Price to get lumber kiln dried

[laxin213]

Hello,

I had a friend of a friend mill some hard maple for me. These were some trees I took down on my land. Nothing special or fancy about them, but nostalgic value to me as a hobby woodworker. I've anchor sealed the ends and stacked it in my truck for now. I don't have a picture of all of it, but most boards are about 6' long, the stack is 4' wide and about 25" high. My rough calculations put it at about 600 bf.

I had a hard time finding anyone local to me (buffalo ny) willing to kiln dry it. I called several places and most don't offer their kiln to the public, or are too busy to take a smaller order like mine at this time.

The only place I found wants .60/bf. That includes them unloading, stickering, kilning, and the storage until they can kiln it (2 months or so) Is this a decent price? Thanks guys

 

[Mike Van]

I've always gotten it done with air dried wood, like the old days - Can't help you on pricing, but you should at the least get that lumber stickered [especially maple] as the mold is starting in that pile as we sit here.

 

[4x4American]

I called around and got prices awhile back on kiln drying, and they were all over the board. I can't remember what they were asking off the top of my head. But, if there's only one guy who can do it, looks like you'll be paying his price!

 

[groundup]

$1/ bd ft here

 

[laxin213]

Thanks guys. They have it stickered. Some surface mold has started. Once I get it back, can I just plane off that mold or will it discolor deeper into the wood? Will it disappear after kiln drying?

 

[Mike Van]

If it's in a dry place right now, the mold should stop. Depending on how deep it went, it might plane off. Running wet wood through a planer doesn't work well, it leaves a fuzzy finish, plus you're throwing all that mold up into the air. If you haven't found a kiln, at this point I'd just let it sit. Sugar maple is a tough wood to dry, as the bacteria has a feeding frenzy on all that sugar.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Might wind up with some spaulted maple, though. A little fungus can be a good thing!

 

[laxin213]

Hi guys, lumber is still at the kiln. I ended up finding a smaller local guy that kilns for .40/ bd foot. Thanks for the replies on what to expect too- we shall see.