I recently bought several hundred board feet of curly cherry at a good price for my area. Unfortuately when I got home my eyes were a lot bigger than my shop. Now, every time I do anything I find myself having to move a stack of wood from the bench to the table saw to the jointer or vice versa. What is the best way to store it for the next year or so?
My first problem was that I could not keep it in the original 8-10′ lengths. Since I know the projects I want to build, I have already cut the boards into rough lengths for those pieces. If cutting it already was a mistake, it’s too late.
Heck, I even matched wood for table tops , dresser sides, etc and marked it accordingly. Now when I move it I feel like I have to keep the entire “piece of furniture” together. It finally occured me me over the weekend that I am paying a little more every weekend for that great deal. I need to find a semi permanent home for it.
The wood is dry and most is planed to 7/8″ thick. The widths are various, a little over 4″ to about 12″ with very little sapwood along the edges of a couple of the wider boards. There is a some stock that is still in the rough 4/4, and a little 8/4 and 10/4. It is cut in lengths from approximately 24″ to 48″ with most being in the 30-36″ range.
My shop is in the basement garage and is dry. I can’t think of any other variables. I also have some nice left over 8/4 and 12/4 mahogony I need to store, too.
Do I have to store the wood stacked, ends sealed, and stickered, or can I just stack it flat? I thought about building a low frame under the TS side and outfeed tables that would take most of the wood, but only if I can stack it flat, one board on top of the other. Or better yet, would it hurt to store some of it standing on end in nooks and crannies around the shop?
Replies
A basement is probably never dry enough for long term wood storage. However, if you have no alternative, I would suggest installing some hangers from the ceiling (floor joists are exposed, I hope) such that you can store it overhead & close to the house floor. You can make the racks with 1x4 lumber. Install it with drywall screws then you can remove or salvage it later if you wish. I would coat the ends with wax if it were my problem. Locating the racks near the center of the house is probably a good idea, too.
Cadiddlehopper
I have never checked the mositure level, but it stays pretty dry even though Nashville is humid and pretty wet most years. The lot slopes to that side and that end of the house is almost all above grade. Maybe the gas furnace and gas hot water heater help.
I would love to have the overhead option, but have low ceilings, approximately seven feet at the front of the house, sloping back to about 7'4" at the back where the garage doors are located. And I have already claimed most of the usable overhead space. I built some racks as you suggest over the garage doors, and they work great, but they only take 3-4" total thickness. I keep plywood and MDF over one door and area over the other is already chock of clamps, hoses, extension cords and other assorted stuff. Elsewhere I have ducts, gas vents, plumbing, and the occasional flousescent fixture that cuts the overhead area to 6'4" or less.
I need to store about 250bf, and the only place I can see is under the saw tables. I am thinking building a low rack to keep the wood off the slab is the way to go. What sort of wax should I use to seal the ends? I have some paraffin I could melt. And I have some I dissolved into Mineral Spirits to coat cauls and wood clamps. Would either work?
I live 100 miles south of you. My basement is very humid.By all means, do keep the wood off the floor. Watch for mold near the floor, too. A dehumidifier will help as will heat or A/C.I am no expert on sealing ends. I melt candle wax onto the wood that I store, but it is usually quite green. Hobby Lobby has that wax. Be careful melting it since that is what gives the flame to candles. You might be able to use some safer & more common sealer if your wood is well dried. Oil-based paint might work. You would be wise to get that info from someone other than me.Cadid
Thanks, for the help. You in north Alabama or southern Middle Tennessee? I drive thru on I-65 to south Alabama and the Gulf Coast almost every month. Do you have good wood sources down your way for hobbyists? I met a guy a month or two ago from Huntsville who told me about a great place in Scottsboro, called the Hardwood Store, I believe, but I haven't checked them out yet. And I don't guess I should until I build something with my present surplus.
The previous owner of my house installed a dehumidifier on the central heat for the living area of the basement, but I've have never had any noticable trouble in the shop in almost ten years. Now I'll probably go down there this weekend to find all my planes and chisels rusted and the wood corkscrewed. Now that I think about it, I have no clue if the dehumidifier works, or how its supposed to, except I occasionally have to blow out the line that it and the condensate pump dump water into.
This wood is dry, but some of it is very striking, at least to my untrained eye. Unless, it proves to be terribly difficult I think I'll seal most fo the pretty stuff to be safe.
Hardwood Center, I believe, is the name of the place just west of Scottsboro on south side of US 72 near Dairy Queen. You pick it out. Good selection domestic & imported but limited quantities. Fair prices & the store is expanding. There are a couple of sources in Huntland TN. Quantity purchases from one, the other picks it out. Just stop to ask. Huntland is tiny. I live in Owens Cross Roads, actually on the city limits of Huntsville. I would offer storage space but the previous owner started an infeststion of powder post beetles in the storage space. I may have defeated them, but you never know. I don't store there.If your summer has been as dry as mine, humidity probably hasn't been a problem. Good ventilation helps plus your more northerly latitude makes conditions better than mine. I am very near a lot of water also -- Paint Rock & Tennessee Rivers & flood plains. Very seldom is humidity below 50% except for this summer during which we had some desert values. LOL!Cadiddlehopper
Thanks, I'll check them out when I run through this wood.
If the lumber is dry you don't need to sticker it.
C.
Curley Cherry, huh? Why not just stack it at my house? I'll make room. ;-)
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh,PA
You are too kind, you'd probably let me pay the shipping, too. And I am guessing the load would be a lot lighter on the return trip.
I take it I don't have that big of a problem. I built a couple of 2 x 4 racks last night that look like they'll work okay. I can support the wood every foot. At least it'll be off the floor.
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