Do you process wood from the mill before storing it?

[tibi]

Hello,

I have just bought flat sawn oak for the bed I am going to build from a local mill (they do not mill quarter sawn or rift sawn). I also cannot pick and choose individual boards like in American lumberyards, but they load them onto my utility trailer one by one until I say enough. But the price is good so I take it. So I have a mix of straight boards, boards with deep cracks (that splits a wide board in two), and boards where one end is very wide, another end is narrow, or the board is narrow in the middle.

I have bought double or triple the amount that I need for the bed. I want to store the rest and make nightstands, a coffee table, etc. from the rest.

Here are some pictures of the lot. Boards are 2,5m long.

My question is what shall I do with it before storing it. I cannot store it in my workshop as it is, because, if I sticker it, it would take too much space and I could not work around that stock of wood.

1. I can just remove the bark and sticker it outside. I have no place to store it under a roof. So I can only cover the top with tarpaulin and the side rain and snow could make some damage as the whole thing will not be covered (discussed in another thread).

2. If I wanted to store it inside, the best way would be to cut it into rectangular boards and store some of the boards in my material storage rack and the rest of the floor. But I do not know for what I will use the remaining wood, so I do not know if it is better to cut wider and shorter boards or narrower and longer.

Does anyone cut boards with live edges and bark into rectangular boards before storing them and if yes, what is the cutting strategy, if you do not cut them for a specific project, just on the stock. I want to avoid the situation that I wish that this board would be longer or wider when working on a specific project ( and it could be wide/long enough, had I not cut them into rectangles when I bought them. I also think that it is better to have narrower boards and glue them, as very wide boards will cup more.

Thank you.

 

[Jacob]

Best to leave it as it is for as long as possible.

 

[tibi]

Best to leave it as it is for as long as possible.

So just take the bark off and store it outside. It is kiln dried. And I will take the portion that I need inside for a few weeks before milling.

 

[Argus]

Whatever you do, it will need to be under dry cover, naturally ventilated and well stickered. It should then last for a considerable time before you use it.

Personally, I always remove sap-wood and where there's an evident pith in a centre-board, I get rid of that as well.

I don't use sap-wood for two reasons - the first is aesthetic ( I don't like the look of it in contrast to heart-wood) and the second is practical; sooner or later, it will attract parasites, woodworm etc. especially if it is Oak.
I well remember an 'antique' (1937, from Anglesey) wainscot-style Bardic Chair in Oak on sale in a shop some years ago - it sold for 900 quid, but sap-wood in one of the rails in the back had an array of worm holes.... the rest was untouched.

Ideally, I clean it, check for extraneous objects, nails etc, and cut it down to its maximum usable lengths and widths at this point. *

Whether it's easier to remove the dross and the preparation beforehand or at the point of use is a matter of convenience and how much room you have.
I think that it is easiest to assess what you have from a prepared pile when you do eventually pick it out, than to work out what is usable (and what isn't) from a stack of raw, waney-edged boards.

That's how I do it..... it will vary and others have a different approach.

* I omitted to say here that it can be a huge help to number the various boards at this stage with their usable dimensions and jot it down in a notebook....... it will avoid having to dismantle a pile of boards looking for that particular size later on!

 

[Droogs]

Good advice above. It's fine to keep it outside as long as you seal the ends, get rid of the parts that you know will attract beasties and keep the rain off it.

 

[tibi]

Good advice above. It's fine to keep it outside as long as you seal the ends, get rid of the parts that you know will attract beasties and keep the rain off it.

Thanks, If I am to remove sapwood as well (oak sapwood attracts worms, I know it firsthand), then I can cut raw boards to rectangular boards and then store it either inside or outside (based on the amount that will be left)

 

[Adam W.]

It looks like you've been sold a tree grown on a steep slope by the way the boards in the last picture have split like that, so you'll have trouble with them as they are full of tension and reaction wood. The rest is small diameter stuff, so cutting the sapwood off will greatly reduce the amount of timber that you have.

How much did you pay for it?

 

[tibi]

It looks like you've been sold a tree grown on a steep slope by the way the boards in the last picture have split like that, so you'll have trouble with them as they are full of tension and reaction wood. The rest is small diameter stuff, so cutting the sapwood off will greatly reduce the amount of timber that you have.

How much did you pay for it?

260 Eur for the whole thing. I have some straight and wide boards too. Like 7-8 boards out of 20. Only 2-3 boards have those deep cracks that go 1/2 - 2/3 into the board.

 

[Adam W.]

Is it green ?

 

[tibi]

Is it green ?

It is kiln dried. They do not sell green wood, except for construction lumber.

 

[isaac3d]

If it is kiln dried, do you really need to sticker it for storage? Assuming that it will be stored in a dry place, of course.
If you know that you don't want sapwood and waney edges, then I would cut off this material if storage space is at a premium.
As for any further processing, I'd keep it to a minimum, dependant on storage space, and wait until you know what you are going to make with it.
I have bought many boards that are in the 2.4m to 4m range, some of which I don't immediately know exactly what I'm going to make with them and those I still have to cut them down to a length where I can store them in my dry (dehumidifier controlled) shed.
You know your personal requirements, restrictions and plans so you have to make decisions based on that, but the general rule is: keep processing/milling to a minimum until you know what you're going to make.
Have fun with all that lovely oak.

 

[tibi]

If it is kiln dried, do you really need to sticker it for storage? Assuming that it will be stored in a dry place, of course.
If you know that you don't want sapwood and waney edges, then I would cut off this material if storage space is at a premium.
As for any further processing, I'd keep it to a minimum, dependant on storage space, and wait until you know what you are going to make with it.
I have bought many boards that are in the 2.4m to 4m range, some of which I don't immediately know exactly what I'm going to make with them and those I still have to cut them down to a length where I can store them in my dry (dehumidifier controlled) shed.
You know your personal requirements, restrictions and plans so you have to make decisions based on that, but the general rule is: keep processing/milling to a minimum until you know what you're going to make.
Have fun with all that lovely oak.

Thank you. I am already cutting off the bark and waney edges at the moment. I have cut the pieces that I need for the bed and the rest is cut into maximum square areas that can be done from the board.

I have purposefully decided not to be anxious about the offcuts and waste and just design next projects around what material I have at the moment and not what would have been, if I did not make that bad trimming cut on the 6th of June, 2022.

 

[isaac3d]

A positive attitude, that's the ticket!

 

[tibi]

Here is the result.

These are the boards cut to length and width with a circular saw for the king sized bed ( I added some extra length and width for thicknessing). I have also included the sapwood, as many boards were from outer parts of the trunk and they contained a lot of sapwood. If I wanted heartwood only, I think I would have consumed all other remaining boards and maybe it would not still be enough.

Here are some extra boards - large dimensions on the ground

Smaller boards on the ground and first shelf from the bottom. I did not sticker the very small boards on the first shelf.

 

[Adam W.]

Looks alright, have you managed to get the whole lot in the workshop for storage ?

 

[clogs]

Tibi
that looks like nearly a €1000 euro's here....prob more.....
can u post.....hahaha....
good luck with ur projects...

ps..if anyone in a country thats fairly near Greece that wants to sell me a truck load....
pls Priv Mesage me....cash waithing...

 

[tibi]

Looks alright, have you managed to get the whole lot in the workshop for storage ?

Yes, I did. I have reorganized things on my storage rack, so I made free the floor space under the rack and bottom shelf. Only the largest boards are left on the floor next to the material rack. The workshop is insulated and has wooden floor so there is dry air inside.

 

[George of the Wood]

ps..if anyone in a country thats fairly near Greece that wants to sell me a truck load....
pls Priv Mesage me....cash waithing...

clogs,
I wish you lived near me: I could take you to several mills nearby. All very drool-worthy destinations, and cheap! Now getting the boards to Greece would be another matter.