a simple approach to drying lumber · 2018-09-05 · lute perfection setting the base, because even...

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This is the third and last installment of “Produc-ing Your Own Lumber.” Previous articles cov-ered log procurement (June 2006) and the dif-ferent strategies for sawing logs (October2006). Both articles are available online at

www.woodshopnews.com on the Archives page.The next step in the process is successfully drying

the lumber you produced to a stable and usable state.The information in this article is targeted to the indi-vidual who would like to learn to produce their ownlumber from local resources as simply as possible.

The first thing you need to understand is humanshave been successfully drying lumber for thousandsof years, long before the advent of modern dry-kilntechnology, which has really only been around on abroad scale for the last century or so. The drying oflumber often is presented as a difficult task, and ifyou are trying to push the lumber to turn it over asquickly as possible, it can be. But if you process itright, take a few precautions, and take your time, it isnot that difficult to achieve your goal.

If you want to produce your own lumber though,you generally have to come up with your own strate-gy to get it dry. It is difficult to find commercial lum-ber dryers that are willing to dry small quantities ofwood, and the results can be less than satisfactory ifthey do. They often don’t handle the wood with thecare you would like, and these kilns work best whenthe woods are of similar species at about the samemoisture content. If you have a friend with a kiln, itbetter be a good friend. It is hard to make money cus-tom-drying lumber, so most people do it for their

August 2008 WOODSHOP NEWS 43

continued on next page

B Y L O U I S I R I O N P H O T O S B Y W A N D A I R I O N

Stacks of lumber airdrying in an open shed.Drying can be

successfully achieved by the right process,patience and precautions

A SIMPLE APPROACHTO DRYING LUMBERA SIMPLE APPROACHTO DRYING LUMBER

own control and conve-nience. If, in the end,you aren’t happy withthe way your wood wasdried, you will both bevery upset.

WITH MOTHERNATURE’S HELP

Reduced to its basics,drying wood is simple.The object is to reducethe moisture content ofyour wood to the rela-tive content of the cli-mate where the wood will reside,while trying to keep the lumber fromdistorting, checking, honeycombing,etc. The good news is that, like solarand wind power, Mother Nature pro-vides the means to accomplish the taskusing those two sources: temperatureand air movement.

Since we are planning to use these re-sources, the idea is to air-dry the lumberuntil it will give up no more moisturewithout assistance, and then look at dif-ferent ways to complete the drying pro-cess. Typically, you can achieve a mois-ture content of 10-15 percent by air-dry-ing alone, although this will vary ac-cording to your local climate. Arid re-gions of the Southwest can easilyachieve a moisture content of 8 percentby air-drying, whereas humid areas suchas coastal Maine or Oregon will be atthe other end of the spectrum. The goalfor commercially dried lumber is 6-8percent, but it isn’t necessary toachieve that number with your lumber.

I have checked the moisture contentof furniture in my own house in Penn-sylvania in the late winter and summerover the years just to see how the mois-ture content varies. With open win-dows and no air conditioning in thesummer and a woodstove as a heatsource, the moisture content of the fur-niture ranged between 9-11 percentover the course of the year.

The most common method used toair-dry lumber is to lay narrow sticksperpendicular to the layers of lum-ber to create an air space betweeneach layer so the moisture can es-cape. A good foundation is criticalto successfully drying wood. I like touse a three-tier system for the base,putting down three or more crosspieces — depending on the lengthof the lumber — on the levelestground I can find or create.

Then I put two heavy timbers run-ning the length of the pile. Finally, Iput 3" to 4" square bunks across thetimbers ready to receive the layersof lumber. Some people lay theirbunks right on the ground and you

can do this, but it is veryhard to get so manypieces level and thenmaintain that statusthrough changing sea-sons and weather. Thisthree-tier system alsokeeps the lumber higheroff the ground and far-ther away from moisture.The pile may need somecorrection in the courseof drying, and with thismethod you can easilyjack and shim the bunksany place that has settledto keep the lumber true.

However you plan todo this, it is essential that it be verystraight. Understand that you don’t haveto drive yourself crazy achieving abso-lute perfection setting the base, becauseeven slight variations in the sawn lum-ber will negate that perfection, but asloppy, poorly aligned base will be re-flected in the final product. It is moreimportant to have a system where youcan correct the pile after it is completedand during the drying process, and tokeep an eye on the pile as the lumber isdrying to head off potential problems.

I like to build my pile 4' wide andplace the cross bunks every 2'. When Ifirst started drying lumber 30-plus yearsago, the stickers were typically placedon 2' centers, but over time I haveswitched to placing the sticks on 1'centers for lumber that is 4/4 to 6/4thick, although I still sticker my thickerlumber on 2' centers. I have found thatplacing the stickers at 1' intervals re-sults in flatter lumber and fewer prob-lems and is worth the extra work andgreater number of sticks used. As I stat-ed earlier, air-drying lumber is not diffi-cult. However, correctly building thepile is essential to producing good lum-ber, and a poor pile will absolutelyhaunt you through the life of that lum-ber. The bunks must be properlyspaced and perpendicular to the pile,and the sticks must be aligned directlyand carefully over the bunks. Variationin the alignment of the sticks will have

a negative result, so this is the timeand place to pay close attention.

PROCURING STICKSActually, the biggest hassle you

may incur in drying is to come upwith enough sticks to sticker yourlumber with. If you are drying athousand feet of 4/4 lumber andplanning to use 1' centers, you willneed 275 sticks for that lumber. Ifyou have different stacks of lumberdrying for various lengths of time,your needs will be in the thousands.It isn’t fun making your own sticks,endlessly passing boards through a

DRYING from previous page

www.woodshopnews.com44 WOODSHOP NEWS August 2008

A good foundation is critical to successfully drying wood.

The author prefers to sticker the lumber on 1" centers, staggering the short boards square to each end of the pile.

Start with a solid three-tier base.Start with a solid three-tier base.

Be a stickler for stickers. Note the three types of grooved sticks on the leftthat help prevent sticker stain by allowing air to flow under the stick.

Be a stickler for stickers. Note the three types of grooved sticks on the leftthat help prevent sticker stain by allowing air to flow under the stick.

The author prefers to sticker the lumber on 1" centers, staggering the short boards square to each end of the pile.


table saw to produce them, let alonecoming up with enough lower-gradematerial to cut up in the first place.

By the way, stickers are typically 3/4"thick and 1-1/4" wide, and you don’twant to use thinner sticks, because youneed enough space for good air flow.There are companies that producesticks commercially, but they are notcheap, or you can try to find a lumbermill that has an overabundance andpurchase some at a reasonable price. Iget my sticks from a mill that stackstheir lumber in 6' wide packs, and Itake the broken sticks they can nolonger use and cut them down to the 4’lengths I use. You do get lower-gradematerial from your logs that you canturn into sticks, and you can always cutthe material from logs that you don’tvalue as highly, such as beech or ash.They should be from a harder woodand shouldn’t contain a lot of knots,since they are so narrow they can easilybreak. One thing you don’t want to dois use green sticks on your lumber.Moisture will get trapped between thegreen sticks and the green lumber, cre-ating an environment where mold andfungus can flourish and damage thelumber. Most beginners are focused onthe lumber and the sticks are an af-terthought, but they are a very impor-tant part of the process, and you don’twant to have to scramble at the lastminute come stacking time.

Every log produces some lower-gradeand junk lumber, so I like to begin andend my pile with this material. I alwaysstart with the longest lumber first,putting down one or two layers of low-grade to better protect the better lumberfrom ground moisture and dirt. It is bestto try to keep the pile one length. But ifyou can’t do that, you want the lumber tostep back incrementally as much as possi-ble, so you have a minimum number ofunsupported boards. I leave a smallspace, 1" or less, between each board inthe layer, a little more on the thickerstock, and try to spread the boards even-ly, adjusting the spacing as necessary. If Ihave boards of different lengths, I like toput long boards on the outside and alter-nate shorter boards square to each end tokeep the pile even.

When I have to step back, say from 10'to 8' lumber, I will finish that length witha few low-grade layers and put a con-crete lintel on the last layer to keepweight on the longer lumber. I completethe pile with layers of low-grade lumber Iset aside while stickering the pile. Thetop layers are prone to more distortionand these boards provide a measure ofprotection to the rest of the pile, so it isgood to have a use for this material,often referred to as cover boards.

When the pile is complete and I planto leave it outdoors, I like to cover thetop of the pile with longer bunks placed

perpendicular to the pile, usually 6' orlonger and placed on top of the rows ofstickers to concentrate any weight overthem. The next step is to cover thebunks with old metal roofing I have re-claimed from some other project or afriend who knows that we don’t mindroofing with a few holes in it.

I fasten the roofing to the bunks withscrews, which will make the disassem-

bly much easier, and then pile someslabs or timbers on the top to helpweight the top. A little water dripsthrough the old holes, but the coverboards take the brunt of the moisture.If that doesn’t suit, lay some tar paperon top of the pile with the roof bunkson top of the paper.

I like longer top bunks to allow someoverhang for the pile to provide extra

protection from the elements, and Iusually allow the roofing to extend 1'to 2' over the ends for the same reason.Do not make the mistake of tarping apile, since it prevents the wind from re-moving the moisture and will create aclimate conducive to mold and decay,which can negatively impact the lum-ber and greatly lengthen the drying


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al to successfully drying wood.


time. You do not want to put freshlycut lumber in a closed building such asa garage or barn for the same reasons.The protection the building providescan prevent the wood from properlydrying for the same reasons.

The only exception I know of iswhen you are drying crotches, burls orother highly figured wood with a lot ofinterwoven grain. Because of thevolatile nature of this type of wood, Ilike to dry it as slowly as possible tominimize the damage, but I only wouldput it inside in the fall or winter whenmold won’t form. Lumber stickeredunder an open shed roof is fine. Thisoften is the best scenario for lumber ifyou have such a space available, sinceit allows good air movement andgreater protection from the sun andother elements. You also can useportable buildings that have a metalframe and a plastic cover as long as theends are open to the air and there isgood flow across the pile.

PROVIDING PROTECTIONSpeaking of the wind, you have to

consider it your friend, but you alsohave to respect its temper. And youneed to keep those parameters in mindwhen choosing the site for your lumberstacks. I have seen entire piles of lum-ber dismantled by a severe storm and itis not a pretty sight, nor is it much funto restack the wet and soiled lumber.

Air movement is the key to successfuldrying, and you need enough air tomove the moisture. But too much windcan be detrimental to the lumber.Under the right conditions, like a veryarid day with too much wind, you canruin a freshly stickered pack of lumber

in a very short time by drying the sur-face so fast it surface-checks and honey-combs the lumber at the same time. Itis hard to believe you can damage lum-ber outdoors, and while air drying lum-ber is pretty forgiving, there are limitsyou need to be aware of.

The sun is a similar friend — verynecessary but also dangerous. Lumberdries better in warmer conditions. Theheat gets those water molecules up anddancing and easier to move off thewood, but direct sun can cause dam-

age, especially in the height of summer.This is another reason for overhangingthe tops. If I feel there is too much ex-posure to sun and wind, I might use acommercial screening like Shade-Dri at-tached to the sides of the pile to deflectsome of the sun, wind and rain.

The time of year is another considera-tion. It is best to take your trees downafter the sap is down in the fall andthrough the winter before it rises, andalso to try to have your lumber sawn andon sticks for a while before the weather

gets warm so the lumber isn’t shockedby the extremes of summer heat. This isan ideal that isn’t always possible toachieve, but it is worth striving for.

Some woods, especially white woodssuch as maple and pine, are very sus-ceptible to staining, particularly whenfreshly cut in the warm weather. Pinesuffers from blue stain when cut toolate and can affect the whole pile, so Inever cut pine after March. And maple,ash and other light woods can sufferfrom sticker stains when the lumber

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(Clockwise from top left) Use a staple in the end of the board to help keep a crack from migrating while drying. The arrowis a reminder not to cut into the staple; seal the end of the board and the figured portion to minimize checking; a boardnailed to the end grain is an alternate method of preventing check migration.

47August 2008 WOODSHOP NEWS

stickers trap moisture where they areset, which can result in shadow markson the lumber. Sticker stain isn’t asmuch of a problem with wood stick-ered in the winter. In warmer weather,you can either use grooved sticks thatallow some moisture to escape fromunder the sticks or you can sticker thelumber for a few weeks until the sur-face dries, then re-sticker the pile withthe sticks in a slightly different loca-tion. This might sound like a lot ofwork, but the alternative is lumber thatlooks like someone laid railroad tiesacross it, ruining the appearance.

Darker woods such as cherry andwalnut are not as susceptible to stain-ing, but immediate exposure to warmweather will stress any wood and in-crease the degrade.

PREVENTING DAMAGEThere are other precautions you can

take to minimize the damage to thelumber during the drying process. I liketo seal the ends of the lumber with logpaint to keep them from drying outfaster than the rest of the board andchecking in from the ends. The besttime to do this is when the log is fresh-ly cut, or you can also seal the boardswhile the ends are fresh. The longerthe ends are exposed, the less effectivethe sealer will be, so be prompt.

If you are cutting crotches or burls, itis good to seal the flat surfaces with thesame log and lumber sealer to preventthem from drying too quickly. But onlyseal the figured area and not the wholeboard or the moisture will have difficul-ty escaping.

I like to use clear sealer when doingthis, so I can still read the grain withoutplaning off the sealer. I have a real affini-ty for wider boards, which are moreprone to splitting from the ends and cantravel much further into the board in thecourse of drying, and I use a number ofstrategies to combat this. I may driveheavy electrical staples into the ends tosecure the split, but I mark them careful-ly with an arrow on both sides of theboard to make sure I find them beforemy tools do. You can also tack thinstrips of wood across the end of theboard, using several nails to keep theboard from spreading. On particularlyvaluable wide boards I have occasionallyused small nylon ratchet straps to holdthe board together, taking up the slackas the board shrinks. I also have usedsteel banding like you see being used toband packs of lumber together for ship-ping, driving small wedges along theedge of the board as the lumber dries tokeep tension on the board.

This may seem a little obsessive, buthaving a beautiful board split along acheck will quickly drive you to find somesolution to save such valuable lumber.

WHEN WILL IT BE DRY?Once the lumber is properly stick-

ered and covered in a good location, allyou have to do is let time and the ele-

ments work on your lumber, occasion-ally checking the piles for any sagging.The traditional rule of thumb is to letthe lumber air-dry for one year for eachinch of thickness, but this is only a gen-eral rule and close monitoring of thelumber, especially with the help of amoisture meter, provides more flexibili-ty. If your heavier lumber is cut intosquares and can dry evenly from allsides, you can definitely speed up theprocess, but wide thick planks willpretty much take the required time,and your local climate also will have aneffect. I would recommend putting 4/4and 6/4 lumber on sticks in the spring

and leave it on sticks until the follow-ing fall. Then dismantle the piles after aspell of dry weather to minimize themoisture in the lumber.

When you decide that the lumber hasair-dried enough and it is time to takethe pile down, you then need to deter-mine how to complete the drying pro-cess to remove the remaining moisture,which is usually only 2-6 percent. Ifyou are going to use any quantity ofwood on a regular basis, you may wantto consider building a very simple kiln.

Don’t panic when you hear the wordkiln, because it is easy and inexpensiveto construct one. You just need to

build a box, insulate it with somethingas basic as plastic foam sheeting, andhinge a door on the front that folds upand out of the way for loading. If youare going to stay with 4' piles, I wouldrecommend a chamber that is 6' deep,because you need adequate airflowaround the front and back of the pile,and whatever height you deem neces-sary for your operation.

A couple small fans are necessary tomove the air, and they can be mountedin a piece of plywood extending thelength of the chamber at the top and par-allel with the pile, so the air will be


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pulled through the pile the way thesticks run. You want to be able to sealthe space between the fans and the topof the pile with tarps, loose fiberglass in-sulation, pieces of insulation board orplywood, so the air has to move throughthe pile and not around it. It is difficult toseal all the areas around the pile perfect-ly and it is not necessary to do so, butyou do want to block the big open areasto get the best air movement.

A heat source is necessary and can be

as simple as a portable electric heater,but be sure to isolate the heater in a waythat you aren’t creating a fire hazard.The heat will be enough to dry the lum-ber, but you also can put a small dehu-midifier in the kiln to speed the process.The conventional wisdom is you cannotuse a home dehumidifier to dry wood,especially with acidic woods such asoak that will corrode the coils. But atthis stage of the drying, there is very lit-tle moisture to remove and the expo-sure is minimal. You can get a house de-humidifier for $100-$200 as opposed to

commercial wood dehumidifiers costinga minimum of $2,500, so you can gothrough quite a few inexpensive onesbefore you approach the cost of a regu-lar unit. I would recommend bringingthe drain hose out of the box and have itempty into a bucket so the water flowcan be monitored. You can also use ahand-held moisture meter such as theLignomat with remote probes connect-ed to cables, so you can check the mois-ture content of various boards deep inthe pile from outside the kiln.

A solar kiln is a definite option, espe-

cially if your schedule is flexible. Solarkilns work fine in most places on a sea-sonal basis, because they perform bestin warmer and sunnier weather. Myfirst kiln was a solar one, and it workedvery well from spring through fall, withthe added benefit of lower energycosts. They are basically constructedthe same as any other kiln — an insulat-ed box with fans to move the air, withglass or plastic panels above the lumberand properly angled and located to takethe best advantage of the sun. The keyhere is designing a means to automati-

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A completed pack of lumber with weightson the end where the pile steps back.

A completed pack of lumber with weightson the end where the pile steps back.


cally vent the kiln on the sunniest sum-mer days to keep it from overheatingand damaging or destroying your lum-ber. You definitely want to researchthis well before beginning.

SIMPLER METHODSIf you want to dry smaller quantities

or don’t want to complicate your life byconstructing a kiln, there are other, sim-pler strategies for finishing off your lum-ber. You can bring the lumber insideinto a heated room and pile the lumberon sticks right on the floor. You canspeed the process by putting a small fanor two on the floor in front of the pile,but far enough away that the air movesthrough the whole pile. This is anotherreason I like to take the lumber pilesdown in the fall, mainly to take advan-tage of the existing heat in the building.Without heat and lower humidity, youaren’t creating an environment wherethe wood will give up much more mois-ture than if it was outside.

You also can put the lumber up in acrawl space or attic in the summer totake advantage of the heat generatedthere, but you need to sticker the lum-ber so the heat and air have access toall the lumber — whatever the loca-tion. If even those methods are morethan you want to get involved in, youcan bring the boards you want to useinto a heated shop and stand themnearly vertical against a wall with ade-quate air space between them, andthey will dry. I am sure there are manyother possible methods to finish off thelumber and as long as they involve heatand air space, let creativity and circum-stance be your guide.

The key to working with wood fromany source, including commerciallydried lumber, is to bring it into the shopand let it acclimate as long as reason-ably possible, although even a fewweeks will make a huge difference. Onedefinition of the word “acclimate”, ac-cording to the Merriman-Webster dictio-nary, “is to become accustomed to anew situation or climate,” and that iswhat your wood needs to do. I don’tthink there is a more important piece ofadvice I could to give to a fellow wood-worker regarding working with wood.

If you can plan even one projectahead, or can bring lumber for the nextjob in while you are completing yourcurrent one, it will make a huge differ-ence in the workability of your lumberand minimize many potential problems.Obviously this is difficult to apply to alarge commercial operation, but I amassuming such an outfit probably isn’tgoing to pursue backyard lumber pro-duction, either. I try to do this with allthe lumber I use no matter what thesource, because all wood is hydroscop-ic and wants to reach equilibrium withwhatever environment it is in.

YOU’RE GOOD TO GOI have tried to include the basic infor-

mation that you need if you have any in-

clination to try producing your ownlumber, along with some possible waysto get that wood dry. Once you under-stand a few of the principles of dryinglumber, essentially the need for wind,heat, proper stickering and some typeof cover or shelter, then common senseand a little innovation are all you need.

As you experiment and gain experi-ence, you will learn to develop yourown system based on what works bestin your situation and the limitations ofthe space you have to operate in.Space is a real consideration becausethis can quickly get out of hand. I wentlooking for a walnut crotch panel for a

clock I was building back in 1972 andended up in the lumber business, so itcan be very consuming.

I can honestly say that after chasinglogs and lumber for more than 35years, I still get excited by seeing thequirks of nature that result in somevery special wood. And you neverknow what will turn up next, whatcrazy pattern a tree might produce,without rhyme or reason.

The more you are involved in produc-ing the lumber you are using, the moremeaningful the whole woodworkingprocess can be. Finding great logs orsalvaging those destined for a less

noble fate, knowing where your lum-ber came from, having it cut the wayyou want, nurturing it to a usable state,and maybe finding something very spe-cial that you don’t have to battle thehordes to pay a fortune for, are just afew reasons to give it a try. If you de-cide to go down this road, you will gaina very healthy respect for the amountof work it takes to get logs and/orgreen lumber to a usable state, and anappreciation for the true value of lum-ber and the people who produce it. n

Louis Irion is the owner of IrionLumber Co. in Wellsboro, Pa.


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a simple approach to drying lumber · 2018-09-05 · lute perfection setting the base, because even...

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