Well, I had the luck of finding three big cherry trees (16″ – 20″ diameter) fall on our farm. The local sawyer and I, who is not a high production mill, cut the boards to 6/4″ and he stacked it in his kiln.
The wood off of the saw blade was fairly nice. His work at stickering and kiln drying wasn’t too precise. The lumber strips used in between layers were different sizes and he left it to dry a bit too long. As a result there are many twists and very few long straight boards. I suspect I can cut shorts to 36″ or 48″ and use some of it.
My questions are these: I have stacked it in the barn for the last year in the hopes that it will pick up some moisture and stabilize. Is this wood a lost cause or can I use the jointer and planer to make some decent furniture grade lumber from this stack.
Sure would appreciate any advice here. This is the first time I have milled whole logs in the hope of using it for furniture. Also, I have a few nice black walnut logs at his mill waiting till they can be cut. Any suggestions on how to treat those?
Thanks.
Robbie
Replies
well, you are doing what you can - just keep the cherry stacked and stickered carefully and make the best of it - the walnut, I suggest you air dry to keep the best color, stack and sticker for yourself like it matters (you found out how much it does) - it'll take a year or two to dry, depending on your climate, but better a small wait than the distress of dealing with spoiled product - is your friend a better sawyer than kiln operator? how the boards are coaxed from the log is important - - best of luck - DOUD
Robbie,
Assuming it is still in the process of drying I would suggest putting some
weight on it while it dries.
In essence we are trying to get the wood to conform to a usable state for us that will be fairly stable in a piece of cabinetry or furniture.
Wood always wants to move and will move.
We just try to understand it and control it.
The wood industry tries to do that through steaming and driying in kilns.
Air drying works well if you have a flat stack surface, stickers consistent with the species you are driying, coverage from rain and snow and sun but with sufficient air flow, weight on the lumber pile and that the end grain has been sealed so that it will not loose it moisture too rapidly.
IF, all these conditions have been met you MAY end up with usable lumber.
Good luck!
Tom
His work at stickering and kiln drying wasn't too precise. The lumber strips used in between layers were different sizes and he left it to dry a bit too long.
I think you got greased. Cut your shorts and make really small stuff for awhile.
" If you kill a man, it is a tragedy. If you kill a million, it is a statistic." - Josepf Stalin, attributed.
I would stay away from his kiln, and air dry the walnut. Doesn't sound like he's very careful at all with his drying process, and if he's not you can get boards right out of the kiln that might look straight, but when you go to rip them they go all crazy on you due to case-hardening. This is not fun, and makes all that cutting and drying a waste of time and nice lumber.
There are plenty of books and articles out there on properly stacking, stickering and drying wood.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
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