# wood storage /distance between supports compared to stickering



## vjeko (Jan 19, 2009)

From what I've read on the web, stickering is usually done with a spacing of 12"-16" 
for 1" or thinner boards and 16" - 18" for anything thicker like framing lumber, with
20"-24" being maximum (commercial stickering is around 20"-24" ).

I'm planning a wood rack and I was wondering how is it that I see 
a lot of examples of boards being supported in excess of 36" - don't
the rules for drying wood also apply for keeping dried wood flat
i.e. need to use "stickering distances" between supports ?


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## GrandpaLen (Mar 6, 2012)

Vjeko,

Your thoughts are valid for lumber with a higher moisture content and lumber stored in uncontrolled moisture environments, although air dried or kiln dried when minimum moisture content is achieved and lumber is stored inside in low moisture conditions it is less likely to warp and twist with a little more distance between supports but I personally still store on my racks with 16" on center supports and 'sticker' spacing.

Work Safely and have Fun. - Grandpa Len.


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## JesseTutt (Aug 15, 2012)

My racks are on 24" centers so that they align with the studs.


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

I keep all my wood sticked at 16" when stored long term. My part of Tejas gets some wild humidity and temp changes, not to mention mold and mildew growth. this works well. there are a lot of places where I just use brackets to cantilever off of studs, that are also 16" on center(just like *Jesse T*, but my walls must be newer) . Automatic spacing, then just stack lumber and use ply scrap to stick as I go up. That is three and out… Problem solved!!!


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## harrymontana (Dec 8, 2012)

storage is not just about stickering, there are a few more issues to obbey on acclimating and storage of wood boards . Your stickers need to be vertically alligned, no sun, some wind, on this page we have listed the checklist on storage of your wood.


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## MonteCristo (May 29, 2012)

Lee Valley's catalog says 2 ft spacing is fine, with the first and last support near the ends of the board. More frequent can't hurt, but I've followed their recommendation and had no problems.


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## vjeko (Jan 19, 2009)

OK, thanks for all the comments - that certainly confirmed what I was thinking - now to try and find an
optimal solution for my cramped space


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

Here is a pic from my old shop. Look past the guy on the saw, and you'll see the brackets I used. They actuall extend over the side outfeed of the saw and take advantage of that space. It was also easy to just pull rips down and go right to the saw. They only extended about 16 to 18" off the saw which is about the same width as my unisaw fence, so it never interfered. On the back wall in the same shadow was my chop saw bank. the shelves extended above that as well. I could rip, stack, walk around and pull rips down from the other end right onto the chop saw. There were actually 5 sets of these brackets made up on that wall above the saw, and three under the table along the same wall. The material in the pic is ply so is not sticked the second pic gives a perspective of how small the space was. If you could see to the left of the camera it is right in line with the line of my chop saw, and you can see storage below the table. very efficient. Sorry bout the mess, this was shortly before i moved. You can see in my profile I liked this system so much I duplicated it with pallet rack in my new shop… on a grander scale.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

I think Len has it right - if you are working with lumber with a higher moisture content, stickering, following the rules noted by Harry are in play.
Personally, I almost always buy kiln dried, and I have for the last three years stacked it on side edges on flat shelves - all my lumber, maybe 500+ board feet, over 20 species. Haven't lost a board foot yet.

As far as the stuff I find that is not kiln dried, or even if I buy some from somebody that is air dried, I cut it up on my bandsaw and put it up to dry. It all gets stickered at 3/4" spacing in the part of my basement that gets some heat from the house, with hardwood, kiln dried stickers no more then 24" apart on the run, until the wood reaches somewhere in the low teens in moisture, then I will check the whole board with a moisture meter, (I own the Ryobi surface contact model), and if it all is well under 20%, like 12-14%, I'll put it up on the edge shelves. Once in a while some of it splits a little or just develops a double warp of some sort, but not much. Just put some flame maple I found locally and sawed a few months back up on the vertical shelves yesterday.


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## vjeko (Jan 19, 2009)

Paul , do you have any pics of the stacking on side edges and vertical shelves you mentioned ?


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## needshave (Jan 13, 2013)

Yes, +1 to Vjeko's comment. I would appreciate seeing it stacked on side edges. How do you handle all of the random width's? smallest to the front I would imagine. Very interesting idea. I have always store in on the flat side, on flat shelves with sticks in between. AS always, the one i need is on the bottom.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

I do not have any pics of the wood on its side on the rack. Each rack is essentially eight feet long, and about 24" wide. Choose that width so I could maximize cutting up the 3/4" pressure treated ply I used for the shelves. the shelf rails are simply 2X4 bolted to vertical 2X4 which are attached to the rafters in the room I use. I made two units, three shelves each. The ply shelves are held to the 2X4s by 1 5/8" drywall screws, driven down a little below the surface of the ply. Worked great.

I separate the wood mostly by color then family, if you can believe it. Length, it has to be at least four feet long to make the rack. I keep two 48" square pallets for the shorter stuff, which is flat stacked. The first and lowest shelf is about 6" off the ground, and the highest is about 24" from the ceiling. Split the middle one. 
When you stack, if you have one plank a little longer than eight feet it makes a great side border since it spans the two verticals, and provides a neat wall to stack all the others against.

I know sometimes this may not seem optimal, and you can separate any way you think is good, but after rearranging the wood three times, it occurred to me that I build most of my furniture by color, and having all the maple together is better than having it all on the shelves by size. I also have two of the shelves dedicated to the big stock, like 4X4s of old oak I got in an old barn, and the rest of that shelf is stacked with old oak. You can also stack on top of each other, so if you have a lot of 4-6" wide oak planks for instance, you can put a second layer on edge right on top of the first, which is already on edge, as long as there is wood next to it to hold it up. I usually fill one shelf so it doesn't tip a lot.

Right now I have a lot of this Pacific Coast maple that I got for $1.00 a foot at a sale at a local lumberyard in trouble, so I have that double stacked up.

One last thing, I try to mark with a black magic marker the type of wood on the edge sticking out, so I know what I am picking, so I don't pull a piece of pecan, when I actually wanted a piece of brown oak, and so on. It was a lot of work for the first writing of edges, but after that it is simple to do when you add new wood.


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

+1 On the labeling *Tenessee*. It took a while for that habit to really ingrain itself i me, but it is such a time saver. Even though I stack flat, I still label the font edge for what it is.


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## vjeko (Jan 19, 2009)

Tennessee, I guess this is what you have described (just one plywood shelf shown)










I was curious about "on the side" storage because I buy all my lumber rough sawn
i.e. log is "sliced" and dried and that's how I buy it and store it (without any removal of bark/outer
edges). I guess you remove the outer rough edges and then store on edge ?
Was curious how you keep the boards from falling over (the boards I buy
are anywhere to 35 cm wide and thickness is 3cm, 5cm or 8cm).


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## vjeko (Jan 19, 2009)

Any feedback ?


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## vjeko (Jan 19, 2009)

OK, did I say something wrong or did you all disappear on holidays  ?


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