Building a stock of wood

[Paul Johnstone]

Hey Christopher,

Usually when they ask for the lengths you want, they are asking in general terms. My supplier sorts based on 8-10' long, 10-12' long, 12'-16' and maybe another catagory. The longer boards are little more expensive.

For me 8-10' is a good size (I have also bought 7' long from somewhere else).. The longer pieces have potentially less waste, but they are a bigger pain to handle and store.

As far as what species to get.. What is your favorite? If you like cherry, maybe get 200 bdft of 4/4 (about 1 inch thick) and maybe a little 8/4.
The 8/4 will take longer to dry. Think about it.. you can waste quite a bit and still come out ahead.

If you go this route, you probably should invest in a jointer, planer, and moisture meter (hartville tool sells a decent moisture meter). The meter lets you know when the wood has completed drying.

[Brian Kincaid]

I have had poor results with 'sawn log' aka 'what drops from the log' lumber. Several hundred board feet ended up being about 100 board feet of useful lumber. Out of that I had very few clear pieces. Wild grain (reversing) made machining 'difficult' to put it lightly. Lots of extra time and wear on the jointer and planer.

My latest buy was green graded lumber FAS 4/4. It dries over the summer stickered in my garage, I can use 80-90% of every board, and the cost difference was $0.50bft sawn log to $1.50bft FAS 4/4 (green rough cut).

So, based on my experience I think if you are buying wood for woodworking you should buy graded lumber.

Since I've made a long post I'll add in some other nuggets from experience:
1) You aren't a lumber yard so don't joint 8' boards unless you need jointed 8' boards. Crosscut pieces to needed length + 1" or 2" before machining. It will save you a lot of time / wear on the jointer. Then crosscut each end again after machining to square the ends to the jointed faces.
2) Always adjust your plans to use different thickness material. Only plane off enough to match similar pieces to thickness. If everything is exactly 3/4" thick it will look more like Ikea and less like the handwork of a craftsman.
3) I have started resawing more, even 4/4 lumber. Good hardwood makes great short shelves less than 1/2" thick. A 3/8" thick hardwood shelf won't sag much, and it can add nice contrast between thick/thin pieces. You also get more use out of each piece of lumber. It will challenge your old school joinery skills. Some techniques don't work well in thin material (screwed brackets for example).
4) If you have a severely cupped board you will get more lumber by ripping down the center of the cup, machine the pieces then join the board back together. If the cupped board is over 6/4 thick you can rip the board to widths just over your desired thickness, machine, then 'roll' the pieces over and join. I made several 7"+ wide boards out 6" wide boards this way. They were very stable after the operation.

Best of luck.
-Brian

[Paul Johnstone]

I have had poor results with 'sawn log' aka 'what drops from the log' lumber.

Good point, it kind of pays to look at it. But I guess the OP doesn't have the option.

It also depends on what you are going to build. If you are going to build a 7' long kitchen table, then off the log isn't likely to work.

If you are making cabinets that have a lot of 2-4' pieces, log grade is more viable.

But yea, don't expect FAS grade quality at that price.

[Brian Kincaid]

Ah, yes. The jointer. Well, I don't have one.

Talk to anyone who has used a sled for any length of time.

You MUST have a jointer... that is all

-Brian

[Christopher Morgan]

Talk to anyone who has used a sled for any length of time.

You MUST have a jointer... that is all

-Brian

There are many virtues of the discussions that take place here ... helping me resist the urge to buy more tools is definitely not one of them.

[Rod Sheridan]

There are many virtues of the discussions that take place here ... helping me resist the urge to buy more tools is definitely not one of them.

We're here to help you with your tool addiction.

We'll help you rationalise and justify continually larger and more expensive machines and tools.

It's a free service we provide for all members.

I've included a link to a thread to illustrate our objectives for your shop.

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=124420

Regards, Rod.

[Christopher Morgan]

[QUOTE=Brian Kincaid;1257287]
Since I've made a long post I'll add in some other nuggets from experience:

Thanks for these tips, Brian. They are helpful.

[Christopher Morgan]

For me 8-10' is a good size (I have also bought 7' long from somewhere else).. The longer pieces have potentially less waste, but they are a bigger pain to handle and store.

As far as what species to get.. What is your favorite? If you like cherry, maybe get 200 bdft of 4/4 (about 1 inch thick) and maybe a little 8/4.
The 8/4 will take longer to dry. Think about it.. you can waste quite a bit and still come out ahead.

Yes, I sure do like cherry. So your advice seems pretty reasonable to me. Incidentally, cherry -- along with the ash -- is what I will be ordering in specific dimensions and quantities for the projects I do know are coming up in the future ... boats.

[ian maybury]

Must say that i'm in a similar space regarding wood - i'm just getting going on the professional level and am wondering about what approach to take.

I seem to be gravitating towards the view that the main benefits of DIY wood buying and drying are as follows:

1. Potential cost saving.
2. Better choice of wood if you have lots of stock.
3. Known seasoning/drying status.
4. Less pressure to 'take a flyer' when you are uncertain about the dryness of timber.
5. Possibility of commercial sale of dried timber.

The downside is i guess the amount of work and effort involved. It makes sense if you want to be able to buy timber right to invest in a chainsaw mill or something like that too, or at least a bandsaw capable of heavy duty re-sawing. One bit i'm not so certain about is how much of a learning curve it may entail to figure what sort of processing works best, but there's a couple of very expert people on Woodweb, and anyway provided you don't get too ambitious by trying to dry too quickly or in too large sections i get the feeling it's fairly straightforward.

It seems like it's not too hard to set up a smallish kiln using a dehumidifier and a remote probe moisture meter. There's lots of information posted by guys active in the field on Woodweb.

This guy http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/ makes a nominal charge for a write up on how to build a smallish kiln as above - he's active on Woodweb. http://www.woodweb.com/ It's not exactly at the working drawing/professional engineering level, but seems like solid information based on gnuine experience.

I'm planning to give it a go anyway next year. Kiln dried timber is pretty expensive around here (around $60/cu ft for oak), and as a result of less than perfect control of storage conditions can be a bit variable in quality anyway.

ian

[Kevin Godshall]

I'm in the same boat as you are. I have a local mill, will give me what I want for good prices, but random lengths/widths, no sorting.

I get a lot of what would be considered junk to other woodworkers. Knots, wormholes, bark, pith.... you name it. Forget the grading. You're going to get whatever comes out of the end of the mill.

Having said that.... if you're willing to, and able to, do something with that kind of material, you are sitting on a gold mine. It's gotten to the point for me, that they just show up with a pickup load and dump in my yard and say "You can have it."

You will need to grade your own lumber, dimension your own lumber, and be creative in using whatever you end up with. One load maybe all 1sts and 2nds. The next load may be wood stove fodder. Buying like that, you can't really order your lumber for your projects, you more have to plan your projects around whatever you have in inventory. If a project needs better than what you got, you need to go somewhere else and buy quality for that project.

Just my thoughts. Let us know how you make out.

[John Shuk]

Of the woods listed I would buy QS Oak(white or red), Cherry, and Hard Maple.

[Johnnyy Johnson]

What is the average drying time for 4/4" air dried lumber? Does fans speed up the process? What thickness on the stickers? (3/4?)

[Brian Kincaid]

What is the average drying time for 4/4" air dried lumber? Does fans speed up the process? What thickness on the stickers? (3/4?)

For me in Dallas, TX 4/4" dries in less than one summer in my garage. I quickly realized when I got a moisture meter that almost all of the drying happens over the summer. A moisture meter is very nice but not completely required. My stickers are between 3/4 and 4/4" thick. I highly recommend you run a fan especially if you have machines in the same location. No airflow + moisture + cast iron = rust on a machine that is not packed for overseas transport no matter what wax product you use. I run a regular box fan 20"(?) on low speed 24x7. It is hung from the ceiling pointing slightly down towards the stack. Rust is not really much of a problem. I probably clean my machines 4x a year.

-Brian

[John Keeton]

Most that buy green wood realize this, but I have found that buying wood cut after a frost, and stickered will do better. The sap is down, and it dries better. In addition, there is less chance of mold in the winter. By spring, it has lost enough moisture that mold growth is minimized.

Also, always use dry stickers to prevent mold and staining.

Just some thoughts.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.

Rod - GUFFAW - I spit out my beer when I read that line. Very good. Very good. Gotta clean the beer off the keyboard now.