You may already know how to dry this way

[jimdad07]

My wife has a grandfather who is 87 (still drives, still hunts with us, and still battles his 86 year old wife) years old and was a cabinet maker and woodworker for over fifty years. I told him I was going to mill a few logs and the first thing he asked me was how was I going to dry the wood? I told him I was going to stick stack it, and being the extremely honest old man that he is, he told me I was wrong and that the best way to dry milled wood was by milling an edge and standing it on edge on a good level floor. He told me not to paint the ends when doing it this way and it would dry better than any kiln dried wood I could buy. Anybody here tried it like this before?

 

[mtngun]

the best way to dry milled wood was by milling an edge and standing it on edge on a good level floor. He told me not to paint the ends when doing it this way

That's a new one to me.

Most of my slabs have a live edge, kinda tough to get them to balance on the edge.

Plus, I'd have to rent a large warehouse with a good concrete floor to dry the same amount of wood that is currently stickered in one small temporary shed.

I'm just joking with you, but seriously, I've never heard of anyone doing it your grandpa's way.

My grandpa had some odd ideas, too. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Brmorgan]

Well I can see how it would be easier for moisture to escape that way - if the pieces are vertical there isn't anything to keep heat and moisture from rising straight up out of the bunch. The problem I have with these non-traditional drying methods is that there's no way to weight the pieces down to inhibit warping and movement. I guess you could still sticker them and then band them together with some ratchet straps etc.

 

[huskyhank]

I don't see anything wrong with his idea at all. I'd seal the ends but if you had space to do it I think it'd be fine. I think the same about standing the boards on end with plenty of space around them. It'll work fine. I don't think that stacking and stickering lumber will keep it straight. Its gonna bend if it wants to and if restrained it'll store stresses that will show up later. My opinion only.

 

[Andrew96]

Its gonna bend if it wants to and if restrained it'll store stresses that will show up later. My opinion only.

Well that's how I think of it too. If you dry it and store the stress with weight, it will bend back to where it wants to be as soon as it gets a chance. Drying it so it can bend how it wants too..then cut the shape out of it you want, will allow it to stay in that shape for a very very long time. Old timers seem to have a wacky way of doing things when you don't quite understand the reasons why. Dry, stable lumber for 'generations', not 1-2 years.

 

[BobL]

I don't see anything wrong with his idea at all. I'd seal the ends but if you had space to do it I think it'd be fine. I think the same about standing the boards on end with plenty of space around them. It'll work fine. I don't think that stacking and stickering lumber will keep it straight. Its gonna bend if it wants to and if restrained it'll store stresses that will show up later. My opinion only.

Maybe this is just for Aussie hardwood but I think it's definitely worth stickering and stacking and weighing things down properly. In many stacks of boards I have seen the boards at the top are generally more bent that those at the bottom.

It's very difficult to quantify the effect because every tree is different but even if you only save 1 board in 10 by proper stickering and stacking that means after 100 logs you have saved 10 logs worth of lumber.

 

[Kicker_92]

If you dry it and store the stress with weight, it will bend back to where it wants to be as soon as it gets a chance. Drying it so it can bend how it wants too..then cut the shape out of it you want, will allow it to stay in that shape for a very very long time.

What about steaming and bending wood for curved projects? Will it go back straight after a couple of years?

Picture it this way, each fiber is surrounded by water. As the wood dried and the moisture leave the areas around the fibers, they are able the shift around a bit before they set. The only way to make these fibers move again is to get it wet.

Speaking of old ways of doing things, they've been stickering and stacking lumbers for a long time. Sawmills here used to stack dimensional lumber like cribbing in huge square stacks to let it air dry. (before kilns)

 

[Brmorgan]

Well a lot of wood movement comes down to the sawyer in the end. Was time taken to minimize grain runout? Was a "straight" board cut from a curved log? Quarter-sawn or flitch-cut? There are many factors just as important as drying method.

I weight most of my boards down because most of what I cut is structural lumber. Once it's dried and set it won't move much. This is especially true of kiln-dried wood because the heat sets the lignin in the wood permanently. I do agree that it isn't necessarily the best idea for woodworkers though because it can hide some residual stress in a piece that can be "unlocked" when it's further worked down. I don't have to worry about that very often with structural beams and lumber since they most often stay the size I cut them with the mill.

 

[Andrew96]

What about steaming and bending wood for curved projects? Will it go back straight after a couple of years?

Picture it this way, each fiber is surrounded by water. As the wood dried and the moisture leave the areas around the fibers, they are able the shift around a bit before they set. The only way to make these fibers move again is to get it wet.

Speaking of old ways of doing things, they've been stickering and stacking lumbers for a long time. Sawmills here used to stack dimensional lumber like cribbing in huge square stacks to let it air dry. (before kilns)

Hey...I'm only here trying to learn. I've noticed one thing, there isn't one way to dry wood. I feel...it all depends on the wood..the area...the species, the application. I agree with your comments about steam bending, but wood that is easy to steam bend, is also easy to dry without too many tricks, what about the other examples that are say...not very straight grained? Boards that you know are not going to stay straight (maybe they were cut by myself rather than Brmorgan), will be all full of stress if you force them flat while drying. Open them up (if you need too....which I do exclusively), and then you have a problem. If they are going to be used 'as is' as dimensional lumber, then I would think weighing them down would be the best method, or using them at some higher %MC number. I would think there is also a big difference between hardwoods, and softwoods but I don't play with softwoods at all.

 

[rusty shackel]

standing wood on end is a old wood turners trick, at least around here
all the older turners do that.
rusty

 

[Rob D]

I've heard of that before...

I tend to stick and stack and am now putting vertical boards on the edges around the timber and ratchet straping the whole lot down together.

Ok this method may store residual stresses in the timer but on the whole if you take that wood straight from the stack and make it into something I find that the stuff you make still stays straight.

But the wood I don't use straight away I store upright in racks... And recently I've been putting green wood to dry upright. As has said above thought I don't think it's that practical a method if you have a lot to dry. Prob fine for up to 20 boards but after that space becomes an issue and you still need to have them so air circulates properly.

 

[discounthunter]

im sure this is fine,as a matter of fact i have some pecan drying this way. but,this wont work on all woods, some like to twist and need the weight to keep them straight, thinner cuts,say thinner than 2" will probably all twist or warp to some degree with no weight. but it does work for some .

 

[jimdad07]

Good information. There are a lot of neat things the old-timers know that will be lost with their passing, not many people want to learn how they used to do things anymore. Where, I live, my wife's granddad has made some neat stuff, like a 8' diameter round stained glass window frame with most of the webbing made out of wood, carved it by hand he told me. Would love to have half the knowledge those guys have in their head.