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Thread: Air Drying Osage...Bottom Board Cupping and Twisting

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    Air Drying Osage...Bottom Board Cupping and Twisting

    Hey all,
    I've got a stack of osage air drying in the yard right now and I'm having some potentially serious issues with the bottom board. This is the first time I've dried lumber myself so it's a learning process. I've gathered as much knowledge as I could from the internet and a couple books. This is all being done cheap, and I don't have access to all the tools and space that would be ideal. The space that the stack is on isn't completely level but it is flat. Stickers are just 1x4's in white pine. Ends were sealed with polyurethane. I was careful to stack the boards progressively from thickest to thinnest, and used shims where needed because the boards were perfectly consistent in thickness. It isn't perfect but it's stacked about as flat as it's gonna get. If I were planning on running all the boards through a planer and losing half the thickness of each I wouldn't be worried but I want to retain as much thickness as possible and thus the flatter the boards are kept the better.

    I thought things were going pretty well but then this started happening.







    The bottom board is both cupping and twisting by a significant amount, and as its the bottom board whatever twisting happens to it is translated up through the other boards above it to an extent. My only idea is to add more sandbags on top of the stack but this board being over 2" thick I wonder how many it would take to flatten the board back. Each of the bags on top of there now weighs 60 lbs so I imagine it would take a ton of weight to get that board flat. Thoughts or advice?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    You can probably get away with it in osage, but your stickers are too wide. Better to rip to 1" x 1" square stickers. With many species, stickers that wide will lead to sticker stain.

    You could always unstack the stack and remove the offending board and put it on top. That way, one offending board does not ruin the whole stack. Kinda like the one bad apple saying.
    Last edited by Danny Hamsley; 07-22-2015 at 9:28 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    New Hill, NC
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    Ditto what Danny said. By using wide stickers you are significantly reducing the lbs/ft that is being distributed to the wood. If I were you I would make the stickers 1 x 1-1/2" to make it easy to lay them correctly.

    Also, restack and remove the twisting plank from the bottom, as it is distorting your entire stack. The twist is probably related to how the tree grew as well as how it was aligned when it was milled.

    On top, center all of your weight above the stickers.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
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    Lake County, IL
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    In addition to removing the offending board, narrowing and adding more stickers, i would get that bottom layer of the ground a little more. Cinder blocks are often used to accomplish this.

    Also, what are your weather conditions, is the wood drying too quickly?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Sorry, but a "ton of sand bags" won't flatten that board. 5 tons might.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    South central Kansas
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    Quote Originally Posted by ryan paulsen View Post
    Also, what are your weather conditions, is the wood drying too quickly?
    Summers here are pretty hot-most days in the 90's-but they aren't terribly dry so I wouldn't think the stack would be drying too quickly. But this being my first time doing this, I could be wrong.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Burch View Post
    Sorry, but a "ton of sand bags" won't flatten that board. 5 tons might.
    Ugh that's exactly what I was afraid of...Is there anything I can do to save that board?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Matthew Hutchinson477 View Post
    Ugh that's exactly what I was afraid of...Is there anything I can do to save that board?

    A jointer?
    Gerry

    JointCAM

  9. #9
    Nothing that you can do except what Gerry said.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    South central Kansas
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    Well hopefully this ends up saving me some board thickness. I ripped those 1x4's down to a little over an inch a piece, added one more set of stickers so now they're about 16-18" apart instead of 24". If anyone sees any other mistakes, or if there's anything I can do to ensure that these boards dry straight and flat, I'd appreciate any advice.





    Thanks for all the replies

  11. #11
    It looks much better but, since you asked... Your cinder blocks should have been turned 90 degrees supporting the sticker all along its length on the bottom. It appears the extra weight out past the blocks is bowing your stickers which transfers up the stack. Maybe just an illusion on my monitor?? Most would say the space down the center isn't necessary.

    Do you have plans for a project using this wood?

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    South central Kansas
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    Thanks for the thought, I'll have to keep an eye on those stickers. I don't think it's an illusion--some of the stickers are bowed a little bit. Some were already bowed when I stacked everything up and a couple of the boards are bowed a little bit from when that big warped board was on the bottom. I'm hoping those boards will flatten back out as they dry but we shall see.

    No specific plans for this project yet but if I end up having enough lumber from this stack I'd like to build a coffee table. It'll be my first big project from scratch so nothing too complex but I intend for it to be something nice enough to pass down someday.

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