Thread: small drying rack

Nice rack you have there [emoji12]

Cheers Matt


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Hmm drying green slabs in racks like that is not the way to go, the racks look more like for stacking timbers. Slabs need to be stacked, stickered and weighted down to avoid bowing and warping.

They way to dry slabs in a rack like that would be to use the crossbracing for bottom course stickers which means they have to be higher then the frame. Like 100 mm or so, so that you can use a forklift to lift material in and out. Screw a couple 4 x 2's onto the existing setup, coming right to the outside so the bearer carries the weight rather then a hanger. Triple grips will be good.

keep your between slab stickers in line with those as you go up
use another run of 100 mil stickers every fourth or fifth row so you can lift bundles out with the forks as opposed to having to take all of them at once.

By way of roof just extend your posts up high enough to get the forklift under, then make a normal roof with batten and corrugated iron. You want at least 3' of clearance between roof and top of stack for heat attenuation purposes, and enough overhang either side that the sun isnt on your timber from 8 am to 5 pm.

Myself I think hardwood would have been better for the posts ... but thats me and I can whack about 6 ton of timber into a rack like that.

Good job, I likes it. I'm building a new timber rack myself today but for boards.

G'day Members, thanks for the updates, I will have a separate area for drying, the young bloke can get a 4 wheel steer "Loadall" in every now and then, so that will help.

There is plenty of room along the rest of Cypress;s for a slab drying area.

I will only use the rack for storing timber, ie cut boards, smallish logs.

I should have put the posts closer together, hardwood posts (dried) are very hard to come by, down this way.

John, the rack area doesn't get any sunlight, but the roof is only to keep the rain off.

Thanks again for your input/help, and hope to see some pictures of your new rack soon?

Regards
Stevo

Ok Stevo dont take this the wrong way but Im about to give you the list of things I'd have done differently with your rack. Im using you because you got the pictures but the experience behind it... yeah as usual I learnt these things the hard way. So Im not trying to poke holes in what you've done so much as share with you and anyone else the benefit of a 10 year timber rack construction spree...

So first thing is I personally would never concrete the posts in the ground (except with a cantilever system). Couple of reasons... if they'e going to rot it starts at ground line and this rack might be with you for another 20 years so thinking that far ahead isnt unreasonable. Just pour a concrete footing and stick the posts on or even just a bit of plate steel to stop it sinking... that rack even empty with a roof on is stable enough that it wont blow away. And then we load the timber in and really weight her down so its not going to go anywhere. And if by chance you decide to relocate it later a rack just sitting on footings is pretty easy to empty out and move to new footings.

I also would have left a bit more space between the bottom of the rack and ground level. On concrete it makes it easy to get underneath with a broom and for insecticide application. In an external setting its all the same but herbicide and insecticide and maybe an annual rake out. Just about keeping the joint tidy and the white ants away.

Extra posts.... yeah maybe. Or maybe but just under the bottom rack to carry any outsize heavy stuff. But mostly unless you're doing a pigeonhole setup they're a PITA because the whole point is to be able to get at the timber. If you cant lift your wood out for posts it gets difficult, particularly with slabs etc.

And as mentioned above I'd have stuck your joists atop the bearers rather then flush inside them. Even when you havent got a forklift, setting your racks up to be forklift compatible is a wise move particularly when you start playing with slabs etc. As we all know there is an inverse relationship between the need for a particular piece of wood that we know we have and the top of the stack of timber we know its in. It's always on the bottom of the stack. Being able to lift them out en mass with a machine is a good option to have and that gap just makes it a natural to slip forks into.

Other then that mate I like it. And they're all little things - the other thing I can tell you for sure is that any rack is better then no rack and what I've mentioned here is just fine tuning things for the next one. Because theres always a next one.

Heres my current WIP.

This one is a pigeonhole rack for storage of loose framing timbers. They are a bit of a nuisance in terms of having to slide stuff in and out of, but make up for it somewhat in terms of being able to walk past and see whats there and the pigeonholes make for some degree of organisation. I've also got cantilever racks but while they tend to be great for packs of one size board they're a bit less user friendly when you want to get just one 150 x 50 x 5.1 out for example.

Timber is my rejects. Hardwood being hardwood theres always bits and piece floating around here that have holes, cracks, knots, splits, heavy gumveins etc that mean while they can carry a structural grade they're ugly as sin and no-one wants them, or they're just shorts. So I use them for in house construction projects like this.

Size is 2.4 wide x 2.4 high. 2.4 wide means I can load them on a truck if I need to shift them. 2.4 high because any higher and the top row which is 2.0 off ground is getting too hard to get at (though I do forklift stuff on top for storage as well). The original ones I made were 5.7 long but since then I've been shortening them up to 4 courses of posts and 3 meters long. The long ones were too awkward to shift, so now I use a standard "module" with the same spacings every time and if i need more length I jsut put two together.

Bit of overkill... maybe. When we shifted a couple years back I tallied just on 6 cubic meters of hardwood out of one (long) rack and there would have been a couple of ton of slabs on top so they do need some rigidity to cope with that.

And this is my only woodwork project for 2017 so instead of racing through it with a trenching head on a radial arm I'm being a masochist and doing my joints with a chisel. Go me. The beer fridge is close at hand and its a holiday right?

20171230_163515.jpgframes coming off today
20171230_165333.jpg detail of top of another rack... I can get a forklift straight under anything on top

1452480935072.jpg one of the older 5.7 meter racks loaded down. It aint blowing away in a hurry!

John all good, I really appreciate you taking the time to help me and others that may be going to rack (couldn't help the pun) their brains with storage ideas, every bit helps.

My rack posts are just sitting on the concrete footings, bolted to those with those steel brackets, the whole idea was if the young bloke ever sells the place, then i can dismantle the rack and cart it away.

Good point with the rack bottom gap, I didn't know which way to go, so another good learning point, for you future rack builders.

Blimey, yours is a beast of a rack - solid as, well done, if its not a rude question, just out of interest for budding "rackies" how much would your rack cost - street price?

I got the T/P really cheap, and hard wood is almost non existent down here unless you fluke some, cost for mine about $650 inc bugles and gal nails, the concrete was left over from a "pour" slab for that.

Cheers for the input and help, much appreciated.

Regards
Stevo

Okay so I sell at wholesale and as we all know with any business theres a fair markup between the delivery door and the front one. I figure my costs as what I would have got if I had sold these boards instead.

Posts are structural grade 100x100x2.4's. Strong enough but too rough for verandah posts etc. If they wern't in this job they'd be going to the mines at $1000/m3 + Gst, 16 posts to a short rack = $384
100 x 50 structural 20 /2.4, 4/3.0, 4/3.6 =0.372m3 @ $1329.00 = $494
Plus about 200x 100mm batten screws so lets call it $900 + G for materials.

To roof one I use 2.7 posts down one side and scrap the stack on top area.

Not having to sort through a pack of timber to find what you want = priceless. And hey, I'm the first to admit they're built ridiculously heavy... plenty timber yards do the same with 75x50 pine.

Pine is a four letter word here.