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Thread: Stickering or NOT with dry rough sawn planks

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Aiken, SC
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    Stickering or NOT with dry rough sawn planks

    I used to own a Woodmizer Sawmill and over the years I milled up over 8000 board feet of cherry, maple, and white/yellow birch from our tree farm in Vermont. Fast forward about 10 years to today where I live in South Carolina and I still have about 6000 board feet. I store the wood in an unconditioned storage space where I stack them with stickers between every row. I grab boards as I need them for projects and bring them into my conditioned shop for a couple of weeks before I start working with them.

    I want to greatly reduce my storage space bill by cutting my space needs in half. Can I re-stack all the piles without stickers in this unconditioned storage area???

  2. #2
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    Dec 2010
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    As long as the wood was dry at some point, yes.

    John

  3. #3
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    Feb 2010
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    Aiken, SC
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    Thanks John.

    Yes it got down to about 8% MC while I was in Vermont, but now in SC with our temps/humidity it bounces around a bunch.

  4. #4
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    Sep 2006
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    One problem that might occur is mold if any moisture gets on the boards.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed Aumiller View Post
    One problem that might occur is mold if any moisture gets on the boards.
    Yes, but that's no different than for lumber stored at any wood supplier's warehouse. It's always dense stacked for shipment and storage.

    John

  6. #6
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    Feb 2010
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    The wood will be stored in a dry enclosed space, probably the third bay of a 3 car garage. It will certainly have big daily swings in humidity from our usual South Carolina weather.

    I could easily set up some fans for constant air movement, but will never be able to set up a conditioned space. And because this is rough-sawn when you flat stack it there are minor air gaps between the boards.

    Here is what the trade off comes down to. I harvested all this wood myself over 20 years in Vermont and did all the saw-milling, so there is a deep attachment. And I do build furniture and built-ins on a slow but steady pace using about 400 board feet a year. So that supply should last my lifetime.

    But my CFO wants to reduce our storage costs, so I have to come up with some solution. I'm going to try some flat stacking and see what happens.

    Thanks.

  7. #7
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    As long as it stays dry Mike all will be fine. There's no need, or benefit, of putting a fan on it.

    John

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    Shenandoah Valley in Virginia
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    If you wrap it in plastic, it will reduce the moisture swings in the wood, help protect against insects, etc.

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