green lumber questions

[Andrew Nemeth]

I picked up 250bf of rough cut walnut today for $1/bf. The boards are 5/4 - 10/4 and 8"-16" wide. The seller had just sold his portable sawmill and was cleaning out the last of his milled stock. After loading the walnut he offered me the last of his cherry, 50 bf of 6/4 stock 10" wide for $10!!! The lumber was milled a few weeks ago, and by the weight of it, it is still very green. It has been stickered and stored in a three sided barn since it was cut. The ends of the boards have not been sealed and there are a few 2"-3" checks in some of the boards already.

For the time being i have stacked and stickered the lumber inside a semi-conditioned warehouse (gas heat, kept around 60deg) directly on the concrete floor (stickered underneath, of course). This is the first time I have ever purchased green lumber and I have a few questions:

1) Should I seal the ends at this point, or is the damage already done?
2) Is it okay to have moved the lumber inside this quickly?
3) What else do i need to know?

Thanks for any information that anyone can provide,
Andrew

[Frank Drew]

Andrew,

It might be a bit late to end coat the boards, but if there aren't too many why not do it, since it certainly can't hurt. Better yet, you could cut the boards back past any cracking or checking and then end coat them.

Air movement might be more useful in drying the boards than heat, so if you want to keep the boards indoors can you play a slow speed fan across the stack?

[Al Weber]

Do you know when the milling was done. If it was fairly recent and no cracks have appeared, then sealing the ends is probably wise. If it was cut more than a few months ago, then what you see is what you got. Don't worry about it. The major issue with storage is ventilation around the stack. Make sure you have enough space underneath the stack as the concrete tends to store moisture and release it although in a heated area, maybe not a big problem. Great deal.

[Scott T Smith]

Andrew, I would suggest the following.

First, make sure that you have about 10" or more between your bottom board and the concrete. Typically concrete will wick moisture through it, and boards that are stacked close to a slab will pick up moisture. It's also a good idea to put a moisture barrier on top on the concrete below your wood.

Walnut and cherry are both fairly forgiving when it comes to air drying. The thicker the material, the slower that it needs to dry. I would place the thickest boards on the bottom of your stack, since those will take the longest. You'll be fine stacked indoors at 60 degrees too.

You want to have an air space behind the stack that is equal to the sum total of stickered space in your stacks. Said differently, if you're using 1" thick stickers, and you have 30 layers of stickers, in essence you have 30" of air space in your stack. You should have an equal or greater amount of space between your stack and any adjacent wall, so that the air flowing through the stack can escape.

Placing fans so that they blow air through the stacks is not a bad idea, as long as the air speed is not excessive. Typically you want between 100 - 300 feet per minute of flow. Anything higher than about 400 FPM can damage the wood.

Regarding end sealer, end checks on boards are similar to cracks in glass; the objective is to keep them from starting in the first place. Once a crack starts in glass, it tends to continue to grow. End checks in boards are similar, except that they will only grow so far.

Anytime that end sealer is applied it should be applied to clean, unchecked ends. Thus, if you opt to apply end sealer at this time you should trim a few inches off of the ends of the boards before applying it, else you're probably wasting your time. A board that was properly end sealed when green should be usable down to almost the last 1/2" of wood. Boards w/o end sealing normally require a few inches to be removed.

[Cody Colston]

First of all, NICE SCORE!

The best solution for the checking is to cut off the ends of the boards past the checks and seal immediately with a green wood sealer like Anchorseal. Don't waste your time using latex paint.

As for drying, the lumber will be fine in the warehouse. You actually have more control over the drying process in there than you would if it was exposed to the outside environment. There are three factors that affect the drying rate; RH, temperature and air movement. There is not a lot of advantage to be gained in running fans when the temperature is below 65 degrees. The electricity used is not worth the small gain in drying speed at that temperature. I would wait until the temperature warms up. That will allow the wood to dry slowly initially, then you can begin running fans for air movement which will speed up the drying rate. Staining with Walnut is not a problem. 4/4 lumber will usually air dry to 20% MC in about 60 days of optimum drying conditions. 8/4 lumber will take about 2 1/2 times as long. Thicker than 8/4 will try your patience. :)

You might think about getting an inexpensive hygrometer to check the RH inside the warehouse. That will tell you the EMC that the lumber will eventually reach. Here's a calculator and a chart to find EMC based on the temp and RH. (note that temp is not a big factor regarding EMC unless it is really high or low) http://www.csgnetwork.com/emctablecalc.html

For inside projects like furniture, the wood needs to be around 7.5% MC before working it.

[Dave Gaul]

I'm throwing out the stealth gloat flag here, so here's your YOU SUCK!!!

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks for the help guys! I sealed the ends with armorseal today but I did not have the time to cut any of the splits out. What do you think about drilling 1/4" or larger holes at theends of the current checks to act as a stress relief instead of cutting the whole board end off? It sure would be quicker and less time consuming.

-Andrew

[Chris Fournier]

Don't bother getting creative with end checks. You've sealed the lumber and have been given great advice on stickering and drying - get to it!

Even though my back often feel ten years older than I am, I get great pleasure in looking at a fine parcel of rough air dried lumber. You've got some nice stock there, I'm sure that you'll enjoy it over the coming years.

Nice haul, use it well!