Storing milled lumber?

[Andrew Wayland]

I'm curious: how do you all store your lumber after it has been milled?

A planer and jointer aren't in my budget, so I ordered a bunch of cherry from the lumberyard already milled. It's coming later this morning, but I may not be able to use it until after the holiday.

So: how would you all store it? Stacked? Vertical?

I can also store it in my basement (heated) or outside in my garage (not insulated.... it's just above freezing here now)

[George Bokros]

I would store it indoors horizontal and stickered.

[Bill McDermott]

Sometimes it's easier for me to rough cut the parts from the boards and then store the parts as George suggests, horizontally, clamped together with stickers. It's tough to manage a stack of boards in my basement shop. A few stacks of parts is easy.

[Brian Tymchak]

What George said... And what Bill said, either clamp or add weight to the top of the stack.

The lumber will need to acclimate to your shop environment before you use it. It could change dimension slightly as it likely needs to release moisture. This also means that you may have to mill it again to final dimension, or make sure your plans allow for slightly different dimensions.

Also being cherry, and since you are not wanting to remill, I would keep it away from direct light as much as possible until you use it, to keep the color match between boards as close as possible.

[John K Jordan]

I can also store it in my basement (heated) or outside in my garage (not insulated.... it's just above freezing here now)

If you know under what conditions it was stored at the lumber yard before milling (temperature, etc) it might help to store it in as close to the same conditions for the short time you are considering. For example, if they had it outdoors in a rack or indoors in a freezing warehouse it might best be stored in the garage rather than a heated basement.

If the lumber is fresh from the kiln or stored in a conditioned space, it should be OK to stack dry. This is where I'd get out the moisture meter and check the boards. A lot depends on how you will be using it.

If it has been stored in an unconditioned space for a long time, it may well have gained some moisture, assuming it was kiln dried. If air dried wood, it may benefit from a few weeks of additional drying in the conditioned space. If you are planning to build things that will be used in heated spaces, drying for a few weeks in the heated basement might be a good idea to let it acclimate.

If stored in the heat, I would certainly stack it horizontally off the floor (perhaps with a moisture barrier over the concrete), sticker it properly, and weight or clamp. If you are using it in a couple of weeks it might not matter much, but it would be a shame if it warped in that time from accelerated drying unconstrained.

JKJ

[Andrew Wayland]

How much weight are we talking here?

[Jason Mikits]

We have to assume that it was properly kiln dried before milling. Wood moves (grows/shrinks and possibly warps) with moisture change which is determined by its surrounding relative humidity. There is no need to sticker it. Flat stack it and wrap it with plastic and the moisture content will remain stable and the wood will not move before you get to it.

Temperature has negligible effect of wood. So if it's wrapped up and protected against change in rH, store it where ever it's convenient.

[Andrew Wayland]

Hmmm. Now it's getting interesting. I'd hope they were kiln dried. But who's to say?

Im hoping to get to this project going next week sometime.... but that's never a guarantee with me...

[Brian Holcombe]

Given the choice between the two, I would keep it in an unheated garage, heaters pull a lot of humidity out of the air. I see things in my wood shop (basement) that surprise me at times WRT to wood movement caused by forced air heating.

Stack and sticker.

Frankly, my advice for the next time you are in the market for material; I would buy boards that are not milled and just keep them in your shop until you're ready to use them. Joint by hand, ask a local shop if they can thickness plane on demand and do that. You'll get a better result then having all of it processed and using it months later after it has moved.

It pays to work with the same yard all the time.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Andrew, if it was surfaced, it's dry. No one would surface green lumber unless they had no idea what they were doing. I agree with Jason. Dead stacking it will reduce movement best. Unfortunately, it would be unusual for any wood not to move a little, even dry. Dead stacking will mitigate the movement the most. The idea is to keep it as straight, flat and tightly stacked as possible. Using weights or bands may help as long as they don't cause bends. Wrapping in plastic will help to keep it as close to its original moisture content as possible. Good luck.

[Andrew Wayland]

They are indeed kiln dried (confirmed with the shop).

I'll likely stack them then... (I stickered them today, out of caution).

I'll be using them within the month, but I'd hate for too much movement. I can likely deal with a little bowing (it'll be used as a bar top over plywood, so I can pull them flat if it's a minor bow).

I would have preferred to have waited, but my truck only has a measly 5.5' bed (they salted the roads too, and I didn't feel comfortable with all the stock getting road salt dust all over it). I was having plywood delivered too, and didn't want to pay twice for delivery.

[Mark Bolton]

This isn't actually true. Many mills presurface material prior to going into the kiln. There is no value in drying material you are just going to surface off anyway so why not take a portion of it off prior to. Additionally pre surfacing means full contact in a weighted stack as well as consistent thickness for drying (no thick and thin). It can also help reduce surface checking in a lot of circle sawn wood.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Mark, are you saying you know of mills that surface to size while the wood is green and then dry it ? What keeps it that size ? Wood shrinks when it dries.

[Mark Bolton]

No. Of course it's not to final dimension that would be impossible. But pre surfacing green or air dried is not unusual.

[Mike Cutler]

Andrew

I'm in Griswold Ct, so our climate conditions are similar.
My wood is stored in my unheated garage shop. It is stacked horizontally, and set on rack arms that are attached to the walls. It is also stored on an "A"frame wood cart. I don't sticker kiln dried wood. I have a bunch of cherry that has been stored out there for years that has not moved one iota.
If I were to store it in the house, heated, I would sticker it just because of the wood stove.
The Cherry wood was purchased from a large supplier in North Central CT. and their facility is not heated or climate controlled, some of those boards are 12' long and 15" wide cut. They'll most likely move when I finally use them, but as for now, they are stable.
If it's already kiln dried, Stack it horizontally and maybe strap it at the ends.
I also have some walnut logs that are air drying. Now those are stickered and banded. ;)

[Yonak Hawkins]

Mark, the OP said he didn't have a planer or a jointer so it's clear he had to have it milled to final dimension, right ?

[Mark Bolton]

Was merely stating that "No one would surface green lumber unless they had no idea what they were doing" is not really accurate. I have purchased surfaced green lumber, KD material that was pre-surfaced but not final surfaced (very nice stuff). And I have surfaced my own slightly AD lumber prior to going into the kiln. No question not having surfacing equipment would assume KD s4s.

[Rich Aldrich]

If it is already milled it must be kiln dried already. Normally lumber is kiln dried before planing and jointing. If so, stack it horizontal and tight together. Being tight together minimizes the exposure to moisture which minimizes reabsorption of moisture. Stuckering dried wood exposes every surface to moist air. If it is green, sticker it to let it air dry.

[Jim Andrew]

Don't understand the need of some to sticker dried lumber. The purpose of stickering is to dry fresh cut green lumber. The green lumber has so much moisture in it that it will mold if flat stacked, and will be spoiled before it is dry. Air drying is plenty dry to flat stack lumber. It will not mold if air dried. Now if you store dried lumber in an open shed, that is subject to wind driven rain, you DO need to sticker it, as rain can get between the layers and spoil your lumber.

[John K Jordan]

Don't understand the need of some to sticker dried lumber.

One purpose of stickering new lumber is to allow it to acclimate to the conditioned space - IF it needs done - depending on the current moisture content, how the lumber is used, the type of construction and joints planned, and the environment where the finished piece(s) will reside. It may be close enough now or too wet or too dry. A moisture meter can help but many use the assume and hope method.

[Rich Aldrich]

Actually at our mill, the kiln manager like for us employees and good small local customers to bring our Lumber back for a second run thru the kilns just before we use it.

All of our finished bundles (1000 to 1500 bdft) are stacked tight for less moisture absorption and for tight banding.

At our hardwood lumber mill, we process about 75,000 bdft of lumber per day (one shift) and dry about 75% of that. We have 10 kilns that dry 36000 bdft each and a pre dryer that can pre dry 5 kilns capacity.

[Robert Engel]

I store the longer boards vertically and shorter ones on shelves. But where you store it is much more important then how.

I store my rough lumber in an uninsulated, well ventilated, but separate room off my shop. I keep the doors closed and do not run a fan in there.

Once I've started the project. I keep the dimensioned stock to in my studio. In there I have my workbench and store all my hand tools.

It is climate controlled and I consider it an absolute necessity if I'm building a piece of furniture. I just will not build, or store any projects in progress in the general shop area anymore.

I realize for most people, a studio is not possible, so then the best way is store you wood and sub assemblies in large trash bags or stretch wrap.

Its really very important depending on the climate you live. (Critical in sawmpy FL where I'm from not so much in Colorado or Arizona). There is nothing more heartbreaking than finding a door you spent hours building warped the next morning.