Drying maple slabs in basement or outside?

[summit583guy]

I've got four 8ft 2.5" thick maple planks (western big leaf) that I want to dry to be used for live edge table tops. Would it help speed up the drying process by bringing them
Inside? Right now there under a tarp stickered with weight ontop. Ive dryer red cedar in my basement with good success

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Yes they will dry faster in your basement, they will also split/crack and warp faster too!

I'd leave them covered outside until they got down to 25 or so % in the center, then bring them in.

Rob

 

[Cody Colston]

What he said.

You should also lose the tarp. You want air flow through the stickered stack and the tarp will prevent it. While too-fast drying will lead to checks and warp, too-slow drying will lead to fungal stains. I use corrugated, metal roofing to cover my air-dry lumber stacks.

 

[xabub]

Ditto. But when you get ready to work the wood, let it equalize where the table will set. Otherwise you may have some unwanted movement of the wood once you're finished.

 

[Talltom]

You can use a tarp as long as it is tented above the stack. I use a pole above and pull the sides of the tarp out with tent stakes or wooden stakes and nylon cord.
View attachment 227475

Before I made these cribs I used PVC pipe as a pole. It can be set on top of cinder blocks put on stickers on top of the stack, but you need carpet scraps or something similar to keep the blocks from damaging the tarp where they contact. Tarps protect the sides of the stack better than roofs on top of the stack, but they only last a year or so. I use 2 on each stack - the top one degrades in the sun and the bottom one keeps the water off. When it's time to replace, I dispose of the top one and put a new one underneath.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Pole barn tin is cheap, as you can use it over and over!

Rob