How to Air Dry Fresh Cut Lumber

Male: Once lumber has been cut out of a tree of course it is dripping wet, the moisture meter showed us that this lumber that we have got behind us is at about 45 percent moisture or so way up there. No way that that can be used in the shop, one really low-tech way that wood can be dried is with air drying so Greg is here he is going to kind of give us the low down on the air dry stack we have got in front of us.

Greg: Yeah you have got some nice lumber here now you are very interested to get it used, you want to put it into a project but you cannot do it with the moisture you have got here right now. You have got a nice looking stack going here, you have stickered it about every 16 inches, that will keep the wood flat—

Male: So the stickers are the one by twos?

Greg: Yup.

Male: Separating each row.

Greg: Yup that will allow air flowing between the boards towards on that you have also got separation between your boards which is great that allows plenty of air flow in this. You can air dry wood inside or out. You happen to be in a shed here, it is perfect you have got a roof overhead; you have not stacked a bunch of stuff in front of it you do not need to cover it with a tarp.

If you cover it wood outside with a tarp you are still trapping in that moisture you need to bring that up, you are better off putting the hard surface on it and let the rain come off of it.

Male: We want to protect it from the elements but air flow is key for air dried wood to dry.

Greg: Air flow is absolute key so you have got a great looking pile of wood here. You have coated your ends that helps keep the ends from checking and losing moisture too quickly because that is where you are going to have your splits and checks and cracks so you have done a great job you are getting this thing to this point. Now it is just the waiting game.

Male: Now one thing I have found in a building like this is that if I am concerned about getting enough air flow it is not a bad idea to even locate a box fan here and just help push air and I am in a little bit of a dead corner here in this building so pushing a little bit of air over this pile is going to help keep that air flow a little bit more uniform. Now last step how do we cap this off here in the building?

Greg: We are going to definitely want to put up more stickers across here and put a piece of plywood on top and then weight it with some cinder blocks and then you leave out laying around to help keep this things flat so as it dries it is going to want to move it is going to want to cup a little.

You want to keep all that pressure down on the top pile. You will usually see your top couple layers have a little excess of cup or twist if you do not weigh them. You have got the weight of the pile on the lower layers so you are in good shape down low so definitely you want to weight the top a few layers.

Male: Well you keep talking about weight here so I am going to ask you to give me a hand getting that heavy plywood and the cinder blocks on top of this pile we will finish this thing off.

Greg: Not a problem.

Male: Alright what do you think?

Greg: I think you are going to have a great looking pile of wood; you should keep everything nice and flat so…

Male: One thing I want to point out we have got all those stickers dead in line with each other that keep the weight going right down one over the top of the next one that is going to help keep her flat huh?

Greg: Absolutely. If you do not have a straight pile now it will not dry straight.

Male: Alright well that is good. Now we just sit back and wait.