How I Air Dry Lumber Outdoors
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- Опубліковано 28 лип 2024
- I needed to set up the foundation for the slabs that will be sawn from the silver maple log that I picked up in my urban logging video and I've received many questions on drying outdoors and setting up the stack bases. So I'm answering questions on my outdoor stacks while demonstrating how I set up the foundations for the stacks.
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Speaking of harsh winters, it is a joy to see you surrounded by greenery and standing on you milled logs. Some of your winter videos with blowing snow were brutal.
+peggyt1243 totally. I was watching one of those videos the other day and couldn't even remember how miserable it was. Must have been too traumatic to remember
LOve all the slab climbing shots. you had a lot of fun with that!
It got a little sketchy at times
I was half expecting him to be standing in another location for each sentence. :)
Great little trick with the wedge! And I have had some good luck with a product I get at one of the big box stores, it's called a No-Pest strip. They aren't too expensive so I buy a few and put them randomly in some voids or spaces although I have tarps over my stacks which I think keeps the smell or whatever it is the bugs don't like in the area better. Another great vid brother and you have some potential projects for years right there👍
I love it...subbed...I was bitten by the wood bug last summer after a derecho blew down two big elms in my immediate back yard.
It looks like I'll be recieving some elm, ash, maple, pine, and possibly some walnut logs from my neighbor in a few weeks or whenever all this snow melts...I've been processing some elm and pine into firewood but I plan on hand milling logs in the future...this video was helpful as I know very little about the process.
I dont think I'd trust those blocks sitting on the very sandy soil I have in nw illinois near the Mississippi so I'd be inclined to pour a concrete slab to build my stacks off of...I pour concrete for a living so I can do a 10ftx10ftx4in slab for around $150 and pretty much guarantee it will always be flat and level for decades at least...I'm sure you could do the same as you sound like you're at least somewhat familiar with the process.
Anyway, thanks for the vid!
Super helpful Matt, Thank you.
+frank howarth awesome! Thanks Frank!
Thanks for the info Matt. Just bought myself a Wood-Mizer and have started milling. Your tips and the trailer setup have been helping me immensely!
+Vikingblooded Kraftwerks awesome to hear! Thanks!!
Great explanation on your drying process! We do have some harsh winters up here I just wish it would permanently kill of the mosquitos!
How I would love that!
I am really happy to see this Matt. Great information. I have been wondering about drying wood outside because I have so little space in garage for wood working much less storing wood. This gives me some great ideas for storing wood in my back yard and perhaps I can now visit an actual sawmill. Arkansas is insect Mecca particularly for fire ants and carpenter ants. The concrete blocks should help a great deal. Thanks so much for the information.
This is a great video, I was trying to decide between this style and a drying shed. Thanks, air drying it is😊
Your presentation is very helpful! Thank you!!!
You have used the concrete blocks improperly on your existing stack. You have the correct orientation on your new one.
Those blocks are not designed to be load bearing on their sides. I enjoy your videos. Very calming.
It's great that you take the time to do it right. Imagine doing all of that work picking up the logs, milling them, and stacking, only to find two years or so later you've taken the long route to make a bunch of firewood. Also, you save yourself loads of time and effort finishing the pieces later. Most of my lumber goes through a planer after it's dry. It must be flat right off the stack, otherwise the planer (as any woodworker knows) will not do the job!
Very well said Matt. The leveler system you designed really is the way to go. Worth all the effort and investment.
Can't wait to see the log transition - projects ahoy!!!!
lol thanks Mark!
Wonderful explanation.
thanks Greg!
God bless this young man been watching him now for year and I'm real tired i get are lumber in the rough ....now I know why I don't want to run it through the milling process ....he made me tired
Thanks Jim :)
Thank you for covering insects. Exactly what I was looking for. Having some issues of bugs putting holes in my freshly milled logs
Years ago while living in East Texas I had several thousand board feet of my pine lumber cut on a friends portable sawmill to build a shop/storage building and a store/play area for my wife. I leveled treated 4X6's four feet apart on top of cement blocks which were leveled on the ground in the middle of one of our pastures. I stickered it and covered it with a bunch of old tin my Dad had laying around his place. Worked great but it was dimensional lumber not 10/4 slabs. I had knot free framing lumber and 1"X12" siding for the buildings.
Awesome video with so much great information. Thank you I really appreciate the sharing of such great content.
+Thom spillane thanks Thom!
Thanks for the info. The levelers are such a great idea.
+Josh Wiley thanks Josh!
Luv this channel. Always entertaining, and always informative. Thanks, and keep it going!
Great explanation, information and demonstration! With all the log top shots, I thought you would end up on top of the house!
Thanks Mac! Pretty high up there :)
I just think your "MC" logo is awesome! It's unique and a great idea!
You answered a few questions I had too, Matt. Thanks.
+Steve Collins awesome!
Matt, I agree concrete is permanent and expensive so I would form up a level slab as you would for concrete but fill it with fine tamped gravel. Gravel will drain well and changing the blocks for different sizes just requires re-screeding and maybe re-tamping.
Have you thought of building a stradde buggy for moving slabs? Build a 4 leg frame like your sawmill only wider to straddle the saw table and use trailer wheels on swivels (two swivel wheels maybe) for the rough terrain. Tracks running out the back of your mill would let it roll easily.
Would you be allowed to have a roof on your mill if it had wheels on it, then it wouldn't be a structure?
You might consider never-seize on the bolts of your levelers. Good luck and thanks for the great videos. Greg B.
Hi Matt, I enjoy your channel. Being a builder for a long time I have a suggestion if you want it. Why not use a mason line with mason's corners to line up the blocks instead of the ladder. It will be faster because you will not have to keep moving the ladder and setting it up again. Give it a try. Thanks for your craftsmanship.
To answer your question - yes we do this thing all the time, specifically nowadays when there's nothing much on the telly (or at least no quality log drying shows) and we don't feel like riding our bicycle - again. You seem to get the hang of it though :)
Best from Amsterdam, Europe
Mic-:
haha! Thanks Mic!
Those levelers are sweet! Great video, Matt!
+Matt Williams thanks Matt!
Yes that was great content to make a start. So when it stops precipitating here I can start mapping out drying stations. Seems like my most original spot is great. Thank you.
great information, well explained Matt
+Alejandro Carbajal thanks!
Matt
Very informative video, Great to hear your thoughts on the process
+Douglas Mungham thanks Douglas!
No problem the praise is well deserved
MORE PLEASE
This makes me want to get started logging my own wood. Although, I don't have the space to set up a large drying stack. Thanks for the inspiration Matt.
maybe some day :)
Don’t forget preserving the overall forest when those lumber dollar signs $$ in your eyes. Most trees we would want to cut usually take 100-200 years to grow that big. Looking back on history we need to temper our hunger for wood and wood products and align it to the regrowth rate of the woods. Once your trees are cut. You will never see trees that big on your property in your lifetime again if you decide to cut them all.
Very Interesting! I learned a lot from this video! Thanks!!!
awesome! Thanks!
Thanks Matt. I was digging through your older stuff for this exact thing. I dropped a white oak tree and thought I 'd give slabbing a try. I left a few test pieces in the sun and as you said checking a plenty. Shade it is :-)
+mcneile3 awesome! :)
Just read your reply. How has your oak dried since this post?? I just stacked oak slabs for drying too. Have you done anything with you wood??
Thanks for the info Matt! 👍
Thanks Fred!
*Carpenter Bees have entered the chat*
Great video, love the huge logs!
Hey Matt! Great instructional video as usual! I keep missing the detail in your videos about cutting the slabs whether it's better to let the rounds sit or slab up right after the tree has dropped. Thanks Matt!
The sooner the better. Thanks Brian!
Hey Matt, I live in northern MN in the Bemidji area. Just about to start milling myself. I'd love to visit your place sometime if that's possible. Thanks for the great video!
Before this video came out today, I was wondering to myself... Hmmm... how much longer can Matt's channel be interesting. That log hauling trailer is brilliant. Thinking about, and building the bandsaw mill had me on the edge of my seat. Watching the actual use of the mill is about a million times more satisfying and enjoyable than I ever could have guessed. But, that is all done now... and moving forward, it's just more 25 minute cutting videos. (which I will still watch. lol) But how much longer can this be interesting! Thank you for answering with today's video! I really enjoy your channel. Thank you.
+William Alan Photo I think the takeaway is that you think about me too much 😅 thanks as always!!!
HAHAHA! Well played sir!
Great content Matt! I hope someday soon I'll have the acreage and equipment to apply some of the knowledge bombs dropped here!
If it all works I'll be sure to tell people that your tips "work as advertised". 😜😆
Enjoyed this one. Good job!
thanks Greg!
Great information Matt, Thumbs up.
+OG Timbercraft thanks!
One other question Matt- Also, my lot unfortunately doesn't have a single tree for shade, so I may cover the slab stacks with corrugated sheets and/or shade cloth. My question for you is how to tell when the slabs are drying to fast in order to take corrective measures real time. Is there a certain decline in moisture reading % over time I can use as a guideline?
Good video! My favorite part was each cut scene sitting on top of a different stack haha
+GCM Woodworks haha thanks! This was a fun one to shoot
thanks Matt for the informative video
Thanks David!
Thank you for sharing this! How does one know a plank is fully cured? What signs do we look out for?
With my stacks I just started buying 2x4's and making a rectangle frame with cross members in it. This way if the stacks are on slanted ground it doesn't affect anything since the surface they're sitting on is flat. Time will tell if its a good method..
You mentioned that 16 months and the wood would reach equilibrium, what moisture content is that? Do you use a meter at all? How do you know it reached equilibrium? Wanted to thank you for sharing all this knowledge. It seems that everything I want to experiment with you are in the process of doing or have done already. I find your channel as entertaining as it is informative. Keep up the good work.
Great info, Matt!
thanks!
Good info and I really enjoyed the edit.
+Dan The Maker Man thanks Dan!
Interesting stuff. I learned a few things.
+Bruce A. Ulrich good to hear :)
I have been watching your drying videos, and just to clarify....if you have been air drying this wood for several years, or has reached equilibrium with the environment, you still take it inside your basement to “finish it off” when you want to use a few pieces? Thank you so much for doing this, it really help guys like me out.
Many thanks, Matthew!, I have watched this video three times. I have a question, I receive as a gift two 8x1 tables of coigue wood, and I need to dry them, should I tie them up? or not? when do you decide to tie them and when not?. Many thanks from Valdivia, Chile.
Great Matt have a nice day !!!.
Thanks Brian!
Awesome job! Don't forget, a simple solution to prevent mold and fungi is good old borax (1:1 with water) coated on each side of the board...
Thanks for the video Matt. Very informative, should take notes. Appreciate the care you take in leveling the slabs, even cinching them down. The levelers are a clever gadget. Would be neat to copy your build and mill slabs for sale. There was an announcement in the paper the other day. A fungus has infected these humongous ficus trees here in town. They were planted in the fifties and the sixties. The trunks are 4 feet plus. I find myself wondering how they would look slabbed. They'll probably wind up as fire wood for the mayor, city council, and their friends. That's politics.
+Dana Nelson just took a look at some pictures online and it looks like beautiful wood. I hope you'll maybe decide to pursue that :)
Matt have you dealt with bore beetles with your slabs, if so, how do you get rid of them. I don't have a kiln and air dry European style as well.
Thanks Matt! Great video. If a fella had an carport like structure would it be an advantage to store the wood under a roof instead of outside? Or is it better for the lumber to get a little bit of the weather?
Carport is perfect. Anything will no walls will work great
Thanks!
Good vid my man .
You're fortunate with the insects. Here in the South, termites show up if you use the word "wood."
Great video Matt. I would love to see more on your design of the levelers. I was thinking of building some myself but why re-invent the wheel if you have a design that works. Can you share?
Video here: ua-cam.com/video/XIEvHgW7XXU/v-deo.html measurements and materials is posted on my website. There's a link to that in that video's description. Thanks!
Thanks for the lessons. Can you use dried western red cedar for stickers on 8/4 burr oak slabs?
So awesome. I'm out in AZ and I lucked into a couple decent-sized mesquite branches (~4' L x ~8" D). They've been drying in the shop for over a year, and now I'm looking at bandsaws and dreaming about milling them into boards. How long should I leave them alone before I cut them into boards? After they're boards, how long should I dry them before using them? Thanks!!
Do you think it would be better to keep the stacks perfectly horizontal or at a slight angle while keeping a flat base? Just curious for water run-off
Have a great week...
Great info! I was wondering what happens in the future with the slabs, as they've reached their ideal seasoning and pieces are taken out for use? If a slab is taken out the piece below would then have an increased exposure and the protection of the cap/trunk shape wouldn't be as effective.
+Chad Martin when they reach eq I'll move them indoors to get the moisture content down further before use or sale. If you wanted to keep them out there and remove slabs, you could put some sort of roof over it like a piece of metal roofing
Matthew Cremona So in about 16-18 months I assume we'll be seeing a lot of videos of you moving a ton of wood indoors?
I am currently renting a townhouse and ever time I watch one of your videos it makes me want to buy a house.
+Jared S they do have their perks
Do you ever have the one of the blocks sink down or shift after some time?
Hey Matt. I have a greenhouse for gardening. assuming I use all of the same stacking and UV protections as in a solar kiln, and added enough fans for circulation, do you think it could serve a dual purpose to dry lumber as well?
Awesome, I'll email you later this week and set up a time that works for you (to make my next purchase). Thanks!
+George T no problem. Thanks George!
Hey Matt, at what MC % would you say they are ready to be moved indoors?
I’m in the process of getting started studying all I can your videos really help. One question I have for you both economically and strength. Would using metal banding on your slabs holding them tight be of benefit?
The issue with banding is you can’t tighten it as the wood shrinks. The banding will get progressively looser
Hi Matt ... I have this question .. how long does it take
for 1 1/2 walnut board to be dried or ready to use ?
Would 2 rows of half block work also which seems a little stonger
Matt, I've seen many a stack with corrugated metal as a roof. Have you considered that?
The thumbnail for this video is awesome.
thanks!
Hey Matt, Another great video. So when are you building the drying kiln?
at the next house
Hey matt, I read in my new tools and shop mag where you are in it describing stacking for air drying. In the article it has the stickers need to be 3/4 in. But it seems you use thinner stickers any reason on the use of thinner or thicker stickers?
I have a stack of silver maple that I had milled but I don't have shaded area to store it. My local mill suggested I cover it with tarp. My concern is it wouldn't have proper ventilation. What do you think.
thank you the best techniek air drying.
Hello Sir..
Thanks for information
Need your suggestion on moisture meter Which model of pin less moisture meter is good to use if you can help me with make and model number.. Thank you sir
what moisture content do you consider "outdoor equilibrium"?
10-12% depends on location
I just milled my first maple logs. They have awesome ambrosia striping. However now it looks like they are exiting the stacked wood and there’s little holes with fine white dust around the holes. Anything to stop this or is that just how it is? Also, when do you remove the bark? Is it necessary? I’m in pa if that means anything.
Matt, thank you for the information.
I do have one question. Does not the process of decomposition start under the bark? What role does the bark play in maintaining quality lumber?
No, the sapwood doesn't rot under the bark. I just leave it on since it's less work and leaves more possibilities in the future. The bark can also help protect the live edge during handling. thanks!
Matthew Cremona thanks for the information
I have one more question
Can you leave the slabs outside as long as you want or can the wood get to old?
We have some slabs and they are inside for years now and they look like they are too old. Sounds crazy but they doesn't look like a normal slab. At some spots they start to look like the wood is getting soft.
Can you tell me the rational behind the straps. I'm dying a large walnut slab in Nebraska. Thanks for your video!
Does leveling the blocks really make a difference? Looking at the stack behind you, it looks like the blocks have sunk quite a bit under the weight of the slabs.
How do you stack those huge slabs? I have an 11 ft long by 60 inch diameter silver maple log to mill up and need to move them a couple hundred yards. Each 2.5 inch slab is pretty heavy. I have been putting off slabbing this beast due to having no good stacking & drying plan, but after this video I'm going to jump in. Thanks in advance.
This video really makes me wish I lived somewhere I could actually air dry lumber outside. Termites around here don't really seem to care if you use cinder blocks or even metal racks situated 3 feet off of the ground, they always seem to find a way up to the lumber.
Might need to wrap those blocks in a bug zapper lol
😂 You'd be surprised of the things I've thought up in my head. Can't do anything with electric outside because this area floods after a hard rain, don't need any more reasons to accidentally electrocute myself.
Ty needed this video 😁👍👍👍👍👍👍
After just one minute. In the vid I can ready conclude that it is some shadey business
+Daan.Z.bloedjes 😂😂
Very cool Matt. I am about to mill up a log of ash i will video it and dedicate it to you buddy. I hope i do you proud...lol.
I started a indoor dry in my insulated shop. So much moisture was released from the slabs it made the 1200sqft shop so humid! Bad idea for the first few months...
+David Iliyn yeah that initial dump of the free water is crazy
why not use a dehumidifier or better provide some airflow from and to outside in the months that do not have to much of a temperature difference?
I transported 8 cedar slabs home from my friends mill on Vancouver Island. My Sprinter van ceiling was dripping in the morning. Glad to have them out of the van and in the garage drying. I'm sure I just raised the humidity of Alberta by 1% :-)
What are these huge slabs of wood used for? I know some go for counter tops, but are there any more uses for them?
Matt, what is "Outdoor Equilibrium" ?
I always thought the general rule of thumb was 1 year per inch of thickness? I was surprised to hear 16 months for 10/4 stock. Great job here Matt.
+Dave Pruitt rarely is it actually true. Mostly represents worse case drying scenarios like putting this stack in a garage with no air flow. Thanks!
how do you keep bugs out of green lumber?
how long for drying br? if you make a simple plastic film arc top, it will get more sun power, it will shorten the cycle
What about snow? I couldn't find this question answered in the comments and maybe it's because it's obvious by the fact that the stacks are uncovered. I get that rain will run off, but what about snow and ice which will just sit on top of the stack or freeze to the side of it giving water the opportunity to really soak in?
how long does it take to dry inside ?
Great video, I love it! About the "European style", you might be right: I've just never seen wood slabs stacked any other way here. Maybe that's all there's to it. ^^
+Blauer Selbstmord I like that reasoning
How much of the wood that you cut do you sell? Do you advertise to both collect and sell the wood?