lumber milling dimensions

[brian660]

just a quick question for the guys who`ve been milling commonly available lumber, are you guys compensating for shrinkage when you mill? if so how much bigger are you milling say 2x4`s and 4x4`s etc.

also how long does your lumber typically dry for before you use it?, almost everything I mill is one off larger pieces that I sell or use green since its cheaper for me to just buy regular lumber when I need it.

 

[woodshop]

just a quick question for the guys who`ve been milling commonly available lumber, are you guys compensating for shrinkage when you mill? if so how much bigger are you milling say 2x4`s and 4x4`s etc.

also how long does your lumber typically dry for before you use it?, almost everything I mill is one off larger pieces that I sell or use green since its cheaper for me to just buy regular lumber when I need it.

In general, I mill my rough stuff 1 1/8 if I want to end up with 3/4 after S4S. There are exceptions. For example, quartersawn relatively stable stuff, like oak I can sometimes get away with milling 4/4 and still get 3/4 after it dries/shrinks. In the other direction, species like apple twists up so much that I always slice that 6/4 or more, and then resaw after it dries if I want thinner stuff. Black gum also twists up a lot. As for time air drying, that depends on lots of variables, not the least of which is type of wood. What time of year you mill also effects that time. However, that actually differs between species also. Some species dry faster if cut in spring, others fall. There was an article in one of the recent Sawmill & Woodlot mag about that. Bottom line I got from the article was that in general, there was no cut and hardfast rule concerning time of year to cut for ALL species. The time of year you sticker the pile to dry DOES make a difference though. I found in spring and fall my poplar and pine dries pretty fast, 5/4 dries in less than a month. Oak and cherry take anywhere from 4 months to a year to stabilize and get down to 15%MC. Thicker stuff, like 8/4 or 12/4 cherry take even longer. However, very few things I've milled take much more than a year if stickered properly, and located where there was some air flow through the pile.

 

[bookerdog]

lumber

I've learned a great deal of lessons from milling wood. I try to mill all my wood at least 3/8 greater then what I want as a finished s4s product. I mill alot of red fir and it is very forgiving and almost always comes out great. With certain hardwood its a bear (dogwood) shrink crack twist you name it. As for drying there's nothing like a mositure meter. I use my wagner all the time. I think its one ivestment that really pays off.