What wood to sticker lumber with??

[Josh LaFrance]

I'm getting a lot of mahoganny and maple next weekend that is already dried. I'm planning on sticking the lumber in my dining room for a month before I use it to build a DR set. I've never stickered wood before but I figure it's a good idea for this to allow the lumber to acclimate. Will pine scraps from cut up 2x4s be fine or should I use something else? Should I seal the stickers with something first?
Thanks.

[Steve Clardy]

Pine scraps will be fine as long as they are dry.
No sealing required ;)

[Greg Cole]

Small diameter pvc pipe ripped in 1/2 length wise on the band saw works great for me. Cheap, easy, re-usable... Most wood sitckers will impart "sticker stain" if left long enough & some sticker stains run pretty deep requiring either cutting them out or removing alot of material to get rid of the stain.
There are pre-made plastic stickers available too.....

Cheers.
Greg

[Jim Becker]

Since this is dry wood going in a dry place, you can use almost anything, but probably still a good idea to avoid materials with a high tannin content, like oak. Personally...I use strips of scrap MDF. 1/2" or 1/4" thick for indoor stacking.

[Michael Morgan]

Anything wood thats dry, the only time you have to worry about sticker stain is when the wood and your stickers are both green.

[Greg Cole]

Thanks for the correction Mike, guess I missed the dried part...... heading for the 2nd cup of coffee to fully open these eyes I guess.
I learned the hard way about sticker stain and use a synthetic sticker to avoid it.

Greg

[Josh LaFrance]

Maybe I'll spring for some of the nice synthetic ones from hartville. Should last the rest of my life and I'm young.

[Howard Acheson]

Small diameter pvc pipe ripped in 1/2 length wise on the band saw works great for me. Cheap, easy, re-usable... Most wood sitckers will impart "sticker stain" if left long enough & some sticker stains run pretty deep requiring either cutting them out or removing alot of material to get rid of the stain.
There are pre-made plastic stickers available too.....

Cheers.
Greg

Greg, a possible problem with PVC is that being round, all the weight rests on a very small wood surface. Depending how high you stack your wood, the weight can leave compressed wood fibers which can become visiable when you apply a finish. Also, the stack can be quite unstable.

[Mike Spanbauer]

I use melamine scraps myself. 3/4x3/4.

Works like a charm.

mike

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Anything will work as long as its, like several have said, dry. I've used anything that has come to hand from strips of plywood to aromatic cedar. If the wood to be stickered is wet sometimes it will show a little sticker shadow, but that planes out with no problems. (Or at least has so far :) ), You should have no problem with dry wood, but the most common problem I've seen is not spacing the stickers close enough and having warping.

[Gary Keedwell]

Yea, I had a bunch of plywood scraps that I was going to get rid of but instead did alot of ripping and made a ton of stickers.
Gary K.

[Roger Myers]

I've been replacing a lot of exterior trim on my house with Azek (a composite white trim material)... The trim I'm replacing is elaborate raised panel corner boards that simply don't hold up to the weather with so many joints and potential entry points for moisture. I am duplicating these with the Azek using both sheet and 4/4 stock.... side benefit is lots and lots of scrap 4/4 material that makes wonderful stickers.... A stop to any Azek dealer might yield some suitable material or at least a lead to a jobsite where such scrap material would be available.... stable, uniform thickness, non staining... and by the way, it machines and installs wonderfully when used as trim!

[Josiah Bartlett]

I just use the same species of wood as I'm stacking to sticker it with, never had a problem with that. I usually slab my own wood anyway so I just pick out some waste out of the pith or sapwood when I'm sawing to make stickers out of.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Any wood at all. Just not wet. Well, you could prolly even use wet cause the stickers will dry too.
Consistent thickness will be best. I use left over 1/4" ply strips 'cause I have 'em handy.

[Brian Tymchak]

I often wondered if trex (or similar) decking ripped to squares would make a good sticker. Maybe a little expensive, but if you have some expensive boards, it might be worth it to use something inert. Anyone know if Trex bleeds color?

[Kevin Guarnotta]

One thing not mentioned, if you sticker your wood, or stack it, you should probably put some weight on top, to keep it from warping.

[Ted Calver]

I often wondered if trex (or similar) decking ripped to squares would make a good sticker. Maybe a little expensive, but if you have some expensive boards, it might be worth it to use something inert. Anyone know if Trex bleeds color?
Brian, I just took apart a stack of cherry that had been stickered with trex strips for about five years....no noticeable staining, and they can be reused.

[phil harold]

Plaster Lathe
lumber yards carry it in bundles of 50

[Kevin Bourque]

Don't forget that the stickers need to be a uniform thickness or you'll get "waves".

[Brian Tymchak]

Brian, I just took apart a stack of cherry that had been stickered with trex strips for about five years....no noticeable staining, and they can be reused.

Excellent! Thanks for the feedback Ted!!

[Howard Acheson]

Since this is dry wood going in a dry place, you can use almost anything, but probably still a good idea to avoid materials with a high tannin content, like oak. Personally...I use strips of scrap MDF. 1/2" or 1/4" thick for indoor stacking.

My preference is to avoid pine. Pine exudes resin (depending on the species) and may cause imprinting on the good wood. My preference has always been to use poplar. MDF would probably be good too, but I've never used it.

[Rick Moyer]

Nice to have square stickers so you don't have to think about orienting them, too!

[Cody Colston]

I suspect the OP has acclimated his wood by now since this thread was started in 2007. :rolleyes:

For the record, Steve Clardy (whatever happened to him?) answered correctly on the first reply...Pine stickers are fine as long as they are dry. I, too, like square stickers. I cut mine 3/4" x 3/4" and 90% of them are Pine. However, 3/4 x 1 1/4 is probably a better size as they will last longer and Oak is a better species as it is more durable than pine. There is no issue with either Pine resin or Oak tannins.

[glenn bradley]

+1 on cutting them square. I had an old, old, old piece of redwood that I ripped into 3/8" by 3/8" strips. Ordinarily I would avoid any woods that weep like pine, cedar, redwood, etc. but, this stuff was 40 years old. MDF, Trex, PVC solids, etc. but, make them consistent, square and make double what you think you will ever use. I did and I still run out ;-)

[Dave Zellers]

I suspect the OP has acclimated his wood by now since this thread was started in 2007. :rolleyes:
Too funny, although if it was me, I'd still be telling my wife the wood needs just a little more time...