Watching Lumber Dry

31 Oct 23:

If you thought watching paint dry took a long time, try lumber. The oft repeated guideline is that it takes one year per inch to get lumber dried from a wet state to something suitable for boat building. The folks that say that obviously never lived in Arizona. 

We covered the top of the lumber stack with tin to keep rain off, but that won't keep the stack totally dry. And we also know that drying lumber in a forest is not optimum, so we are going to move this lumber either to the Sunfish Shack or find a spot for it in one of our sheds, where it can dry at a steadier rate. Other factors affecting dry time are the species of tree, humidity, temperature, air flow, wood nymphs and lunar phase. And depending on what is being built, sometimes greener lumber was preferred, a tight planking job might dry enough to create a seam to caulk, and then where is the hull going next? Right back into the water!

We are trying PVC for the spacer sticks. We have read that stacking with green sticks or a dissimilar species might create an area for mold to grow and stain the lumber....of course, look all around, we're in a forest! We also got some tips from woodturning artist Earl, to move the lumber to a shed, and to flip the planks every 3 or 4 months to help reduce lengthwise splits (checking) that can appear on the bottom side of stacked lumber. He also gave us some tips on woodturning equipment and sizes of chunks to look for from tree stumps. And he said to never turn Bradford Pear, but it will turn out beautiful if you can get through a piece without it splitting. 

Meanwhile in the conservation area...

Happy Halloween from Skipper and Clark!