Would hanging lumber be a good storage solution?

[Joseph Cardinal]

I have a stack of chestnut that has been air drying in my backyard now for a few years now.

Now that it is thoroughly dry, I'd like to bring it inside where I can easily access it.

Since I don't have the floor or wall space to properly stack the 12' boards, I was thinking of hanging them vertically in a stairwell. Perhaps by setting it up like a clothes closet with a horizontal metal pole and screwing large hooks into the end of the boards.

Another option would be to just stand them on edge vertically, but then they would probably develop a bow.

What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Joseph

[Mick Zelaska]

I'm no wood expert, but I would think they would twist. I keep thinking of having to go through 10 twisted boards stored vertically to find 2 straight ones at HD.

[Eddie Darby]

Another option would be to just stand them on edge vertically, but then they would probably develop a bow.

Standing *dry* wood on it's end will not cause it to bow. I say dry, because it is now stable, and should not move anymore if it has no heavy load on it.

If wood was subject to movement when on end, we would not be able to do much with it, our finished objects would warp all over the place.
They don't though.

Wood will, once dry, experience a form of movement called "Creep" which is due to the wood absorbing moisture while it is under a heavy working load. The wood under these wet conditions has a chance to shift it's chemical bonds a bit, and then when it dries, it will be in a somewhat different shape, though this is very small. Over many many many years this "Creep" will however take it's toll. Look at old barns to see the effect, usually the mantel over doors is a good place to look.

Since the wood is just standing up against your wall, and isn't doing any work, and will hopefully not be there long enough to go through hundreds of moisture cycles, everything will be just fine.

[Eddie Darby]

I'm no wood expert, but I would think they would twist. I keep thinking of having to go through 10 twisted boards stored vertically to find 2 straight ones at HD.

I think you will find that they were twisted before they got off the truck and onto the store shelves.

A lot of construction lumber was cut the "day before", and dried very fast, and comes not quite dry enough to use without the possible warp threat being removed.

2 out of 10! That's not too bad for HD.:D

[Joseph Cardinal]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I sure hope Eddie's right.

Think I'll try it with 1/4 of the pile, and leave the rest stacked in the backyard, and see how it goes.

Cheers,
Joseph

[Ben Grunow]

I would sticker it and clamp the stack while standing, just as you would any where else when drying wood horizontally. Maybe tape some stickers to each board and then stand them up tight to eachother and clamp them with cauls when the space is full. The force from the clamps will keep them straight. I think anyway.

Ben

[Eddie Darby]

I sure hope Eddie's right.

If your wood is dry, then you will have no problems.

If it is still seasoning, then it can move, no matter what position it is in.

Yes some positions are better than others, during the initial drying stages, but it is the built up, internal tensions that are in the wood that lead to most of the deviant behavior we all see in air dried wood.

[Craig Thompson]

My shop space is not real large either... so floor space is prime real estate. Do you have enough ceiling height to hang a rack?