1st rough wood (storage) Pics Added

[Aaron Beaver]

I bought my first batch of rough wood for my next project. Everything up til now was been surfaced for me but I won't need that anymore when my jointer and planer get here.

Anyway to the question. I bought "rough" wood, it had been surfaced down to 1" or 7/8", I will have it in my shop until I start the project. Do I need to sticker it? Can I just put the shims under the bottom piece to keep it off the floor (concrete basement) then stack the rest on the top of that without any spacers.

Thanks

[Ian Abraham]

Lay some scrap pieces of 4x2 down to keep it up off the concrete, then it will be OK flat stacked on top of that.

Stickers are only needed if you are trying to dry the wood, they allow airflow through the stack. If the wood is kiln dried already, then there is no water transfer going to happen. If the wood was only air dried and you needed to finish off the drying inside, then stickers would be a good idea.

Cheers

Ian

[Aaron Beaver]

Thanks it was air dried, I think she said it got down to 3%-6% moisture content, does that sound right? I don't remember exactly but I believe that's what she said, I could be wrong.

[Charlie Plesums]

Aaron, that sounds pretty low for air dried, but maybe... Did your seller actually measure it, or just estimate what she thought it would be?

If you got the Tersa cutters, where change-over time is negligible, I suggest that you isolate one set of knives for the rough lumber... if it was air dried it probably has dirt blown into the surface that can eat up a good set of knives. I generally do a "skim plane" to take just enough off so I can see the grain and color, to pick boards (and remove most of the grit). Then I use my good knives for the final project jointing and planing.

I like to put a magic marker spot on the ends of the "second" side of the knives... once they are out, it is hard to tell which side is the "active" side and which is the new side. For example, I am on the second side of the chrome knives that came with my machine, and use them for rough lumber, but I am still on the first side of my HSS knives.

[Aaron Beaver]

Charlie I might give then a call and see what the number actually was. Would it still have dirt in it if they planed it down after it had air dried. Not sure if they plane before or after air drying, don't know how that whole process works. I have some pictures I can show you what it looks like this weekend.

[Aaron Beaver]

Charlie, Here is some pics of the rough wood which they planed down a little.

[Ian Abraham]

Looks like good stuff Aaron

If it's only been air dried the moisture will probably be somewhere between 10 and 15%, depending on where it has been stored.

I would sticker it for a few weeks to let it acclimitise to your shop conditions, then go for it.

Flat stacking wont hurt the wood, but you want any additional drying to be even when you start planing and ripping the wood.

Cheers

Ian

[Charlie Plesums]

Charlie, Here is some pics of the rough wood which they planed down a little.
That isn't like the dirty really rough wood that I get when I buy rough wood... that is more like the skim planed or s2s wood that my favorite supplier sells to cabinet shops.

Looks like you got a good deal.

Charlie