Stacking dead pine boards

[whitebread]

Here in Texas we've lost lots of pines so I'm curious about how to go about stacking pine boards from dead trees. The boards I'm milling will be used for wall paneling in a tack room for a barn. They have some bug holes and tunnels and some blue stained areas. I don't have a kiln so I'm stacking them (1" stickers) in a covered shed. My question is how to keep the bugs and termites from ruining what I've done? And what about mixing oak and pine in the same stack? Will the areas where the stickers contact the boards trap moisture enough for termites to live?

Thanks
Thomas

 

[Sawyer Rob]

IF you use 1" DRY stickers and keep the stack off the ground in a DRY area, covered you won't have any problems at all. (assumeing the bugs aren't already in any of the cut lumber and the bark is off the lumber)

You could nail that pine up as you mill it.

Only reason i see a problem mixing the species is, it's harder later to get all pine or all oak out of the stack...

DRY stickers won't stain lumber...

SR

 

[Dave Boyt]

If you are really worried, you could have the ground in & around the shed sprayed for bugs, though I've never done that. I do recommend a tarp on the ground, and the first layer about 7" off the ground (6" blocking, plus a sticker). Blocking & stickers should be about 20" apart to avoid sagging of the boards, and you should have good air flow through the stack. A couple of fans would be great, if you have electricity to the shed. Here's a sketch of what I do for drying boards. Notice how straight the boards are. That's because I just put on a new blade and haven't hit any nails yet. :msp_biggrin: