Drying cants vs. slabs

[Upnorth4]

I'm real new to this whole process, I have had a Huge amount of sucess with my first attempts at milling thanks to the EXCELLENT resources on this site, thanks guys!!
I am planning on building a pole barn using poplar siding, tonnes of question that can be answered later (ie, tongue and groove milling vs. ship lap joints, pine vs. popular siding, vertical vs horizontal siding on a pole building....). But for now I just want to start milling the blank material. I won't be building till next year and want to spend sometime this year cutting the rough material.

Soooo.... If I want to end up with 4/4 siding am I better to dry it in thick cants and resaw when dry or saw to 5/4 now?

 

[woodshop]

...Soooo.... If I want to end up with 4/4 siding am I better to dry it in thick cants and resaw when dry or saw to 5/4 now?

Short answer in my humble opinion, no. Mill it 5/4 and it will dry a WHOLE lot faster. You won't have the hassle of resawing all that later... what a pain that would be, then you would have to plane it all down again... sheeeeesh.

 

[Mike Van]

What Woodshop said - Cant's left to dry will usually check right to the heart on one face, sometimes two. When you mill it, try to get the pith in one or two boards, watch what happens to them - Splits & checks will be the worst in them.

 

[Upnorth4]

Possible excuse for a ripsaw

Most of the milling will be from fairly small trees (16" max). I'm in the Boreal forest, tonnes of very tall, straight trees, but none of any real size. The long straight 4"x6" timbers for the barn frame will be very easy to cut.

I was thinking that this year I would cut and dry a tonne of cants and then next year justify the cost of a ripsaw. I dont think that I will plane the boards, the rough texture on a barn looks great to me, and the finnished dimensions from a decently set up ripsaw should be good enough. I'm thinking that if I need to I could square the edges off in a table saw before routing a tongue and groove or shiplap edge..... any thoughts?

In the end labour aside, which will result in the least checked lumber, drying as a cant or a 5/4? Drying time isnt critical since I dont plan on building till next spring.

 

[Brmorgan]

In the end labour aside, which will result in the least checked lumber, drying as a cant or a 5/4? Drying time isnt critical since I dont plan on building till next spring.

Drying individual boards will by far be better for checking as long as they're properly stacked and stripped. Boards will want to warp more than a cant so you might want to weight the top of the stack. As far as drying time, the general rule for airdrying is 1 year per inch of thickness so if you're cutting green trees and want it dry by next spring you'd have to cut boards now. I have some 6" D Fir beams I cut last spring from dead standing trees that still aren't completely dried, but they are full of checks and splits. Hard to avoid that with box-heart center beams though.

 

[woodshop]

.. As far as drying time, the general rule for airdrying is 1 year per inch of thickness...

Actually, as has been said here on AS many times, that one inch per year rule is more myth than fact. In my experience, drying time has much more to do with the species you're drying. 5/4 poplar and most softwoods dry down to about 15%MC in only a few months in warmer weather. Oak and cherry take longer, but almost never more than 6-8 months. Even 6/4 and 8/4 are usually dry to 15-20% in only a year if not sooner. Of course lots more variable need to be taken into account. I read a study of drying times compared to what time of the year the tree was cut once, and the conclusion was that it too depended on the species. Some trees dried faster if cut in the spring when the sap is running, and some were the opposite when tested in a controlled environment. Climate, temperature, humidity, how many hours of sunlight, how and where the boards were stickered etc etc... lots of variables.

 

[deeker]

I agree with boards, espcially for ship lap siding. With a jig set up, let the 4/4 dry and the rip 1/4" to 3/4". Less warping after it has dried in board form.
Similar with shingles. Hard to dry an uneven cut.

I also dry cants, then when john q. customer wants a cant in whatever x whatever it is cut to their specs and less checking.

And then, boards for boards purposes/uses. Cut into just oversized and dry them.

If I cannot confuse, I am not trying hard enough.

Kevin Davis
Ruff Cutts

 

[Brmorgan]

Actually, as has been said here on AS many times, that one inch per year rule is more myth than fact. In my experience, drying time has much more to do with the species you're drying. 5/4 poplar and most softwoods dry down to about 15%MC in only a few months in warmer weather. Oak and cherry take longer, but almost never more than 6-8 months. Even 6/4 and 8/4 are usually dry to 15-20% in only a year if not sooner. Of course lots more variable need to be taken into account. I read a study of drying times compared to what time of the year the tree was cut once, and the conclusion was that it too depended on the species. Some trees dried faster if cut in the spring when the sap is running, and some were the opposite when tested in a controlled environment. Climate, temperature, humidity, how many hours of sunlight, how and where the boards were stickered etc etc... lots of variables.

I definitely agree that there are more variables than are practical to consider in most cases which is why I said a "general rule". Where I live we can easily have snow on the ground for 5-6 months of the year so it's probably more applicable here than, say, Nevada. Put them in a sunny area with lots of airflow (most important) and the time can be decreased greatly. The sawmill I work at air-dries whatever the kilns don't have time for, and it takes almost 6 months to get rough two-by down to below 19% and even then there's a lot of wet boards getting pulled in the planer to be dried further. That's S-P-F though, and a lot of our logs are already quite dry because they're dead standing beetle kill trees. Some of them just explode when I send them into the debarkers.

If one really wanted to cut and dry cants maybe a solar kiln would be a good option? I've never used or seen one firsthand though.

 

[Tree Bones]

Lots of good information here. I would check with other locals near you about sizes and drying times. Click Here for more good drying information.