Best way to dry milled planks

[Brushcutter]

Hi

 

Been having lots of fun with my Alaskan mill and 660 today. Been milling up some nice bits of Hawthorn, Beech and Cherry that came from the work on Harpenden common.

 

Anway now i have the makings of some nice shelves i was wondering whats the best way to dry them. I have a big green house, a polly tunnel and the great out doors. what would give the best results?

 

The oak i've dryed in there has split really badly, where as the pine hasn't. Also a lot of it is full of firewood. Hows everyone else season theirs?

[Charlieh]

i air dry mine, strack it with small sticks between the planks in a nice dry barn with a good airflow around it,

 

i think depending on the species of wood, determines how long you have to season it, was the oak seasoned or green when milled? i have several lengths of cherry trunk drying but have painted the ends to prevent it spliting as it drys out.

[Aluk]

As charlieh says, paint the ends. Any old cheap paint will be better than nothing. As you have the outdoors, cover the stack, and keep it in the shade. A kiln is the best thing, but they're not an insignificant exercise. You have to control the humidity carefully.

 

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/csm.htm how's this? Look about 3/4 down the page, see where he's milling

[Vertical Lmit]

Paint the ends with pvc ideally a controlled environment reducing humidity levels slowly is best.

Talk to a man called Rob Dyer in Hamp seems to have his head screwed on!!

[wills-mill]

Most softwoods can be dried very quickly without cracking and problems- that's why there so good commercially, they can be milled and blasted in a kiln and be out in the builders yard very quickly. Of the hardwoods, Oak is very grumpy and needs very gentle drying- you can't just throw it into a very low humidity environment. It loses it's moisture very slowly, mainly because the vessels are blocked by tyloses and water must migrate through the cells.

 

The ways used to lessen cracking and degrade are all things that keep the drying cycle nice and gentle and very even- if you're in a greenhouse or polytunnel, the cycle of hot and cold is too extreme when the wood is fresh sawn. The important thing about a kiln is that they are hot BUT they are also very humid to start with.

 

Hot/ warm air can carry a massive amount of moisture, so if it is allowed to move freely over your boards and is constantly replaced by fresh hot air, then you will lose moisture too quickly. A kiln will be hot, but the air is circulated over and over,with only relatively small amounts of moisture venting to the outside world to start with. It doesn't matter how your kiln works (solar, dehumidifier, etc), they all operate on the same principle- controlled steady removal of moisture. If you wanted to force dry firewood, then a well ventilated greenhouse is your way forwards, just don't use it for FRESH boards.

 

I think most yards in Europe will air dry all their hardwood timber before going anywhere near to a kiln. Realistically as long as you have a good firm, level base that lifts the timber off the ground, and you use regular, even sized battens to stack your timber, and you use something as a lid to keep direct rain out of the stack, you will be OK.

 

A few things to slow your drying, keep your timber straight and cheat a bit:

Keep the sun off- direct sun is really vicious, keep your sunny end shaded, a bit of plywood or dangling a tarp is fine.

Keep strong winds out- If your stack is exposed, you may need to calm the wind down with netting or more ply/ boards/ tarp. You need good ventilation, but nothing too good.

Paint your ends- It's been discussed, it works. PVA glue's good as well. The shorter your boards, the more you need to think about sealing.

Think of your batten size- the 'sticks' used to space your stacked timber can be used as a way to control drying. If you have a timber you can dry quickly, then use a thick stick to let more air between the boards. I usually use 3/4in thick sticks, but with a fast and easy drying wood I'll use up to 1 1/2in thick, good for Western Red Cedar, Cupressus, Giant Redwood, Poplar. Only stuff you want to dry gently use maybe a 1/2in stick, good for burrs, crotches, yew, walnut, oak....

Level bearers- run a straight edge across the bearers that sit on the ground, make sure they all sit in a straight line to each other, you can shim up gaps with little slips of timber or laths from a fence panel. For gnarly timbers that want to move, you need your bearers closer together, maybe 12 to 16 inches, for well behaved straight grained timber that can spread out to 18 to 24 inches.

Tidy sticks- If your sticks do not sit directly above the bearers, then the weight of the timber is not supported by the bearers and it WILL sag, bow and warp. Try not to have ends unsupported, they will twist and droop however they like. Stack the longest boards at the bottom of the stack.

Put a lid on it- a few scrappy boards, plywood or clean tin sheets are good on top, tilt them to drain if you can.

Weight it down!- Your boards really want to move. They can't push down but they can pop up... a good weighting of heavy breeze blocks, sleepers, paving slabs will keep it all straight.

 

Sorry that's a bit heavy, I'll send up some photos :wave:

[wills-mill]

i think depending on the species of wood, determines how long you have to season it, was the oak seasoned or green when milled? i have several lengths of cherry trunk drying but have painted the ends to prevent it spliting as it drys out.

 

It's very rare for timber to actually dry in log form. I've milled Oak and Chestnut recently that's been down since the 87 storms, all the sapwood's gone, the first outer inch of heartwood is dry and the end 4 inches of each log is hard and gnarly, but there's plenty of moisture (pretty much normal) inside. I think that anything you want to dry 'in-the-round' should at least be ripped down the middle or cleft with wedges. A log with bark on and sealed ends doesn't have much oportunity to lose moisture...

 

BUT I do think if a log has 6 months or are year waiting before milling it lessens the stresses and tensions inside. You've also got to weigh up the possibility of spalting and insect damage whie it sits... I wouldn't leave beech, sycamore, birch or hornbeam lying around getting punky for instance.

[Jonesie]

Sorry to wander off the thread a bit but i need to get hold of some ceder cladding aprox 30 metres to be delivered to Bromley Kent, anyone know where??

[wills-mill]

1. Dead and storm blown Oak, Charlwood, W Sussex

2. Limbs milled to make bearers, levelled up with first layer of sticks in place.

3. Stack's gone up, sticks nicely aligned vertically.

4. Happy customer :wave: you can see we stacked some chunks (by his feet) on the long boards to stop them moving.

For that job we used commercial roofing batten, it's nice and regular, it's not going to rot and it's readily available and cheap.... the stack ended up with a lid of corrugated iron to keep the rain out. If you use old sheets, be a bit careful- if rainwater runs over rusty iron and onto oak it will stain the timber.

[wills-mill]

Sorry to wander off the thread a bit but i need to get hold of some ceder cladding aprox 30 metres to be delivered to Bromley Kent, anyone know where??

 

How wide and what finish? I've got some western red cedar to mill.... If it's plain weatherboard I can do it pretty easily, I'm not up to running out planed and machined tongue and groove or shiplap at the moment.

 

Otherwise try Ryall and Edwards in Redhill, Charles Wilment (Treespanner) in Lingfield/ Dormansland, or if they can't help try Wests of Petworth or Northwood Forestry between Biliingshurst and Storrington.

 

For excellent milling and drying advice:

Woodweb is fantastic

For milling, solar kilning, low impact woodland work, timber arches and great philosophy:

Jim Birkemeier at Timbergreen, Wisconsin

Tino Rawnsley, Cornish Woodland Products

Jonathan Guest, furniture maker in Wales

[Jonesie]

Need tongue and groove but thanks for the info I'll give them a try.