Storing rough wood to dry

[Mike Holbrook]

My conversations with sawyers taught me that I am not quite ready to actually saw. I plan to get a forester out to help select trees. My first chore though is to figure out where I would store the wood. I have plenty of space but a large part of it is available to clients as a Dog Park.

I discovered that I still have 10 sheets of 16' tin left over from building the roof to my training building. I have a large area behind the building that gets no travel. The building is built in a large hole in the side of a hill. I was thinking about erecting a roof against the back wall of the building. I would end up with a 16x20' roof, with a wall behind it and a 9-10 ft cliff just on the other side of it. The problem is this area is pretty damp. I was thinking of raising the wood well off the ground on boards and some railroad ties I have, but I am afraid that air circulation will be restricted in that damp semi subterranean area.

Maybe I would be better off erecting a plane roof in the open on simple treated poles? Or maybe just placing the tin on top of the wood with scraps to hold it in place would work? I was thinking about wrapping the sides with a clear plastic. I imagine a tin roof over clear plastic would heat up pretty good in the Georgia summer sun. How do you guys store wood to dry? I know about stickers and keeping the wood off the ground.

[Jim Becker]

Never wrap your pile unless you want to reduce it into a slimy, moldy mess. The tin on top is all you need--rain and snow don't matter, although you don't want puddles on top and that is what the tin is for. The best drying has all four sides of the pile open to air flow...and that means out in the open, although some folks do put up a shed as you describe.

[lou sansone]

I agree with jim, hate to keep plugging another web site, but for topics like this you will get a wealth of info @ woodweb.com and look at the sawying and drying forum. There are also lots of publications by the wood forest product laboratory that go into detail on all of this.


lou

[Ian Abraham]

Mike

I wouldn't recommend drying wood in a damp lean-to. If moss would grow there it's not a good place for drying.
Airdrying timber requires good airflow through the stack to carry away the moisture, otherwise as stated you will get mould / fungus / who knows what else. An open pole shed / carport type structure is good, but simply covering with roofing iron and securing it will work too. Once the wood has air dried it can be stacked inside to further dry, or just be stored untill needed.
If you want to speed things up you can look at solar kilns. Going along with your idea of plastic covering, but you need some little extras to make it work. Mostly fans to move air through the stack and vents to release the humid air / bring in fresh air. Otherwise you will have probably have made a 'spalting box'
Woodweb site has lots of info / plans for solar kilns... or check the forestry forum to talk to guys that have built / used solar kilns.

Cheers

Ian

[Mike Holbrook]

I have been to Woodweb and made a post there. I am doing more reading there too. I am starting to get a clue but will put some more study into this before I do anything drastic.

I believe I will try to locate a local source for dried hardwood so I can try some of the wood types before I cut up a bunch of something I may not enjoy working with.

[Ian Abraham]

Just remember Mike, Nothing beats the satisfaction factor of saying "I made this... from my own tree"
All the trees you mentioned are useable for something, although there are tricks to sawing and drying them to learn. Thats part of the fun.
I'm just starting out in woodworking having started in the reverse direction to you. I had access to some unwanted trees and came across a second hand portable mill. Now I have a shed full of dry cypress, cedar, pine and eucalyptus and am slowly working on my woodwork skills (and scouting for more trees )
Talk to your forester, cull out some trees and get them sawn up.

Ian

[Mike Holbrook]

Thanks Ian, I am planning on doing just that and I am very excited about it. I am just trying to make sure I do not saw up a bunch of wood that would end up becoming waste. I started out with the idea of buying an inexpensive Alaskan Mill. Many here suggested against it and I think that is sage advise, at the moment I have to many irons in the fire anyway. I have not given up on the idea of sawing some myself in the future though. I see so many trees go to waste in this area.

I hate to admit that we had to take some incredible trees down building a 1300 ft road and clearing land for a house. No one would buy the hardwood, nice big logs, many of which must have been veneer quality. Our builder finally found someone who hauled them off for free. Many truckloads of beautiful long logs left our land. I imagine it was enough to supply a small mill for quite a while. I would not allow that to happen again knowing what I know today. There was this very large Beech they took down by mistake.... naaa I can't even go there it is just to painful....!