Wood Storage - Is Stickering Necessary?

[Matt Bainton]

I'm eager to get started on my split sawbench project so I can graduate from my wobbly table. But I'm concerned that I don't know about caring for lumber in my garage.

My 2x6s that I've had in the garage for 2 months have been on edge on the concrete. I don't have a lumber rack or really any space for one yet. Are the 2x6s sucking up moisture and now unsuited to be worked?

Also, I've got a bunch of old barn wood that was donated to me. It was in a climate controlled workshop for 20 years. Do I need to sticker these planks as I stack them in my garage, or just stack bare faces together? Do I need to put plastic under the pile?

1. Are my 2x6s ruined until elevated for a time being?
2. What would you recommend someone with limited space and no lumber rack do with old lumber?

Thanks!

- Matt

[george wilson]

In a word,yes. And make sure from the side view,that the stickers are in line with each other vertically. Than will help keep the wood near the bottom rom becoming warped due to pressure from above.

[Matt Bainton]

Dang, I'm sad thats the case. Once I sticker it, how long before it would rectify the 2 months on the concrete? Do I have to put plastic below the pile?

[Brian Holcombe]

Matt, I have a concrete floor where I store my wood. I use plywood in between the wood and the floor, I'm not sure if it's necessary but I would not put good wood directly on concrete for storage.

[Joel Thomas Runyan]

1. Are my 2x6s ruined until elevated for a time being?
2. What would you recommend someone with limited space and no lumber rack do with old lumber?



1. Highly unlikely, but depends on the temperature and humidity variations in your garage. They're suitable to work if they look suitable to work. Framing lumber in the form of nominal 2x6s is usually not the best milled or dried, and improper storage just expedites their tendency to warp. If your pieces aren't warped past the point of workability--which is dependent on your tooling--they're fine to use, especially for a laminated bench top, which is mostly forgiving as far as wood movement is concerned.

2. Build a lumber rack for the cost of a few 2x4s, or lean it all against a wall. Stacking on the floor is the least efficient option in my book, but if you do, stickering takes almost none of your time and money, and it's good to have the sticks around for anything fresh. If the barn wood was old before it was set in a shop for 20 years, it's unlikely in my experience to do anything crazy untill you mill it, wood tends to settle over the years.

[mark kosse]

How old is your house? In the last 40 years it should have a vapor barrier under the slab.

id say unless you saw condensation in the garage you didn't get much from the concrete.

[Tom Vanzant]

I have some lumber/timbers on edge on my garage floor, but with stickers between wood and cement, and an air gap between boards. No warpage.

[Matt Bainton]

Mark, my house was built in `63. I have not _noticed_ condensation anywhere, so I'm hoping its at least a little protected.

[Matt Bainton]

1. Highly unlikely, but depends on the temperature and humidity variations in your garage. They're suitable to work if they look suitable to work. Framing lumber in the form of nominal 2x6s is usually not the best milled or dried, and improper storage just expedites their tendency to warp. If your pieces aren't warped past the point of workability--which is dependent on your tooling--they're fine to use, especially for a laminated bench top, which is mostly forgiving as far as wood movement is concerned.

I appreciate the practicality of this insight. Wood is still pretty mysterious to me. I dug through the 16' lengths at the orange BORG for an hour till I found something usable. To clarify, I'm hoping to build a split sawbench such as this (https://instagram.com/p/3fUVh9yY3v/) and this (https://instagram.com/p/2NMT5UF5NW/).

[Matt Bainton]

2. Build a lumber rack for the cost of a few 2x4s, or lean it all against a wall. Stacking on the floor is the least efficient option in my book, but if you do, stickering takes almost none of your time and money, and it's good to have the sticks around for anything fresh. If the barn wood was old before it was set in a shop for 20 years, it's unlikely in my experience to do anything crazy untill you mill it, wood tends to settle over the years.

How do you lean boards against the wall? Doesn't that let the wood bow? I'll probably sticker what I can for now, as I can't mount anything to my brick garage for a while.

[Jim Belair]

How do you lean boards against the wall? Doesn't that let the wood bow?

Lean boards nearly vertical, just enough so they won't fall.

[Robert Engel]

Matt,

The weird thing about wood is that even though its dead, its alive :cool: and because it wants to assume the moisture of its environment, unless the environment is constant, then wood is always going to "move". Its one of the basic fundamentals of ww'ing that really took me years to understand. I would constantly run into problems with warped or cupped boards (still do but now I understand why) and in the middle of a project would have to abandon a door or a top, etc. and start over (now I know how to fix alot of problems).

So first of all DON'T PANIC! You're wood is definitely NOT ruined but -- however, it would be best not to use it immediately.
Hey, at least you didn't store them face down that could be much worse.

Yes the old wood can be stacked but keep a space on the bottom.
I like to bundle my stacks together with light weight tie down straps it just keeps things together.

I have both vertical and horizontal storage. I much prefer vertical. You'll see why the first time you peruse your lumber for just the right boards.
For vertical, do NOT just stack your wood up. You may get away with it and you may not.
Make the vertical a least 7 degrees and you're good to go.

My suggestion:

Go get some 1x2's you can buy a whole pack of 12 for like 5 bucks.
Figure out what your stack is going to be (2,3,4 boards wide, whatever) and cut the strips to match.
Sticker the boards and give them a couple weeks, then start the milling process.

You'll be fine! Good luck you'll be working on your bench in an couple weeks.

[mark kosse]

My house was built in '63 too. Sometimes everything is dripping wet.

[Brian Holcombe]

FWIW, generally the lumber from the BORG is very rapidly grown. You'll likely have a much better experience starting from better stock from a local sawmill. I'm not suggesting that you need to work in hardwoods but good pine and good cedar are going to be a much nicer experience than Borg doug fir.

[Allan Speers]

FWIW,

Anyone with a shop that has a concrete floor over dirt should treat the floor with chemicals to stop water-vapor transmission. Not only will it save your wood from warping and tools from rusting, but it will lower your dehumidification costs as well.

I used stuff from the "Radon Seal" company (2 different products) as I also have a radon problem. If no radon, then the best solution is one of those chemical that crystallizes inside the concrete. that's better because if new cracks occur over time, new crystals form and fill them in.

This stuff really works, and it's not too expensive, either.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I'm going through that now. I bought a siliconate sealer from concrete sealers usa.

I believe radon seal is a a silicone sealer. Similar concept, but a little different.

[Brian AdamsMS]

Another point that I learned the hard way over a very long period of time...
Stacking your lumber on a concrete or dirty floor for that matter will dull your tools. Even if you set a board down on a dirty floor momentarily, the wood will pick up sand on the surface. So even without concern for warping, picking up moisture etc, its a good idea to have a clean surface to stack you lumber on to prevent contamination. Sticker-ing is probably the easiest/quickest solution.

[Brian AdamsMS]

Also, here is an excellent saw bench from one of our fellow neanders... http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=827
It is extremely sturdy and looks great to boot.

[glenn bradley]

How do you lean boards against the wall? Doesn't that let the wood bow?

Clear some wall space at the tallest part of your shop. I used the roof peak on the rear wall.

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323581 . 323585 . 323584

[Daniel Rode]

Perhaps I'm the oddball, but I stack mine on horizontal racks without any stickering. The racks are made up of "arms" that support the wood every 16" and I stack the wood no more than 5-6 layers. Most often, it's 2-3 layers per. This is all well dried lumber. Anything that's not fully dry get's snickered until it's dry. I don't store a ton of lumber but I don't have an problems with it. The flat stuff stays flat. Stickers in between layers is probably a good idea, but I've never done it in my racks.

The kiln I often buy from stores dry wood for sale on vertical racks. The wood sits directly on the concrete. The concrete does have a vapor barrier below. I know this because in an odd coincidence, the owner and I were discussing the need for vapor barrier and insulation below the concrete on Friday.

I would love to store my lumber vertically because it is so convenient to sort stock and sort. I don't have the room for it nor do I keep enough stock to need that style storage.

[Ian Moone]

https://www.tramexmeters.eu/Wood-Moisture-Encounter

Or

You could just moisture test your wood and always KNOW what its moisture content is before you use it and not have to "guess". ;)

[Daniel Rode]

It's more than knowing the moisture content. The purpose of stickering is to allow air circulation to as much surface area as possible to stacked wood. The combination of sealed ends and stickering helps wood to gain and lose moisture evenly throughout.

Or You could just moisture test your wood and always KNOW what its moisture content is before you use it and not have to "guess".

[Brian Holcombe]

Buy construction lumber to save money but then a $500 moisture meter to check it? Seems counter intuitive.

[Robert Engel]

Buy construction lumber to save money but then a $500 moisture meter to check it? Seems counter intuitive.You can get one much cheaper than that.

[Ian Moone]

Yeah guessing is the way to go!. :rolleyes:

[Brian Holcombe]

You can get one much cheaper than that.

I've looked into 'Timber check' with strong consideration.


Yeah guessing is the way to go!. :rolleyes:

I think it's smart to check, but for someone looking to do a budget project I think it's a hair excessive.

[Jim Belair]

Yeah guessing is the way to go!. :rolleyes:

How about just following "good practices" (as suggested in this thread)? The OP is building a sawbench.

[Daniel Rode]

Perhaps if I were drying my own wood or buying wood from sources where the MC was more variable I'd feel the need for a moisture meter. BORG lumber is downright wet sometimes but I let that stuff sit for months before building anything. But as Brian said, a $500 meter to check BORG pine seems "counter intuitive."

I'm buying mostly kiln dried wood, often at the source and then it sits for at least a week or three in my shop to acclimate before I start breaking it down. Then, rough sized, it hangs out in the shop for a while. As a result, I don't really need to check the MC.

Moisture meters are a recent invention. What did we do before it's invention?

[Matt Bainton]

Moisture meters are a recent invention. What did we do before it's invention?

This is always a good reality check. :thumbsup:

--

I worked for a few hours to clear out enough floor space in the garage. I placed a plastic sheet down, then cut up some 2x6 to elevate the stack. Then I stacked the barnwood together in 3 columns, and then stickered the BORG 2x6s. I'll try to get a picture this week to show the results.

Anyone have advice on any cleaning I should give this wood before bringing a plane blade to it? Is that a thing?

[Brian AdamsMS]

I have a stiff bristle brush I use on any new wood to sweep away any dirt or contamination. Also, if the wood is questionable I will use a 'roughing in' #4 plane to do a quick cleanup pass before I put my 'good' planes to use.

[Scott T Smith]

I'm eager to get started on my split sawbench project so I can graduate from my wobbly table. But I'm concerned that I don't know about caring for lumber in my garage.

My 2x6s that I've had in the garage for 2 months have been on edge on the concrete. I don't have a lumber rack or really any space for one yet. Are the 2x6s sucking up moisture and now unsuited to be worked?

Also, I've got a bunch of old barn wood that was donated to me. It was in a climate controlled workshop for 20 years. Do I need to sticker these planks as I stack them in my garage, or just stack bare faces together? Do I need to put plastic under the pile?

1. Are my 2x6s ruined until elevated for a time being?
2. What would you recommend someone with limited space and no lumber rack do with old lumber?

Thanks!

- Matt

Matt, as others have suggested your 2 x 6's may have picked up some moisture through the slab. It would be best to stack and sticker them so that they can dry back down.

Re the old barn wood, industry standard practices are that green lumber is stickered and dry lumber is flat stacked. You do not need to sticker the old barn wood.

Ditto the comments about putting down a vapor barrier underneath your dry lumber when you flat stack it.

Scott

[Matt Bainton]

Here is an update to the wood storage:

Instagram Image (https://instagram.com/p/9RHw51IBKP/)

I have now started to try to sort a few boards for my first project, and I can tell you it certainly is not very usable in a big stack like this. Most of the wide boards I'm looking at are somewhere in the middle. Someday I might have a shop with vertical storage room, but for now I've got this to deal with.