How long do you sticker your wood?

[Paul F Mills]

I picked up some wood yesterday that has been in storage for 12 years. I will be using it over the next six months to a year. Do I need to sticker it or can I just stack it high and tight?

[Doug Dawson]

I picked up some wood yesterday that has been in storage for 12 years. I will be using it over the next six months to a year. Do I need to sticker it or can I just stack it high and tight?

Do you have a moisture meter? What is it telling you?

With kiln-dried wood, I might let it sit for a few weeks in the (climate-controlled) shop and then machine it. But I'm always bearing in mind that somewhere in the machining process the wood may have been destabilized, and may have to sit for a while mid-process before I do anything else to it. Famous example, resawing. La la la.

A moisture meter doesn't have to be mil spec calibrated, but it is immensely useful for telling you whether the wood is going to coexist peacefully with the reality you intend for it.

[Jeff Duncan]

If its dried just stack it until you need it. If its something that's really crucial that it stays straight, then I might mill slightly oversize and let sit for a few days. I find that milling often reveals the movement a piece will have, so doing it ahead gives time to let stabilize again before final sizing.

good luck,
JeffD

[John TenEyck]

Stored for 12 years means nothing. Unless the wood is within a couple of percent moisture of the EMC of your shop then you should sticker it and wait until it is. The only way to know what the moisture content of the wood is is with a moisture meter or by cutting a small sample and oven drying it.

John

[Jim Andrew]

Air dried lumber is not going to mold in your shop, and the purpose of stickering is to allow for air movement so the lumber can dry without getting moldy on the surface. It can acclimate to your shop without stickers.

[Edward Dyas]

I picked up some wood yesterday that has been in storage for 12 years. I will be using it over the next six months to a year. Do I need to sticker it or can I just stack it high and tight?

As a general rule you stack and sticker wood for a year for every inch thickness with freshly milled lumber. That could vary depending on conditions where it is stored. If it is stored someplace humid it could take much longer. You really need a moisture content meter if you are going to use air dried lumber. I think Lowe's has one for under 30 bucks that works well.

[Jim Becker]

A moisture meter is always your friend. If that lumber has been stored for 12 years, one would "hope" it's dry at this point, but you cannot assume it is or that it's even across all the boards. How they were stacked previously and the environment will have effect on that. In an ideal world, we would all have the space to sticker every board in our racks to keep nice airflow so moisture content is more uniform. But "ideal" and "reality" are not always in sync. In fact, they rarely are when it comes to space. So check it out with the meter, but I suspect you'll be just fine stacking it "high an tight" based on your description of the material. You could also do the intermediate step of stickering for a few weeks or a month or two so it can equalize to your shop/storage environment and then stack it "high and tight" for space savings.

[Paul F Mills]

Thanks for the responses everyone. The storage conditions are similar to those at my home, basement garage. He had most of the wood just thrown in various piles, with some on wire shelves. The wood on the shelves was more for organization than airflow I think. Most of it is 2” thick or less.

The wood I already have stored in my garage is mostly stickered and taking up too much space, so after I check the moisture content on it I may de-sticker it and just check again before using it.

I guess I really do need to buy a moisture meter, so that is on the list for my next trip to Lowes. I will check the content this weekend, let it sit in my garage for a few weeks, then check it again before using it.

[Scott T Smith]

After 12 years the lumber should be fully dry (even w/o airflow) unless it is extremely thick.

It’s always a good idea to check it with a meter, but if it were me I’d spend more time looking for any signs of active powderpost beetles. They leave very fine sawdust piles on the wood, and if a board looks like it has white spots that are comprised of extremely fine sawdust then odds are that you’re lumber is infected.

[Paul F Mills]

I checked that before loading. There were two pieces with little holes like the Beatles leave but there was no dust like I have seen before. I set those two pieces outside to check more closely later.