How do you store hardwood lumber?

[Norm]

On another thread about inventory I asked Danny how he stores his lumber he sells. For me it's a hodge podge of everything and a real pain to work with not to mention customers trying to find that perfect board.

How's everyone doing theirs and if you have pictures that would really help.

[T Welsh]

Norm, I keep the log that is sawn together and sticker it and band it and stack it outside with a piece of tin roof over top for a year or two, then it goes inside under a machine shed in stacks as high as I can get them with out falling over .I dont sell,I hoard. Tim

[DR_Buck]

I have two 20ft insulated sea containers that I keep my kiln dried lumber in.  I keep a dehumidifier in each one so MC will stay down.   The longer stuff is stacked flat and you have to dig through piles looking for the perfect board.  I have one stacking shelf built so the stacks are smaller, but still goes to the top of the container.   Short stuff (7 ft and less) is stood up along the wall.  It's easier to dig through that way.

Large slabs lean against the walls also.   

Maybe will post picts later.

[scsmith42]

Norm, I sell a specific product - quartersawn oak - and my market is furniture customers and craftspeople.  Inventory is divided into two categories - bulk storage and working inventory. 

After removing my lumber from the kiln, everything is skip planed to reveal the figure.  Coming off of the jointer/planer we sort and grade the lumber, and stack it into the apropriate bulk storage shelves on pallet racks.

My working inventory is stored vertically in racks, which allows me (or customers) to easily view each board for figure, and either pull it or slip it back into the rack and move on to the next one.  When customers pull their own boards they are asked to replace the boards that they don't purchase back in the racks.

It's a little extra work on the front end, but it makes it easy for customers to view the boards and for me to manage inventory.  Plus, an internet or call-in customer can describe what they want, I can easily pull and photo it and e-mail the pix before completing the order.

We refill the vertical racks from bulk inventory as needed.  Large orders can be pulled directly from bulk inventory too.


Here is a view of the end of one of the racks.

 





It's easy to pull each board from the rack to quickly view the figure:

 



Scott

[SwampDonkey]

Nice rack of lumber, gives me goose bumps. 

[Magicman]

Very nice indeed.   

[T Welsh]

Scott,makes me want to run everything I have through the planer and stop hoarding and start selling Nice layout. Tim

[mikeb1079]

i've been stacking and stickering horizontally for maybe 6 months to a year and then stacking vertically under a lean to i made out back of the music studio.  i've been just leaning em all the same way but i like scott's idea with the slightly angled back rack so that you can utilize both sides.  i'll probably borrow that idea.
 

[DR_Buck]

I like those vertical racks as well.   If I was to do that I'd be limited to maximum 7 ft boards because of the sea container height inside.

Here is my unorganized collection.

Container #1








Container #2

      Note the large slabs from the rare "plywood tree" locate din the center of this next photo.   

[woodmills1]

I find I can only sell green to the few customers that can use it.  I like my wood to be used and always ask the customer what he is doing with it


the he here is the human person..... leaving out no non male or other customers  as in all my trucks are she and all my customers are he  (not really) disclamer to follow


look back to  majikmans comment



customers pay us, they need to be at least satisfied, and even better happy

green wood is hard to sell, but I only sell it to customers who know they can use it

[Norm]

Thanks for the pictures guys, very helpful. 

[WDH]

Norm,

I have four storage methods  .  Everything is air dried and stored under a shed roof.

Method #1 - Sub-compartmentalized racks.  This is a pretty good approach for keeping small quantities (less than 1000 BF) separate and easier to get at and sort thru.  This is the "cubbyhole" approach.  These racks hold a lot of wood if full.  They could be sub-divided even further.

 



 



Method #2 - Vertical Racks.  Not nearly as organized and elegant as Scott's method.  To maximize space, the boards are in ranks instead of in a single book-leaf layer like Scotts approach.  Still, it is amazingly easy for a person to "leaf" through a rank in the rack.

 



Method #3 - The Gi-normus Flat Stack.  No compartments or cubbyholes.  No racks.  Just a big whack of a flat stack.  Efficient for storage, but not functional if a customer wants a special board (say an exact width) and it is located halfway down the stack  .

 



Method #4 - Stacked-Willy-Nilly-Anywhere-on-Side-of-Barn.  The potpourri stack   .  It just ends up stacked here to get it out of the way, and it ends up in somewhat permanent residence. 

 



All you need is an enormous amount of space and any method will work 

[Magicman]

I thought that I saw Dodgy Loner's fingerprints on some of that lumber.   

[SwampDonkey]

That's a nice inventory of lumber there. 

[Norm]

Thank you Danny! 

[YellowHammer]

Very useful info.  Does anybody have racks that allow them stack and remove the wood with a forklift from the side?  I've been looking at buying steel racks like they use at the home improvement stores to stack and separate 2x4's, 2x6's etc but they are expensive!  Does anybody have an alternative?
Thanks
YH

[Ironwood]

I have everything palletized, but then I dont do much small sales. Too much of a pain. I try to keep it large/medium volume sales. No tractor trailer loads, but whole boules or close to it, to mostly professional woodshops. Lots of reclaimed, as well. Palletized sticked, banded. Good system for me but not for most. AND you gotta have a "spare" forklift (or two) if you run older units

 Ironwood