Stability and drying
- Thread starter wavefreak
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Bryan Hosford
ArboristSite Lurker
Drying
you will get more (defects) with air drying, but it's all about how you sticker the pile. good level base and stickers and I've had great success with air drying.
you will get more (defects) with air drying, but it's all about how you sticker the pile. good level base and stickers and I've had great success with air drying.
SilverBox
ArboristSite Guru
Quartersawn wood does the best when drying because of the bind from tangential vs radial shrinkage is virtually eliminated. Almost all drying cracks come from one of two things that I've noticed, tangential vs radial stress being the first and wood defects being the 2nd.
Aside from that it seems that if you dry in a humid environment slowly you get less cracks then in a dry hot environment. Kiln drying works because the humidity is fairly high. You put fresh sawn wood out in 100 degree 10% humidity stickered and it will crack and warp like there is no tomorrow, you stack that same wood in a nice cool creekside with high humidity and shade and it will crack far less. Its not just outside vs kiln, its what the conditions are like.
A nice patch of shaded creekside blackberries is a great place to dry logs or even sawn wood... vs.. say death valley
.
Aside from that it seems that if you dry in a humid environment slowly you get less cracks then in a dry hot environment. Kiln drying works because the humidity is fairly high. You put fresh sawn wood out in 100 degree 10% humidity stickered and it will crack and warp like there is no tomorrow, you stack that same wood in a nice cool creekside with high humidity and shade and it will crack far less. Its not just outside vs kiln, its what the conditions are like.
A nice patch of shaded creekside blackberries is a great place to dry logs or even sawn wood... vs.. say death valley
.
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Long term storage?
I am slowly adding to a pile of beams and boards that I hope to turn into a cabin one day. I have been air drying mostly ash, I started about 6 months ago. I have the pile on cinder blocks and stickerd with few coats of latex paint on the ends. I have it in a sunny spot but it stays tarped. Other than a few minor splits and cracks mostly in the larger beams things look good so far.
I was checking things over the other day and got to thinking, over the next few years bugs could really do a lot of damage. The pile is all ready to large for me to store inside so what can I do to keep my stash safe without staining or discoloring the wood?
I am slowly adding to a pile of beams and boards that I hope to turn into a cabin one day. I have been air drying mostly ash, I started about 6 months ago. I have the pile on cinder blocks and stickerd with few coats of latex paint on the ends. I have it in a sunny spot but it stays tarped. Other than a few minor splits and cracks mostly in the larger beams things look good so far.
I was checking things over the other day and got to thinking, over the next few years bugs could really do a lot of damage. The pile is all ready to large for me to store inside so what can I do to keep my stash safe without staining or discoloring the wood?
SilverBox
ArboristSite Guru
Bugs won't go up copper green coated wood or bug sprayed concrete blocks, your pile should do fine with copper green wood or bug sprayed concrete blocks as your earth contact.
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