narrow sticker starts denting the wood?

My next batch of thin lumber might be sizeable, so I am mulling over just how high I can go without creating trouble ....

doc henderson · January 20, 2025, 12:50:41 AM

well, the thin stock weight will not add up as fast. My stacks are fine at 3 feet (total wood and stickers), but the weight is from clamping and requires re-tensioning each day. I have thought about making them a little wider but have had no denting of the wood, but I am talking soft maple. I would stay narrow to avoid abnormal drying and sticker stain. if you get denting, then you can go wider.

I priced half inch plate that is the size of my blanks (18 x 24) to keep the already dry stuff flat for a weight on top. about 70 bucks, and yes, I am tight like the rest of you.

plowhog · January 22, 2025, 10:27:12 PM

I milled up a larger quantity of Ponderosa Pine today. I made mostly 1/2" stock but also down to 1/4 for some. It was nice that this was a fresh log so the wood quality was excellent.

However, this was probably the most water-logged log I've ever sawed. Not from rain, it just has a great deal of free and bound water. So it will be interesting to see the drying pattern.

doc henderson · January 23, 2025, 05:48:09 AM

I would sticker the two thicknesses separate. the thinner stock may get wavy edges. pine will plane easily, so the thicker may be the best. the sapwood on some thinner maple I tried to dry got big waves with 8-inch centered stickers. At least you can learn from this if you separate the two groups. I went from 4/4 to 5/16th thick, and it made a big difference at that scale. also, to get the 18-inch wide I wanted, I had some sapwood, and it really dried different and wavy.

doc henderson · January 23, 2025, 06:02:34 AM

Can you see the thinner strips?

a picture is worth a thousand words.

NO, it did not plane out.

I considered re-wetting the wood, but it "wood" be a lot of work, and likely not be as good as the well-behaved thicker stock. this was 1/4-inch vs 1/8th inch. i now do 5/16th. plane it close, then drum sand then ROS before and after engraving. this is why most folks buy stock. engraving has caught on and the price of premade stuff makes sense much of the time.

plowhog · January 23, 2025, 02:07:59 PM

I got cautious and, at the last minute, cut most of it at 1/2" thickness. Some at 1/4" to experiment with both.

Thanks for the pix-- that "wave" in-between other straight pieces is amazing.

I figured I was going to plane the stock anyway, so getting back from 1/2 to 3/8 or 1/4 smooth should not take long. I don't know what the minimum thickness is for my planer but need to look that up.

I'm a novice and have milled less than 100 logs. But cutting this last one was like cutting a wet sponge-- water everywhere! I'll try to get a pix once it is stacked. I did make some 5/8" x 5/8" stickers. And I made a pallet with bolsters every 6 inches. That eats up stickers fast!

doc henderson · January 24, 2025, 06:43:02 AM

The sheer number is why I made them small. However, while stacking, one good bump and you have to restack a few levels. I like that I can adjust the tension often with this set up. Weight would be nice, and I plan to make a steel plate to put on my dry done stack to keep it flat. Be sure and give us your experimental findings so we can all make informed decisions. I choose to make blanks the size of the engraver bed. I milled a cant at 18 inches, then cut the length after milling. It is awkward, but I can pick up the whole setup and move it out of the way while drying, hang up the jig when not in use. all the stickers go in a bucket for re-use. I chose my profile to get good airflow but not cover too much wood. let me know how your stickers work out. Are you leaving the boards full length? going in a kiln? Mine dry in my shop in about 4 days.

when planning after getting under you saw marks, drop your roller so it can be supported full on the bed. even in spec. for min. thickness, if the thin board is supported between two rollers, it may tend to deflect and bounce, and the quality will degrade. this is when my maple started to implode around the most interesting grain. The spiral head with a lever to adjust the rollers is great. my old planer took several Allen wrenches and a dial indicator.

plowhog · January 24, 2025, 08:51:36 PM

I got my thin wood stacked and will get a pix posted soon.

Have you considered using a planer sled underneath the thin stock you want to run through your planer? I just saw someone who built a sled out of mdf with just enough of a "carriage" on it to ensure the piece is pushed through but never hits the carriage itself.

This other person was using a slab and a planer to flatten wood without a jointer, but it might solve any problem with the gap between rollers if the roller are set high?

plowhog · January 25, 2025, 10:24:48 AM

fyi I apparently tried to include a picture beyond the maximum file size allowed, and the system has gone haywire ever since. This is my 5th effort to post. I will post this, then try again below.

Update: I cannot post anything with an image even after logging out and back in. Hmm maybe later.

doc henderson · January 25, 2025, 10:36:44 AM

I have a sled to flatten stuff under 2 x 4 feet. the trouble with thin stuff, is how do you hold a 1/8th inch thick piece on a sled without running pin nails or screws into the blade.

doc henderson · January 25, 2025, 10:38:33 AM

I have the gallery upload page on my phone and usually have the photo on my phone anyway. I did reduce some of the file sizes in the past, but full upload from there has been no trouble for a while. I post from a laptop or desk.

beenthere · January 25, 2025, 01:12:40 PM

Quote from: doc henderson on January 25, 2025, 10:36:44 AMI have a sled to flatten stuff under 2 x 4 feet. the trouble with thin stuff, is how do you hold a 1/8th inch thick piece on a sled without running pin nails or screws into the blade.

Might a vacuum table designed for the size of the thin piece, work to hold it flat ?

doc henderson · January 25, 2025, 01:23:17 PM

Yes.... but hard to run through a planer.

I also have jigs for a router but the sled I was referring to supports a piece going through the panner.

beenthere · January 25, 2025, 01:28:13 PM

My bad, as I was thinking of a router or sander head moving over a stationary panel.
But on the other hand, a sled with a solid (stiff) vacuum pipe connected to and moving with the sled could be imagined.
Returned (dragged back) after a pass by the sander or planer head.

doc henderson · January 25, 2025, 02:02:25 PM

I was not clear even though I think I thought I knew what I was talking about.

plowhog · January 25, 2025, 07:50:06 PM

plowhog · January 25, 2025, 07:51:13 PM

I stacked the 1/2" material at bottom, using 3/4 x 1.5 in stickers. The stacked a few 1/4" boards about 8 boards up, using 3/4 x 3/4 stickers.

All the wood I am drying now is stickered 6 in on center. Some of the wood at the top of the pix is dry, added just for weight with concrete on top.

Not a huge stack but the whole thing took over 200 stickers. If you are OCD about getting stickers perfect this isn't what you want to try, lol.

I have a few thin boards I recently stacked elsewhere. I have not tested moisture yet as I would need to unstack them. But, oh my, they visually look much more "dry" now than when I stacked them not long ago. Seems this thin stuff, especially pine, dries fast.

plowhog · January 25, 2025, 07:58:01 PM

The "sled" I saw on Youtube had a sacrificial piece ahead of the work piece, also one behind it. If the sacrificial piece behind it is secured with double sided tape that might do the trick. But as you pointed out, you are working with some very thin material so who knows?

What kind of a planer do you have?

doc henderson · January 25, 2025, 09:18:54 PM

Had a grizzly 20-inch blade workhorse. Now a grizzly spiral 10 hp 3ph 24-inch industrial. It has the roller height adjustable on the fly. variable feed rate.

my sled has a back board and sideboard, and I have clamp sticks I can screw to the board at the front and other side. my stock has to be thicker and remain thicker at the final thickness, than the half inch thick boards on the sled.

plowhog · January 30, 2025, 11:06:49 AM

That's a very nice planer. I just upgraded from a Dewalt 735 benchtop to a Grizzly 15" spiral head planer. Had a little trouble with feeding at first, but adjusted the bed rollers and now all is good. Wish I had the "on the fly" adjustment. Will be adding Wixey digital scale to it soon.