I'm getting delivery of an exotic board (Pink Ivory) in a couple days. Its 2 inches thick and 8 inches wide. I'm puzzling on how to treat it.
First, I'm guessing that the wood is not dry. I plan on re-sawing the board into 1/3rd inch slices and then milling it to 1/4 inch stock.
Will a moister meter tell me if this wood is dry or not? What kind?
Should I sticker the entire plank and wait for it to dry? Or should I cut it up and sticker the slices?
My idea on stickering just one plank is to get some kiln dried wood maybe 8/4 maple of the same width or wider then put the pink ivory between the maple with sickers every 6 inches then use a bunch of clamps hold the pink ivory between the maple.
If I slice then sticker I would use the same approach with spacers between each slice sandwiched and clamped between the 8/4 boards.
Your are mostly on the right track but just a few thoughts that may help: First go ahead and saw it down to 1/3" slices, this will let it dry much faster than a 2" thick plank. Are you equipped with a good bandsaw that will handle the 8" wide plank? If you do not regularly resaw material this wide you should practice on something other than your exotic. After it is sawed down, stack and sticker it until it is dry. Just about any moisture meter will give you a reading but with an exotic the reading may be somewhat inaccurate. Store the wood in an environment similar to its final in service location. Check the moisture reading every week or two with the same meter and after it stops dropping it should be okay to proceed with final machining. If it were mine I would not try to plane to final thickness. I would take it down to final thickness with a drum or wide belt sander to avoid the risk of surface tear out. Earl Creel
When stacking roughcut lumber fresh off the mill, you need to leave airspaces around the boards so they'll dry. One way to do this is to take all the odd sized offcuts left over from cutting the lumber and cutting them into roughly 1x1 sticks, as long as your intended pile of lumber is to be wide. Then when you stack the lumber, the first row will go on a set of timbers, then a layer of these 1x1 "stickers" go just above the first layer of boards, each just above the base timbers. Alternate layers of fresh cut boards and stickers.
Once it's dry, the use of stickers is a lot less critical, but a lot of people will use them anyway so that changes of humidity in the air don't cause differences in moisture across the stack.
Yes, it will matter if the stickers are dry, you do not want the moiture from the stickers getting into you wood as it may cause problems with staining, or worse rot.
As for sticker material I was able to get an abundant supply by milling mine from the offcuts left for scrap from a flooring contractor i know. Price, equaled time to load and time to rip but material cost was 0.00 MIne came from prefinished japaneese cherry and they have worked beautifully drying the nine western bigleaf maples i had sawn. Two plus years of air drying and not a stain to be seen. FYI, My stock was green and I stickered every 18", I think every 6 might be overkill. just my .02
Thanks, how much weight on top would be needed for a stack of say 6 slices?
I've been debating the cinder blocks. Probably the cheaper solution.
I'm going to inventory my odds and ends of cut offs this weekend. Paxtons has some cheap stock for $1 a foot that I may use
I'm still debating putting the stack above the garage instead of in my study in the basement. Its dry enough in colorado but I bet the temperature above the garage varies from well below freezing to 90 degrees some days. My study is so cluttered with piles of wood I'm not sure I have a place where I can lay everything down where it will not get disturbed.
I've had >>Yes, it will matter if the stickers are dry, you do not want the
A single layer of one block after the other lengthwise, is what I would do. So stickers under the blocks, as well.
But every sticker must aligned perfectly one above the other between the layers, otherwise the boards will warp, if off. And they must be checked for that alignment every now and then, and sooner than later.
Look at figure 3 of this link, that is how wood "cups" (VERY easily):
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would lay the wood down so that the *end grain* rounds to upwards on the edges, where with the tendency to "cup", the wood would do so going convex upwards, not the other way like a boat. The cinder blocks will work to weight middle downwards, then you have stability. In that picture, you would turn that piece upside-down as it is.
Now re-read that!
Get all slices stacked the instant you're done resawing.
some cheap stock for $1 a foot that I may use
I really don't know what type of wood, I would say the harder the better. Like, softer woods may absorb atmospheric moisture easier and then transfer it to the pink ivory... ? I'm just using whatever scrap I found for my maple, which is really hard wood, I don't know about pink ivory, but with such thin slices, more vital. My maple is thick @8/4 (1-3/4"x2-1/4"x60" each), and they've been stickered for a year in my bedroom, under the sawhorse work- bench.
in the basement. Its dry enough in colorado but I
degrees some days. My study is so cluttered with piles
will not get disturbed.
Up above in the garage is the way to go IMHO because you know..."heat rises" in such a place, it's where you want it. A lumber kiln is a mild oven but you will be air drying it using natural heat. In the winter you should maybe add one of those basic barn heaters that have a fan, low heat setting. Tthey shut off if fallen over.
Unless your basement can be lightly heated, that would work ($$$) unless there's a lot of moisture down there, which just goes into the air, and into the wood.
me while it dries.
That sounds more like a joke to ME actually... ha ha... "not a chance" I would say.
"Methods of reducing warp when drying (PDF)"
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'how%20does%20wood%20warp%20or%20cup?'...may fully contradict me, I didn't read it.
one concern with the space above the garage is that this time of year it can get well below freezing at night and then in a couple days be very warm. Will wild temperature changes cause a problem?
I'll have to look at the end grain of the board and then mark it so the grain curves up at the ends. If it warps I want the 'boat' to be upside down?
That is if I'm understanding the reference you sent.
One concern, can anyone comment, is the references mentions the need for
150 pounds of weight per square foot?
AAvK wrote:
some cheap stock for $1 a foot that I may use
in the basement. Its dry enough in colorado but I
degrees some days. My study is so cluttered with piles
will not get disturbed.
me while it dries.
formatting link
'how%20does%20wood%20warp%20or%20cup?'> ...may fully contradict me, I didn't read it.
Not sure what the best spacing would be, I only mentioned what worked well for the maple. Your are probably correct for such thin stock as mine was all 4/4 or 8/4.
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