Another lumber storage question

I’ll vote for don’t worry about it.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

I probably wouldn’t worry too much about storage, either, Nicky.

But when you get ready to use some of it, be sure to bring it into your home and let it acclimate to the interior environment for three to five days before you work with it.

-- Ethan, http://www.merganserwoodworks.com, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/

Don’t worry about it, once it’s dried the ends don’t need to be sealed either, just keep it out of the weather.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

To expound upon Dick’s point, the main reason to seal the ends of lumber is when it is still wet and you want to prevent most of the moisture from wicking out of the end planes faster than it leaves the face planes of the board. That is what causes the endchecks and splits you might have seen, especially thicker slabs of lumber.

So if you’re ever stickering green wood, then you would want to seal the ends.

-- Ethan, http://www.merganserwoodworks.com, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/

I would think you would not need to worry about sealing the ends. Even with sealing, you can still get end checks, just not as bad. As Ethan said, this is mainly for “green” wood.

If I had a pile of wood coming, I would make preparations for storing it to minimize warping. If you are using it up in a few weeks, you might get away with stacking it on a level floor or supports without spacers between the wood. Nothing worse than needing a long board and finding out they all have a bend in them.

It sounds like the wood will be dry enough so you will not need the spacers for further drying. Just try to keep it as straight as possible.

Which brings us to another point, what way does everyone store their long boards? I have read some articles that say store them upright to prevent bowing and warping, while others advocate storing horizontally. Which do you use? I tend to store mine horizontally, but I notice the hardwood dealer stores them vertically.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

I think that hardwood dealers are expecting to sell them fast and that they won’t have a problem with bending.

If ours are stored for a year or 2 years you might end up with bends.

I’ve got a friend that has some 12’ walnut and he has one end at the ceiling and the other on the floor and he keeps turning them over because they are bent. I don’t know what it will look like when he finally uses them.

Of course storing them upright does allow the flexibility of sorting the boards without having to unload the storage place.

Today I had to unload 15 boards to get to the one that I wanted and now all of the others have to be put back in an orderly fashion so I don’t get cupping by having one edge higher than the other and putting additional boards on top.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

you really don’t need to worry about anything – just store them flat. I have a barn full of wood that we have sawed up over the last 25 years and have had little problem with maintaining it in good shape – all of our wood is air dried and when we start a project we bring in the boards needed to the shop ( your house) where ever you are going to work the stuff up. there is no need to do anything with the ends etcetera.

as Karson says – then they all have to be put back – I do covet a cheap forklift

-- cronk, oregon

I am expecting Karson to make a rotating lumber storage rack. Then he can stack his wood by size. When he needs smaller stock, rotate the rack around to the small stock rack. No more unstacking the entire stack to get that one prized board you are looking for.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Bill Can you design that for me. What I did do was make a compartment where I was going to put in short wood. It is also open from both ends so that I can stack in each end. But it’s full of 800bdf of wood and no more room for any more lumber. And it is mixed species so Its hard to find what is there.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

It sounds like you have a lumber problem to me Karson. The best thing I can recommend is shipping it all out to me. That will clear up your storage issue once and for all..hahaha.

Maybe you can make a small mobile rack for storing the smaller items. Do not fill it up too full, just the really good pieces you want to use and soon. And maybe a second rack or compartment for the not so soon to be used pieces.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

I was going to donate the smaller pieces to the toy workshop. That might still be an option. But I need to go through the stash. Some of the wood is imported and because it was short I put it in the bin.

You know you need a 1ft piece of cherry and I head to the cherry stash and not the short stash.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com