Sticker seasoned wood...?

[Kenneth]

Howdy,

When we built our home 3 1/2 years ago I had to fell perhaps 50-75 trees some of which where large enough to mill.

A local sawyer with a portable bandsaw mill did the job and I ended up with about 2500 board feet of lumber. Most of it is red oak, some 5/4 and some 6/4. Most of the boards are 12 - 14" in width though some are larger.

The piles were well built, stickered carefully, and covered.

Recently, I have been going through the piles sorting for size and quality to put things into some useful order.

Most of the wood is in excellent shape...

After more than three years, I consider the wood fully seasoned.

Here's my question:

When I re-build the piles, is there any benefit to stickering them? If so, what would be the benefit?

Sincere thanks for any information on this,

[George]

Outdoors yes, indoors, no. A close stack is much more fire-resistant, but the least bit of moisture between boards outside can lead to some strange and wonderful things.

If you're going to use some in the near future, sticker to equalize in the shop for a couple of weeks.

Down to air dry and storing for all the precise knowledge you'll want.

[Charlie Self]

Kenneth asks:

Dead piling is best left for indoors, IMHO.

Changing moisture is the reason for keeping them stickered and cover while they're outdoors.

Not everyone does it that way, but I don't feel it takes that much longer, and any blown rain or snow that gets in has an easy way out with the stickers in place.

Charlie Self "When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary." Thomas Paine

[Kenneth]

Thanks both to Charlie, and to George...

I neglected to say that the piles will remain outdoors. With that, based on your comments, I will sticker them.

Sincere thanks,

[JohnT.]

How about covering wood piles? I need to bring my rough lumber out of the rented storage so I can start sorting it. Problem is that I'll have to store it outside in my yard over the winter, at least. Will covering it with a silver tarp (more waterproof than the blue and brown) give it enough moisture protection and still allow the wood to breath? The wood is well season by now.

John

[George]

You'll have to do some heavy-duty prep. You'll want a good distance away from the ground, and absolutely planar skids to sticker out on. Otherwise, you'll gain some droop and possibly some set in the boards.

Check the site I referenced for specifics.

[Kenneth]

Hi John,

I am no expert (I'm the OP) but I will tell you what I did:

I built the pile, tarped it over, tied the tarp in many places, and then made a "tunnel" arrangement near the ground at either end. Air could blow right through. The squirrels loved it (as the hundreds of pounds of hickory pods will attest) but it held most of the wood in great shape.

HTH,