Replies

1. 
   GT | Jan 20, 2004 02:39am | #1

   I have about 200 bdft of cherry air drying now for over a year now.It`s been flat sawn to max the yeild. As long is your base is level and you sticker every 16/24 inches  and weight and cover the top ,you should be ok. So far, my wood seems to be ok ..

   
   

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   Edited 1/19/2004 6:44:25 PM ET by spiff

2. 
   JohnWW | Jan 20, 2004 03:32am | #2

   Yves,

   There are two types of warpage, the natural change in dimension and flatness that occurs as wood gains and loses moisture and warpage due to not properly handling green wood that is freshly cut into dimensioned lumber.

   The first type of warpage is unavoidable no matter how carefully or by what method the wood is dried.  A quarter sawn board, because of the way the rings run in it, is the most stable cut and will generally not cup with changes in moisture content, but a quarter sawn board will still expand and contract across the width of the board. 

   Where stability counts, in applications such as door frames, quarter sawn wood should be used.  The down side of quarter sawn boards is that they don't show much grain figure and sawing a log for quarter sawn stock takes more time and wastes more wood.

   Flat sawn wood by comparison, will cup when it gains and loses moisture but it will show the figure of the wood, so it is best used for panels and table tops where the joinery of the piece will allow for and control the cupping.

   Even a flat sawn log will produce some quarter sawn boards, usually in about the right proportion for the needs of a cabinetmaker.  If you want to be sure of having sufficient quarter sawn, have one of the straightest logs sawn for maximum yield of quartersawn stock and then flat saw the rest of the tree.

   John W.

1. 
   YvesG | Jan 20, 2004 04:29am | #3

   Thanks JohnW and Spiff for your help,

    

   After reading John's reply I recall reading an article about the fact that Flatsaw logs give a percentage of Quartersaw (see I even have the spelling right this time J )… This is because I spent two hours digging in my back issues of FWW to find it (Buying and Drying by Todd Scholl in FWW #68).

    

   I plan to store the wood in shed that have been build for machinery. The shed have a very good roof and is closed on three sides. Since there is no floor I will lay some cider blocks on the ground. It should be no problem to level them; the inside of the shed is light sand. Also last year I put my hand on a bundle of old oval sticks from a local kiln, most of them are still very straight and dead dry.

    

   Since this tree will give some large boards, should I ask the neighbor to saw them in narrower plank? I can only joint height inches anyway. Could this help?

    

   To be on the safe side, I bought some "End Sealer for Logs". Is this stuff helps? On the can, they recommend to applied it immediately after felling which brings another question. My neighbor (that's the guy in control of the chain saw… and the portable sawmill) will cut the tree sometime this winter but will not saw before next spring. Should I freak out and hassle him as soon as the snow clear? Or do we have a bit of leeway?

    

   Gee every time I think about it there are some more questions!!!

    

    

   Thanks a thousand guys for your kindly help

    

   YvesG

1. 
   jonsherryl | Jan 20, 2004 07:04pm | #6

   Yves, you've gotten some good advice so far and I'd just add emphasis to several points:

   -End coating the wood as soon after the tree is felled is very important...as is keeping the pile well weighted. This is true for all species.

   -As long as you maintain some airflow, especially early in the drying process (shouldn't be a problem in a three sided building up in Canada :O)) it isn't particularly critical when you fell the tree and begin the drying process. Cherry has good decay resistance and bluestaining isn't as serious a problem as it would be if you were drying maple or ash, for example.

   -The longer you leave it on the stickers, the better. You want it to experience a full year (all seasons) on the stickers...and this is a minimum in a cold climate like yours. The key is, there's no such thing as overkill when air drying wood; it will never get too dry.

   -Cherry is one of our more stable woods. It experiences a lower overall volumetric shrinkage than does even walnut...so distortion isn't a major problem. However, its T/R ratio is only about average (1.92 : 1), so it does have a slight tendency to cup and this adds some importance to keeping the pile well weighted.

   - And finally, as for the milling specs, my personal opinion would be to have it flatsawn. This yields two benefits: First, it slabs off most of the sapwood, and sapwood is something to be avoided with this species. Second, one of the primary appearance benefits of cherry is its fabulous tangential figure. Unless the log has curly grain, its quartersawn figure isn't any more interesting than that of red alder or sweetgum (two of the better, and cheaper cherry substitutes)...so, if you're lucky enough to be working with the real thing, you want to maximize its best features, i.e., the complex flatsawn figure and the beautiful heartwood pigmentation, with its unique patina forming potential. 

   Edited 1/20/2004 11:10:08 AM ET by Jon Arno

1. 
   YvesG | Jan 21, 2004 02:43am | #7

   Wow!

    

   Thank you so much guys. I feel a lot more confident with the process now.

    

   I will give you some news this spring when the pile will be in the shed.

    

   P.S. Indeed Jon Arno, maintaining airflow in that building have never been a major concern ;o)

    

   YvesG

3. 
   MyTacoma | Jan 20, 2004 04:44am | #4

   YvesG, have you had a chance to visit this Website?

   http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/sawdry.pl

1. 
   15Broad | Jan 20, 2004 07:03am | #5

   YvesG -

     Woodweb is a good site, but it seems its mostly pros with sometimes little time for guys with one or two trees.  The end sealer is sure not going to hurt.  It prevents the rapid escape of moisture from the ends of the log and eventual planks which can lead to excessive cracking from the end in. 

     The dimensions you have it cut into is really up to you, but keep in mind that there's a reason why we don't use wide planks for cabinets.  Trees are round and planks always want to be trees.  The flattest lumber I've found at the kiln I deal with seems to mostly be in the four to eight inch range.  Whether this is because the really nice wide stuff is gone by the time I get there or not I don't know, but why have it cut into pieces that you're just going to have to rip apart anyhow?

     As far as getting on your neighbour about felling and sawing as soon as the snow's gone, fall and winter and EARLY spring are probably the best times to fell and mill timber as the initial drying rate will be slower and the tree will not be as likely to be quite so wet.  Bear in mind that the lumber industry doesn't take summers off, so if you have to wait it's OK.  Just keep it sheltered from direct sunlight in a well ventilated but not windy area.

       Also, the more time you give the green lumber to air dry the better - to an extent.  As a rule hardwoods take about one year per inch thickness to come down to around 20%MC.  The lower the moisture content before the wood hits the kiln, the less likely it is to develop casehardening, which makes it very difficult and potentially dangerous to work (it can pinch the saw blade resulting in kickback). 

     Remember to solidly support your stack, sticker every row (12-16"centers), use your slabs or bottom grade sticks for the top row and weight them down.  Ideally the best lumber is on the bottom of the pile so the weight of the stuff on top helps keep it straighter. 

     The wood's going to move a bit no matter what you do, but that's why someone invented the planer.  Best of luck to you.