wood storage

[J. Greg Jones]

I stored all my wood horizontally for many years, and I tried multiple ways to make it work for me. I never was happy with any of them as it always seemed that the boards I wanted were always on the bottom of the stack. I built a vertical rack about 3 years ago and I'm well pleased with how it has worked for me in my basement shop. It has 6 full-sized bays and 1 small bay separated by two rows of pipe and hardware from the BORG.

My basement shop is dry, but I still built a base to keep everything off the floor. You can see that the base is wider at the corner, which lets me store full-size sheets of plywood off the floor. The small bay is for large cardboard for stencils, the screen/storm doors for the shop, etc. I have almost 8-1/2 feet of height to the bottom of the joists, and a full 9+ feet between them. What you cannot see in the picture is that I have a small rack to the left that is attached to the joists that does allow me to store a handful of longer boards horizontally that won't fit in the vertical rack.

One thing that I would recommend adding to this style of rack that I have't yet done myself is adding some type of chain/cable/rope keeper to prevent boards from tipping out of the rack. I've never had that happen yet, but I suspect it is a matter of when it will happen, not if it will happen. If you do go with a horizontal rack, I'll second the recommendation that you don't need stickers if your wood is already dry.

[Robert Engel]

I store both ways but for longer lengths I prefer vertical storage. The biggest advantage is being able to sort through lumber without all the labor of removing from shelf and putting back.

Shorter lengths of lumber or lumber I know I won't be using for a while gets stores on horizontal racks.

I try not to have a huge amount of lumber sitting around, particularly sheet goods. I do, however, anticipate acclimating lumber for a project for several months before I start the selection and milling process. So most of my lumber in storage is already intended for a project (albeit maybe a couple years away ;-)

What kind of projects? If you're building furniture you can have a lot of money just sitting there waiting for a project. Therefore, I recommend buying for each project, and always over-buy by 20-25%. You will gradually build up an inventory without tying up money for those smaller projects.

That being said, I am "guilty as charged" when facing a good deal at the sawill. Most recently, I couldn't pass on 8/4 Ambrosia maple for $3.50. Same with 4 bookmatched crotch walnut planks 30" wide X 6' long they let go for $60 each. [/gloat] :-D

[Brandon Speaks]

I didn't expect vertical to be an option. I should share this:

The bracket on the wall acts as a support and provides the lip for the dividers to slide on.

Attachment 381810 . Attachment 381811

With the bottom kicked out and tilted a 12' board touches the wall bracket on the way up and touches to wall at the 12' plus mark.

Attachment 381812 . Attachment 381813

I like this, I think I will go with a version of it. Thanks for your help.

[Carlos Alvarez]

Greg, I would recommend adding the pipe insulation or friction tape to those pipes. I've seen metal pipe leave marks on wood. It also minimizes the risk of them sliding out.

[J. Greg Jones]

Greg, I would recommend adding the pipe insulation or friction tape to those pipes. I've seen metal pipe leave marks on wood. It also minimizes the risk of them sliding out.

I went with galvanized pipe to avoid any reaction between the wood and the metal, and after 3 years marks have not been a problem. I have some lightweight chain left over from another project that would be perfect as a keeper, but the procrastination force is strong with me!

[Carlos Alvarez]

I was given a bunch of wood that had laid against galvanized fence pipe for a couple years, and the contact area was stained a gray-silver-black color that ran very deep. I have on idea at what point it becomes a problem, just thought of that and how much wood I had to remove to get rid of it.

[Andrew Seemann]

Metal will discolor wood, especially if the wood has tannin in it, but the wood needs to be fairly moist for that to occur, and probably far too moist for normal woodworking. My wood rack has black iron pipe (regular 1/2" black gas pipe from Menards) that the wood rests on, most of which is coated in some kind of enamel, and I have had no problems with discoloration. I once left some air dried white oak on the table saw for a month by accident, and again, no discoloration, as the wood was to dry to react.

Now if you have condensation on the metal and the wood is touching the wet metal, that would be a problem.