Got some lumber questions - kentucky coffee wood redoak sugar maple

[YoungTreeGuy]

So I got some kentucky coffee wood logs a couple red oaks that may not be veneer and couple nice sugar maples. The amish mill charges me $.20/bf to mill it.

I wanna slow dry it but for how long and is better to put it in my barn upstairs that has two doors so the wind can blow right threw or outside?

How can I tell if the moisture content is low enough for resale or use?

If outside is better, should I cover it up with a tarp when it rains or put some junk cover boards over it?

And anyone got an idea what kentucky coffee wood lumber is worth I hear its pretty rare.

 

[TreeHugger046]

Kentucky Coffee ?

Can't help w/ the questions, but since I never heard of it, I searched and found some interesting reading about it here:
Kentucky Coffeenut - Wood Specie Properties

Good luck with that.

 

[horseloger]

dying these boards is a good idea but will not dry the lumber to a satisfactory moisture content to resale the lumber! To do this it must be put into a dry kiln and finished off to a mc of 8 to 10 percent!
The first thing you need to do is make sure you sticker the lumber well. Take some dry wood and cut into 3/4x3/4 strips and place them about a foot a part then place your boards on top of that then put more strips in the same manner on top of the boards you just layed down, keep doing this until you have made a stack about 40 inches high or you run out of boards! Make sure that you do not mix your spices of wood because one will dry faster that the other. Let the wood dry in this manor for 6 to 8 weeks, then you need to find some one with a kiln to finish it off!If your going to get into this pretty hard and heavy then you should in vest in a moisture meter the run about a $150.00 and you can get them online or at any large woodworking store! A good book to read is Bruce Hordleys drying wood it will give you alot of detail! You might also want to get on woodweb.com they also have a lot of dry kiln and saw milling information !

 

[YoungTreeGuy]

The lumber has to be kiln dry or can it just be slowed dryed because some fourms I've seen said pro cabinet makers perfer slow air dryed wood more then kiln dried wood. It also said to resale when the lumber reached half its orginal moisture content. I guess this wood give the option to kiln dry it. Not sure who wood have kiln that could fit 16' boards in it.

 

[horseloger]

Very few professional wood workers will want air dyed stock unless they are buying it to dry themselves, and if thats the case then you are not going to get as high a price for it as if it were kiln dried! There is too many variables in different peoples homes so they get it as dry as possible too make sure that any wood movement dose not check or rack the piece! I think what you are seeing in those forms is that they want the wood to be slowly dried so as not to stress the wood, That is a different process than air drying although air drying dose help this is why I suggester for you too air dry the wood for 8 weeks before sending it too the kiln! As far as the 16 foot lengths fitting into a kiln most commercial kilns will take this length but somebody that dose custom kiln work will probably not have one that will except those lengths, I would cut them to eight foot if thy are all clear boards, or if they are not you should check out they NHLA grading rules and try and clean the knots out there are different grades of lumber and if you are going to be in this business it would be to your benefit to learn this ! See the coffee tree wood in a fas board kiln dried could bring 1.50 per board foot too where a no 3 board will only bring the .20 per board foot that you paid to saw it!