Introduction:

The more I work with wood, the more I
see it; in storm toppled trees, in wood
removed for the clearing of house lots
and even in piles ready to be chopped
up into firewood. This wood has
potential, and can be converted into
high quality lumber by the thrifty
woodworker if a little time is spent in
oragnizing, planning and having
patience with this "found" wood.

The quality of the final project is directly
related to the quality of care given
stacking and stickering the lumber for
drying. There have been thousands of
board feet of lumber which were
orginally sawn into high quality lumber,
only to be turned into kindling  by
stacking an uneven ground, using
green stickers, or orienting the pile in a
manner that does not encourage air
circulation.
Before You Begin
Stacking:

Make sure that you have more than
enough dry, insect, fungus and bark
free stickers. The ideal wood to use is
dry 1" x 3" cedar since it doesn't seem
to react with other woods, or use the
same species of wood that your pile is
made up of. If you have more than one
species, it is recommended that you
color code them for species. It is also
wise to use a lumber crayon to mark
the date drying began.
Preparing the Site:

Make sure the ground is level, then
create a base that will keep the lumber
at least 6" off the ground.

The ideal site for drying lumber is in a
clearing, on high ground, with a
gravelly base.

Cut or spray all vegetation around the
base of the stack and keep it mowed
down while the wood is drying

Orient the piles in a north south
direction so that the air will move easily
through them. If stacks are grouped,
orient them northeast to southwest so
that a west wind hits the end of the
stacks and air is forced along all of the
rows.
Stacking and Stickering:

Sort your lumber, your longest boards
and boards taken from reaction wood
go on bottom. (Reaction wood are
trees that are grown on the side of a
steep hill, or logs from the branches or
tops of the trees)

Make sure that all bark is off the
planks. Bark acts as a sponge to hold
moisture, fungus and insects inside it.

When stickering, the sticker spacing
should be between 24" and 36".

After your boards have been stacked;
cover them with material that extends
at least 12" over all sides. Old roofing
tin works well, and can be easily tilted
to facilitate runoff.

As your wood dries, keep vegetation
cut around the piles so that there is
always good air movement.
Drying Wood:
Page One
This table shows the approximate
time to air dry lumber to 20%
moisture content. The lower figure is
spring / summer (good drying
weather) and the higher figure is
lumber stacked over the winter.
This table shows that byy properly
positioning the wettest lumber in
the pile, you can take advantage of
the greater air movement on the
west side of the stack.
This picture shows in what ways the boards shrink and in what direction when they
are taken from various parts of the log. It can be easily seen in this picture that
quarter sawn lumber moves the least amount. However, quarter sawn lumber gives
you narrow boards, costs more to mill out and takes a lot more time.