Popular Post Bmac Posted August 16, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 Spent the morning today reorganizing my drying lumber stock. Taking assessment of it I've come to realize I have a problem. I hear the first step in confronting one's addiction you need to first realize you have a problem. I guess there are worse problems to have, and I realize the wood should not go bad as long as I store it correctly, but still it's becoming an issue. Managing all this wood takes time and effort. Here's an few pictures so you can see how bad the addiction has become; My "drying shed" (now a storage shed) is now almost full of lumber that is 2 plus years old stock. From the left I have 2 stacks of hickory (some pecan on the bottom), then a stack of red oak, cherry, white oak, poplar and more cherry. I'm in the process of filling this up from other piles. Some of the cherry stock is pretty marginal (second small pile from the right) as I harvested some marginal logs a few years back, but I will salvage some wood from those boards. All this was milled via chainsaw; Here's a small pile I've been picking at that needs to be moved into the "drying shed", 1 cherry log and 1 walnut, milled again with a chainsaw; This pile is all norway maple, milled again the hard way; And my new location for drying piles, 3 piles, the first in the foreground all walnut, the second walnut, white oak and some cherry, and the last all white oak. The first pile was milled via chainsaw, the second is a mix of chainsaw milled and bandsaw milled, and the last is all bandsaw milled, this wood needs another year of drying; I've been moving stock that is soon to be used, approx 3 years drying time, into my garage. Here's a mix of chainsaw milled wood; Finally, I move stock into my shop, where I run a dehumidifier and have some climate control. This wood is rotated and I try to let it sit here at least a few months, getting it down to about 9%. That's the best I can do without a kiln but it works fine for me at that moisture content. If I bought kiln dried wood and stored it here it would go up to 8-9% anyway, unless I had a completely climate controlled shop. This wood is a mix of chainsaw milled and about 150 bf of figured stock I purchased from @Spanky, On another wall I have paulownia and tucked away in the attic space above this I have some norway maple, white pine, yellow pine and 4/4 cherry. The cherry stock up in the attic is about 300 bf and is 15 plus years old that I pick away at when I need 4/4 stock. Most of my stock is 8/4-9/4; So I'm in the process of working through this addiction and any advice will help. But I really don't know if there is a cure as I've got 5 walnut logs sitting on my property now that I will mill up with the chainsaw this winter. I'm beginning to think I'm a lost soul. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted August 16, 2019 Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 Nowhere close to being a problem yet. I have an Cousin who called me a short while ago, and asked if I had anywhere he could move his 13,000 ft of Walnut to. It is in an old barn, and he is expecting the barn to fall down any time. That's a problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 16, 2019 Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 Give it all away. I’ll PM you my address. You can ship it to me and I’ll handle it for you 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmac Posted August 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 1 hour ago, Tom King said: Nowhere close to being a problem yet. I have an Cousin who called me a short while ago, and asked if I had anywhere he could move his 13,000 ft of Walnut to. It is in an old barn, and he is expecting the barn to fall down any time. That's a problem. Well I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted August 16, 2019 Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 It appears you do but hey there are worse things you could be hoarding LOL Like JohnG said as a fellow wootalkonline member always looking to help I would be more than happy to have you send some of it my way 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted August 16, 2019 Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 Bmac. Milling wood and air drying requires a significant amount of time. There is rotation of your stock also. So add some labor to the mix. I have questions about your situation. How old are you? Are you fit? Is this your business? Do you have help? I think those answers would influence my humble opinion about your wood hoarding . Expect my answer to be biased being a hoarder myself. My amount of stock is less though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post treeslayer Posted August 16, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 It’s better to have wood in times of no money than money in times of no wood, I don’t see a problem except that maybe you need to build a large dedicated wood shed to store it all in one place, just make it big enough 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bmac Posted August 16, 2019 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 30 minutes ago, curlyoak said: Bmac. Milling wood and air drying requires a significant amount of time. There is rotation of your stock also. So add some labor to the mix. I have questions about your situation. How old are you? Are you fit? Is this your business? Do you have help? I think those answers would influence my humble opinion about your wood hoarding . Expect my answer to be biased being a hoarder myself. My amount of stock is less though. This is not my business, it's my hobby. I'm in my early 50's and do all this work myself. I really look at it as a form of exercise and satisfying my woodworking addiction. I have no desire to do this as a business, but I hope to continue to build for family and friends (3 kids that are between 18-23). My real addiction is probably not knowing when to say enough is enough. So my hoarding is basically the following; self-induced hard labor that keeps me out of trouble, causing me to sweat profusely in the hot/humid August weather, and feeding the woodworking bug. In the end it's probably better than a gym membership! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmac Posted August 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 Just now, treeslayer said: It’s better to have wood in times of no money than money in times of no wood, I don’t see a problem except that maybe you need to build a large dedicated wood shed to store it all in one place, just make it big enough I think you and I are thinking the same! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted August 16, 2019 Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 My Dad was a wood hoarder all his life. One old stable that was full of wood did collapse on it. If he had known about Spanky, before he left here in 2006, he would have kept a truck on the road, back and forth. I've moved some of it here, but most has just gone to waste in deteriorating old buildings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted August 16, 2019 Report Share Posted August 16, 2019 Or you could change your way of thinking. Consider woodworking as your addiction with no worries as to how you will fund it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 So how many board feet total, just W.A.G (wild a** guess) it? I was worried about my self but now you make me feel a lot better. I estimate that i'm somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 BF. I also want to get into chainsaw milling very soon. I've almost pulled the trigger on a 661 multiple times but know i need a 15" planer first. Though the wood does have to dry a long time so maybe the chainsaw is the better first buy.... bah decisions! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 Bmac I’m not sure but I think I have two board feet more than you. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 Is the black wrap landscape fabric? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 Bmac. Not to worry. From your answers, keep doing what you are doing.Most importantly you like what you are doing. See if you can addict someone younger than you in preparation for a future succession. You are young enough not to need to hurry. It might be fun to teach a kid...And addict them too... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmac Posted August 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 9 hours ago, K Cooper said: Is the black wrap landscape fabric? That fabric is the windscreen fabric you see on fences, esp baseball outfield fences. It allows air to move through it. So I use that to shade the piles from the direct sun but still allowing air flow. I don't need to put it all the way around, I typically just put it on the southern facing side of the pile. Direct sun will typically cause checking and uneven drying. 10 hours ago, Chestnut said: So how many board feet total, just W.A.G (wild a** guess) it? I was worried about my self but now you make me feel a lot better. I estimate that i'm somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 BF. I also want to get into chainsaw milling very soon. I've almost pulled the trigger on a 661 multiple times but know i need a 15" planer first. Though the wood does have to dry a long time so maybe the chainsaw is the better first buy.... bah decisions! Boy I wish I knew how many board feet I have, but I don't think my guess would be accurate at all. I've never been someone who has purchased lumber, when I started woodworking I did it with my Grandfather and he milled all his wood from his farm. So I've milled basically almost all the wood I've worked with and have never had a good feel for board feet. I think when you buy it you understand board feet and what certain amounts of it look like. Also this wood has a lot of defects, board feet isn't as accurate of a measurement. Usable board feet and total board feet do vary significantly with rough milled lumber. Chainsaw milling is something I got into about 5 years ago, my Grandfather had passed and I didn't have the equip to move logs but I had access to the farm. Get the chainsaw first, you said you had access to logs, milling will save you more money than the planer. 10 hours ago, Spanky said: Bmac I’m not sure but I think I have two board feet more than you. Well if that means if I place an order with you I'll have more? Still waiting on those Red Gum pics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 As if I don't have anything else to do, I find the price on these very tempting. I owned a chainsaw mill back in the early 80's, with two powerheads. It was not only a lot of work, but the best logs always belonged to someone else, they wanted to keep all the good parts, and I ended up selling the rig. http://cookssaw.com/mp-32-sawmill/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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