Better Lumber By Drying at Home Inexpensively - INTRO

[jimithy]

This will be a multi-part post with photos... The info was gleaned from my father (a forester), references, and personal experience. This is not the best way... it is simply my way.

It is easier than you think to properly dry/season hardwoods inexpensively. When done properly the results can match your needs better than commercial kiln dried hardwoods (or sending your wood to be dried in a professional kiln). This is because each commercial batch treats all the wood in a stack in the same way... and they do not try to match your specific requirements. Often the resulting lumber is way too dry for your climate. If the Moisture Content (MC) is much lower than the Environmental Moisture Content (EMC) of where the wood will live out its days then you must compensate for much more swelling over time.

Professional kilns are based upon drying the greatest amount of wood in the fastest manner possible (that creates lumber that will satisfy the customer). Their processes are not based upon getting the best possible results. When I control the process I get better results than typical generic commercial processes can.

Excellent green lumber can be gotten quite inexpensively at various lumber company yards. I bought over 750 bd ft of green White Oak in Covington, VA for less than $0.75/bd ft. The extras needed to dry it outside costs between $80 and $150 depending upon what you already have. I calculate my overall costs to be about $0.87/bd ft and I expect >90% to be useful for fine woodworking which brings the cost up to $0.97/bd ft for excellent 4/4 White Oak lumber.

Note: Green Hardwood is HEAVY. The moisture can be much heavier than the wood (depending upon the species, the time of year, the recent rainfall when it was cut, and how long it has been sitting in the lumber yard). They will laugh at you if you come in any pickup and want to buy a number of planks.

Before deciding that you are going to embark on this path PLEASE read the USFS book "Drying Hardwood Lumber" http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr118.pdf You don't have to memorize it but it will tell you of most of the perils ahead. If you still want to try this then you will have some pre-knowledge of why I use various methods to get the results I want.

more to come... NOTE: IMPORTANT CORRECTION ADDED IN A REPLY BELOW

[woodArtz]

Thanks for getting us started down this path. It is interesting and will answer some questions folks have had over the years.

[bitbight]

Jimithy,

Thanks for starting this thread. I am all for trying to learn how to do these kind of things for myself. It sounds like you have some experience in just that. It is always welcome to hear what knowledge has been passed down and then modified by personal experience. This is one of those threads I will be watching.

Thanks again for your time,

Ray

[jimithy]

I just got a PM.

"EMC" stands for "Equilibrium Moisture Content" - I've never heard it called Environmental moisture content, but that's not to say that it isn't referred to this moniker.

EMC represents the moisture content that the wood will eventually stabilize to based upon the temperature and relative humidity in it's environment - ie when the MC in the wood and the Temp/RH in the environment are in equilibrium. In our part of the world, that's usually 14% - 16% for exterior wood, depending upon the season and specific location. Interior wood usually has an EMC in the 7% - 8% range, depeding upon climate and enrironment inside the house.

I'd love it if such corrections or other pertinent info was inserted as reply posts. It does not matter if you are completely sure about what you write or not. If other people differ in opinion then they can also reply.

As you read... my methods have come from my Dad, books/references, and practical experience. I need as many external inputs as I can get.

If this "how to" series is going to be useful then it needs to have corrections/amplifications added by others.

I call it "Environmental Moisture Content" because it reminds me that the target MC is completely dependent upon where the wood will be used. i.e. inside versus outside, swamp versus desert, variable relative humidity versus fairly constant relative humidity...

I have a tendency to modify monikers so that they are more meaningful to me. This can screw up someone researching books or the net for more info... so PLEASE correct me!

Thanks,

jimithy

[scsmith42]

Originally Posted by jimithy

I just got a PM.

I'd love it if such corrections or other pertinent info was inserted as reply posts. It does not matter if you are completely sure about what you write or not. If other people differ in opinion then they can also reply.

jimithy

Jim, that's a great approach, and I'm looking forward to the remainder of your post.

Also, welcome to North Carolina Woodworker!

Regards,

Scott

[JackLeg]

Originally Posted by scsmith42

Jim, that's a great approach, and I'm looking forward to the remainder of your post.

Also, welcome to North Carolina Woodworker!

Regards,

Scott

Like Scott, I look forward to following your thread. I'm always open to learn all I can about drying lumber. I have a solar kiln and have been very pleased with the results so far. I think you on right on with the MC levels.

Oh yeah, welcome to the fray!!

[Jeff Mills]

Welcome Jimithy I'm also looking forward to hear about how you dry and sterilize lumber.

[cptully]

Well, as Scott knows I currently have a stack of oak air drying in my basement. All seems to be going well so far and I am hoping to build the bench this wood is destined for late winter or more likely next summer. I expect that the 12/4 slabs (3 10" planks) will still be above EMC, but at the same time from what I have read about the earliest benches they were built with even greener wood that I will be using.

I am also looking forward to your continuing comments!

Chris

[merrill77]

This is very timely. Just a few days ago, I pulled out some walnut that I logged and air-dried in my basement about 15 years ago. I was just getting started in WWing back in Cleveland - a huge storm blew in across Lake Erie - they clocked the winds at over 120mph! Trees down everywhere. A friend was lamenting the black walnut that was down in his backyard. He traded me the three 6-8ft trunk sections for my labor and chainsaw. I lugged the trunks in the back of my aged Bronco out to Amish country where a sawyer turned them into boards for the bargain price of $8 I stickered them in my dehumidified basement for about a year and them stowed them behind my workbench, awaiting the day when my talent would be worthy of the wood.

Fast forward to today - I pulled a board out this week just for fun to see how it looked. I ran it through the planer and much to my delight, the sapwood is not hideously ugly, like the sapwood in the steamed and kiln-dried walnut that I used for a recent project. It's a nice creamy white that will contrast nicely with the heartwood when I finally get around to the project it is destined for.

So my first air-drying experiment shows promise, though I haven't really inspected the results closely. I've been thinking about building a home-made lumber-drier via dehumidifer - I think I saw plans for one recently. I have space in a garage that would proabably allow me to do a few hundred bd-ft at a time. I look forward to reading the rest of your posts.

[lottathought]

I am very interested in this thread.
In fact, I would also like to know more about cutting trees up. That seems to go hand in hand with this thread.
I have often looked at piles of trees that have been cleared as such a waste of good wood.
I have often wondered if there is a way to get some of it without having an entire mill.


Carry on.....

[jimithy]

I would also like to know more about cutting trees up.

I believe that topic is worth a whole new "how to" series. It should include how to fell trees because many problems such as severe checking can begin there.

I saw a set of diagrams w/text online somewhere a few weeks ago about the various ways to cut logs and the plus/minus of each. I'll go through my history and try to find it.

I have often looked at piles of trees that have been cleared as such a waste of good wood.
I have often wondered if there is a way to get some of it without having an entire mill.

Around this neck of the woods I have seen several inexpensive methods.

1. There is a sawyer listed in the free ads up in Pocahontas County, WV... but that is 90 minutes from here.

2. Since there is logging here there are lumber yards that will cut logs. It helps to get to know the different yard managers.

3. I have a friend here who for years made "artisan" tables for sale at the local resorts. She used fells from her own land and her husband (slave?) actually cut them up with a chain saw

4. There are a few guys in the nearby mountains with large band saws that cut planks for barter or a little cash. I found them by going to the "day labor" gathering places for locals (as opposed to day labor guys that have moved here from far far away Such places are often bars that open early.

5. Lots of the "day labor" guys make money by clearing fallen trees or ones that owners want to get rid of. They typically make firewood out of them and sell it. If they know you want certain types of wood then they'll drop by and let you know of likely trees before cutting them up. About a month ago I had to turn down an excellent Cherry tree. About 15"-17" in diameter... fell to 45 degrees and was lodged in a nearby tree (which would have allowed it to be pivoted the rest of the way down for a gentle landing.) Right log/wrong time... My time is consumed restoring the house enough so that we can move in... my money is consumed for the same reason

6. I have done a smaller cedar log using my own tools. The technique I will describe is for 10" or larger table saws with a coarse rip blade. I 1st cut a semi-flat edge using a chain saw. Laying the flat edge down I cut a 90 degree 3" flat edge on each side with my table saw. Laying it on each side I cut 3" deep into the back edge (it is best to flip the log for the 2nd cut). The 3" cuts into the top and bottom will create a 3"x6" plank (for the right size log). I then do two 3" cuts to clean up the chain saw cut. I then cut the plank into smaller boards using the table saw. (Pattern graphic below)

NOTE: For thicker logs try a pattern such as the bottom graphic.

NOTE: These cuts are not a good pattern that would be done by a sawyer... this is simply a way of salvaging wood that would otherwise be burned.

NOTE: About as much planing is needed as rough sawn wood.

NOTE: I have seen "chain saw guides" for sale. "MAKE YOUR OWN LOG CABIN!!" I'd never make all the cuts with such a device but it could make the 1st critical cut a bit straighter.

[lottathought]

Now it is threads like this that going to have me in the woods with 2 or3 trees on me and my legs gone..

Not that those images will stop me.

[merrill77]

For those of you following this thread, the next installment is here.