Vertical Wood storage??

[Jerry Olexa]

I know that usually horizontal storage (esp when air drying) of lumber is best. Today, as I was testing my new jointer, I noted some cups and bows in the rough sawn cherry i was running through it. This wood has been vertically stored in my garage for about 4 months along w 100 bf of walnut and others. I don't remember that many "cups and bows" in the rough stock when I bought it...Is this caused by the vertical storage (stacked against the garage wall) or didn't I screen this stock enough prior to purchase?? Do I need to build some quick horiz shelf brackets and get thyem off the cement and stored horizontaly? LMK your thoughts. Thanks...:confused: :confused:

[Jesse Cloud]

Hey Jerry.
If you are storing wood on concrete, the wood nearest the floor may be a little damper than the wood higher up, especially if its there for a long time. If thats the problem, put some plastic on the floor and lay a scrap piece of ply on top of that - or store it horizontally.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Wood is usually stored vertiaclly here in Japan, I've seldom seen it stored horizontally.

I know of a guy that mills his own lumber and he advocates storing it vertically, I'll see if I can find a link to his homepage. He uses an "L" sticker to keep the board seperated.

Found it........... LINK (http://www.billswoodcreations.com/dry-wood.html)

Cheers!

[Matt Warfield]

What I've been told is: If it's not perfectly vertical or near vertical, gravity can have a significant effect as it gains and releases moisture. Either type of moisture change will cause the board to move and gravity just provides the extra encouragement to move downward.

How much of that is truth and how much of it's extra details to make the person sound intelligent, I don't know. I do know that the boards I lean up against the wall always bow. Given that yours have cupped as well, there appears to be a moisture content change happening.

[Karl Laustrup]

First, good to see you making some sawdust. :) Not sure about the vertical/horizontal storage. I would definately get the wood off the concrete floor one way or another.

If this is the wood you scored recently, it's possible that it's still acclimating to your shop. Am I remembering that your shop is in the basement? If so the humidity could be a little higher down there and so extra precaution should be taken with your stock. Maybe it would be better horizontal and stickered to keep air circulating around the boards.

I'm just kinda thinking out loud here and not sure any of these make sense to the more seasoned people here, but that's my $1.398 worth of drivel.

Karl

[Jerry Olexa]

Wood is usually stored vertiaclly here in Japan, I've seldom seen it stored horizontally.

I know of a guy that mills his own lumber and he advocates storing it vertically, I'll see if I can find a link to his homepage. He uses an "L" sticker to keep the board seperated.

Found it........... LINK (http://www.billswoodcreations.com/dry-wood.html)

Cheers!

Stu, Thanks. Interesting article and approach. Great side benefits of no cracking, checking, etc. Also supports my easy (lazy)way of storing the lumber:D ..Thanks

[Jerry Olexa]

Jesse and Karl: I do have it on top of scrap pieces so its off the concrete. And Karl, yes shop is in basement but I store wood in the garage. Stu's article is pretty interesting supporting vert storage so maybe I'm OK .Just didn't realize some of this cupping on the shorter pieces. Thanks for your ideas....

[Lee DeRaud]

(scratches head) About every place I've ever bought lumber stored it vertically. At the only exception I recall, finding a straight piece of wood was almost impossible.

And for what it's worth, Sam Maloof has a humongous barn with about half a million board feet of lumber stored in it...vertically.

[Jim Becker]

Storing near-vertical is fine...as long as you fully support the boards, not just lean them against the wall. You need to build a rack that does just that for best results.

[Don Baer]

Lee beat me to it.

[Bruce Benjamin]

I've seen lumber stored both vertically and horizontally and seen straight and warped lumber from both methods. Does anyone have any technical reason why storing wood vertically might be better than horizontally? It just goes against what my brain says is logical. I'm not at all saying it's not true but I'm really curious why.:confused:

Bruce

[Scott Thornton]

I had the same problem Jerry. I had some long straigth lumber leaning against the wall...now it's got a slight bow/cup...This stuff is about 10 feet long and I only have a little 6" Jet jointer, going to make for a tough time straightening it out.

[Jim King]

Here I have not seen wood stored horizantally or flat side to the wall if standing. Everything is dried vertically with the thin edge against the rack or wall. Never stored vertically with the flat side resting against anything. It is also flipped bottem end up every couple of days. No warp.

[Robert Waddell]

Last year when I was down in the Amazon basin on a mission trip, I got to see how the locals dry green tropical hardwood. They attach two boards together at their ends forming an upside down V shape and hang it up under a shed stratling a beam. Each board is hanging down at an angle and the end of the boards are just a few feet off the ground. I saw a few hundred boards drying in various places and every board seem to be straight using this method. I would venture to quess that it has to do with the way the moisture is drawn down slowly from the top of the board toward the bottom due to gravity. Anyway I just wanted to pass along my observations on how folks who have never seen a forestry book does it.
As for me I store mine vertical so that I can easily pick through it for color and grain. Stacking and restacking takes too much time when trying to make a dollar working wood.
Rob

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

and never had a warped board. I think the key is one's definition of vertical. Some seem to think that if you stand it on end and lean it against a wall, that is vertical. Not so. As Jim stated, you need to build your vertical storage racks as carefully as you would buiild the horizontal racks. Don't build spaces to hold large groups of boards. Build them small enough that even if the space isn't full the boards will still be vertical enough that they won't bow because of their position. Of course the boards should be standing on a wood base, not on concrete. I say that even though in my last shop I had walnut standing vertically on a concrete floor for twenty years and had no bad results from it. One of the advantages of vertical storage is that you don't have to handle a lot of wood to choose the boards you want. You can just leaf through them like the pages of a book. You will find that many old timers believe drying wood vertically produce much less degrade from drying and that storing wood vertically is much better for the wood. That is probably the reason that the Japanese store their wood vertically. That is just my opinion and worth no more than you paid for it. Enjoy your time in the shop.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

and never had a warped board. I think the key is one's definition of vertical. Some seem to think that if you stand it on end and lean it against a wall, that is vertical. Not so. As Jim stated, you need to build your vertical storage racks as carefully as you would build the horizontal racks. Don't build spaces to hold large groups of boards. Build them small enough that even if the space isn't full the boards will still be vertical enough that they won't bow because of their position. Of course the boards should be standing on a wood base, not on concrete. I say that even though in my last shop I had walnut standing vertically on a concrete floor for twenty years and had no bad results from it. One of the advantages of vertical storage is that you don't have to handle a lot of wood to choose the boards you want. You can just leaf through them like the pages of a book. You will find that many old timers believe drying wood vertically produce much less degrade from drying and that storing wood vertically is much better for the wood. That is probably the reason that the Japanese store their wood vertically. That is just my opinion and worth no more than you paid for it. Enjoy your time in the shop.

Don, you are correct, the Japanese store their wood Vertical for that reason, also for the rain problem, most of these places are outside, and the wood will get wet on the face, but not the ends, it seems to work for them. Today when I'm out doing deliveries, I'll try to stop at one place I know and take a pic or two.

The main reason I think that wood is stored horizontally is because of the ease of moving around a big stack with a forklift, hard to do that with a vertical stack :D

Cheers!

[Jerry Olexa]

The main reason I think that wood is stored horizontally is because of the ease of moving around a big stack with a forklift, hard to do that with a vertical stack

Makes sense, Stu....efficiency rules. Thanks for your input.

[Jerry Olexa]

Wow!! A wealth of information on this simple topic...You're mostly supporting my current vertical storage but on a wood base (not concrete) and ideally, in a special built vert rack. My decision was based on expediency but your inputs sure make me feel better..Well back to the shop...:)

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Hey Jerry, sorry to be a day late, but at least I did not forget! :)

47745
This is the local guy in my hood, there is more behind the roll up door, but he is closed today (Saturday) so it is closed.

47746
This guy is a bit down the road from me, but I was over there doing a delivery so I took the opportunity to snap some pics.

47747
You will notice some wood on the horizontal there, that stuff is for hording in ditches.

47748
Way in the back there you can see some wood also stacked horizontal, as it too looks like it just came off the truck.

Cheers!

[Timo Christ]

Interesting pics, Stu!
Thanks!
Timo

[Jerry Olexa]

Thanks for pics, Stu!! I'm pretty covinced: vertical is OK and the minor problems in my wood are due to the original stock conditions (not storage) Thanks Stu...Besides Sam is usually right!:D