How to Store a Large Amount of Cherry

[Victor Stearns]

Greetings Creekers,
We have an interesting situation. We just milled three cherry trees this weekend. If we are correct with the use of the Doyle method of calculating board feet of wood, we have just over 1000-board feet of cherry! And yes this is very exciting about the possibilities!
We have it setup outside to dry and no plans on kiln drying at all.
This volume will be tough to move the entire stack into the workshop when the moisture content is low enough as it will take up a lot of room.
So we are looking for suggestions for storing it.
Thanks for the responses.
Victor

[Jesse Busenitz]

We have it setup outside to dry and no plans on kiln drying at all."

I assume by setup you mean it's stickered? If so then it'd be good to get a roof of some sort over it preferably big enough so your stack doesn't get soaked every time you have blowing rain.
Just my two cents..... but there's a lot of guy on here that know a lot more about it than I do. You might jump over to the milling category and browse through some of the valuable info there.
Oh and nice score. Nothing more fun than using your own wood to build a project.

[Prashun Patel]

Build a stable, level base and store it stickered under tarp cover if you must. Under trees away from sun is best. Blow thru the stack with a leaf blower every so often. Wax the ends. Allow air to move through the stack, but keep all elements off it to the extent possible.

you will get pro advice here. Mine is not. Send a pm to scott smith. There are others who steered me right too.

[glenn bradley]

I am surprised no one has stated the obvious; store it at my place.

[Frederick Skelly]

I am surprised no one has stated the obvious; store it at my place.

Too funny - that's EXACTLY what I was about to post. :)

[John TenEyck]

Ok I see you are in Indiana, so the EMC outside is probably about the same as where I live at 12 to 14%. So you need to have some place with lower relative humidity in order to dry it down to 6 to 8% before you can use it. It could be the upstairs in a shed or garage, it could be in a conditioned basement like mine. Doesn't matter, you just need some place where the relative humidity gets down to 35 to 50 % for a long period of time. If you are looking for a magic solution there isn't one, other than to have it kin dried.

John

[Earl McLain]

Victor--i also live in La Porte County. I'd offer some space in my garage, but if i store any more cherry in there i'd have to sleep with it!!
earl

[Victor Stearns]

I really like the idea of keeping it close. So will have to pass on moving it to someone else's place, but thanks for thinking of me.
I have it stacked and stickered about 12" above a concrete pad along with a tin roof.
I am thinking that it might be best to add a shed to the back of the workshop to store the wood in long term. This would be enclosed on all sides so the airflow would be less than what be have now. Still we are not in a hurry to use it anyway.

[Bill Adamsen]

Victor ... there is a sawmills and kiln drying forum (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdisplay.php?68-Sawmills-and-Kiln-Drying) where you might get forum members not used to the general woodworking forum who could provide additional information. I put oversized corrugated steel panels over my well-stickered stacks, draining downhill, which provides good airflow. Seal the ends (several mentioned that already).

[Christopher Charles]

I'll refrain from the now obvious refrain :)

FWW had an article 4-5 years ago with an outdoor system for air drying that seemed slick and cost effective. There's also this video, which may be related to the same article.

Good luck with your good problem :)

http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/video/how-to-dry-lumber.aspx

[Brian Tymchak]

I'll refrain from the now obvious refrain :)

FWW had an article 4-5 years ago with an outdoor system for air drying that seemed slick and cost effective. There's also this video, which may be related to the same article.

Good luck with your good problem :)

http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/video/how-to-dry-lumber.aspx

Nice video, thanks for posting the link!

[Chris Barrett]

Build a solar kiln?