Newbie Sawyer: drying a variety of species at the same time

[soundforest]

Last winter brought several trees down intact (upended at the roots). I plan to start milling them this winter: cherry, big leaf maple, (possibly some large spalted :msp_unsure: maple, alder and western doug fir & walnut. The lumber will be in varying lengths. I plan to , at least initially, air dry then possibly move to a kiln. In my reading research I haven't found specific approaches as to stacking different species together. Should I avoid stickering different species in the same stack?. I plan on using 1" x 1 1/2" kiln-dried doug fir for all stickers. (?). I was planning on spacing my 4x4's 24" apart - should they be closer & making each stack group 4' wide. How far apart, width wise, should each stack, within a group, be?

BTW if this has already been discussed could point me to the post(s)?

thanks,

Soundforest,

Logosol M8 & Timber Jig, Logosol Sliprobot L1,Portable Logging Winch PCW5000, Logrite buck arch, Stihl MS660. MS440,

 

[Dave Boyt]

Depends on your kiln. If the boards are going into an industrial steam kiln, don't mix them. If you use a dehumidification kiln or solar kiln, set your schedule to the slowest drying wood, based on species and thickness. An aggressive schedule can over-dry the faster drying pieces, so take it slow at the end. Take time to equalize out the wood to the desired moisture content. If you use a solar kiln, just keep track of the moisture content of the slower drying pieces, since the kiln pretty much equalizes out at night. Real good source of info on the Sawing & Drying forum of Woodweb.com. Consider getting a wood moisture meter, and check the moisture of wood in various parts of the kiln.

24" spacing is a little wide for 1" thick boards. I'd go to 20". Keep the stickers between layers lined up straight.

 

[soundforest]

Thanks Dave for the info regarding the kiln end of the process. I haven't even begun to tackle that aspect yet. Initially I'm looking at dos and don'ts regarding the air drying process mixing different woods. How much does it matter if I mix, say, alder and. maple in the same stack to even it out?
Most of my wood will be culled from our 60 ac for personal use. As to an eventual kiln I'm leaning toward a humidifier type such as the Logosol Sauno. I thought originally solar but that doesn't appear to be the best small scale choice for the NW.
BTW I forgot to mention Hemlock as another species in the mix.

Sorry if my original post was not clear in intent.






Xeew

Depends on your kiln. If the boards are going into an industrial steam kiln, don't mix them. If you use a dehumidification kiln or solar kiln, set your schedule to the slowest drying wood, based on species and thickness. An aggressive schedule can over-dry the faster drying pieces, so take it slow at the end. Take time to equalize out the wood to the desired moisture content. If you use a solar kiln, just keep track of the moisture content of the slower drying pieces, since the kiln pretty much equalizes out at night. Real good source of info on the Sawing & Drying forum of Woodweb.com. Consider getting a wood moisture meter, and check the moisture of wood in various parts of the kiln.

24" spacing is a little wide for 1" thick boards. I'd go to 20". Keep the stickers between layers lined up straight.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Got it. No problem mixing species while air drying, but watch the alder and maple for discoloration. Make sure you have good air flow, some sort of roof over the stack (roofing tin works well-- tarps tend to trap moisture). The Europeans used to recommend a year of air drying per inch of thickness. Here in the U.S. the rule of thumb is a month per inch of thickness, but in wetter climates, it might take longer.

 

[mikeb1079]

Here in the U.S. the rule of thumb is a month per inch of thickness

david you must ship your wood to air dry in death valley! lol.

for the upper midwest my air drying times have varied (approximately) between 6 months to a year per inch of thickness depending upon species. for example oak dries slower than cherry and walnut.

it doesn't really matter though b/c once you start sawing you'll be having so much fun that your lumber stack will grow and soon enough you'll have so much dried lumber that you won't know where to start.

 

[hamish]

Its truly dependant upon ones climate, and an accurate moisture meter. Kiln dried or air dried oce taken out of that environment it will absorb mositure and change the mositure content in the wood.

A month per inch................might as well slap it up green, all depends upon what the final usgae of the lumber will be used for.

 

[Daninvan]

My understanding and experience is that most of the "bad stuff" (cracking, warping, discolouration, etc) happens in the early stages of the air drying. When air drying you can mix and match species to your heart's content. And once the wood is air dried enough (where I live, which is close to you, usually after 2 years taking it down to around 12% or so), you can put it in a DH kiln at full blast without any problems.

I find problems only occur when trying to kiln dry wood that has not been fully air dried first.

dan

 

[BlueRider]

My understanding and experience is that most of the "bad stuff" (cracking, warping, discolouration, etc) happens in the early stages of the air drying. When air drying you can mix and match species to your heart's content. And once the wood is air dried enough (where I live, which is close to you, usually after 2 years taking it down to around 12% or so), you can put it in a DH kiln at full blast without any problems.

I find problems only occur when trying to kiln dry wood that has not been fully air dried first.

dan

There is no point in kiln drying wood if it has already been properly air dried. You can take it down to 0% MC, but it will come back up to what ever the wood in that environment is. By the way this is exactly what I do wiith hammer handles, I do initial shaping and fitting then pop it in the oven with the pilot light for 24 hours and then do my final fitting and mount the head. as it comes back up in moisture content it swells and get even tighter. You do want to air dry any wood for a bit to get rid of some of the free water before starting wood in a kiln, but this would never take the wood below 30% MC.


I prefer stickers that are square and have settled on 7/8". I mill all my wood at 2 1/4" and space my 4x4's at 30" and 12" from each end. I would never mill less than 1 1/8" and then would probably space at 20-24" and 12" from the ends. Mixed specied stacks are fine for air drying. My 2 1/4 slabs usually take about 18-20 months, but some species take less and some a bit more and balck locust will take closer to 36 months.