You must be either single or have a very supportive partner, like mine. :2tsup:
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Married to my dog Snowflake for 8 wonderful years.
Euge I will see you when you come back from Canberra.
I managed to carry six of the 2700 x 250 x 60 oak boards. It's like I am practicing to be an olympic power lifter, Squat down back straight a few deep breaths and up I stand. Then I take a 10 minute break and try again.
A neighbour offered to help me move a few tomorrow, so that will be 6 more done tomorrow.
Only 40 left.
Questions:
1 - Is direct sunlight an issue for drying timber? I placed the oak against the wall and it gets no direct sun, however the plane boards do get direct sun. People have said that the plane is prone to mould so I have used 20mm high stickers and next to the screened windows for maximum air flow.
2 - I have noticed that the oak is developing surface checks were the medullary rays can be seen. I have been told that I should expect this but they will only be shallow and easy to machine away. Is this true? Can I mitigate them?
I found a timber weight calculator for English Oak boards:
- 60 x 250 x 2700mm - estimate weight about - 30kg each
- 100 x 250 x 2700mm - estimate weight about - 50kg each
- 60 x 1400 x 2700 Slab - estimate weight about - 167.8kg each
Your oak was milled on a hot windy day so surface checks from rapid surface drying is expected. (Moisture can't move to surface quick enough). That should stabilise when draughts and heat is reduced in the stack inside. Slow air drying is best to reduce checking but worst for fungal attack. I would keep any wood covered from sun or direct light. These are my personal views from experience.
Are those green weights or air dried weights?
Milling oak in spring is high risk. Every effort should be made to keep it cool and out of sun. As summer approaches drying rates increase dramatically and surface checking will become evident. End checking will be the next battle. this stuff needs to dry slow, particularly in the early stages and particularly during warm weather.
A hand trolley will make moving your slabs much easier. Obviously they will have to go on cross ways which will make it tricky if you have to go through a door. Trolley will allow you to shift about 4 at a time. More if you eat spinach.
It might be worth having a short TEST board or TEST block that part of the stack that can be removed occasionally to WEIGH. You could have more that one. But the idea is that it should be representative of what the rest of the stack is doing. You can write the weight & date on the piece. This will allow you to Monitor Moisture Loss (ie drying rate) with time eg monthly.
Kitchen scales or bathroom digital scales depending on size weight worked for me. I often use the when measuring wood densities.
Hi - It has been now 8 months since the logs were milled for the last 7 months they have been sitting in the rear sun room of my last place however I needed to move house and now I have relocated to a smaller house without the huge amount of storage space.
The plane wood has faired the best it shows little to no distortion, with only a few boards having any visible drying defects (a large knot, and one with surface checks). This is a surprise since several people have told me that plane wood rips its self apart and dries poorly, so far this has not been my experience.
The oak has varied wildly in how it has dried. Some boards can be seen to have warped however it is clear this is due to knots or wavy grain. Some initially developed surface checks however it seems to limited a few boards and did not appear or spread beyond the first week of drying. Most boards show some undulation, if I take a straight edge I can see that the surfaces have moved +/- a few millimetres up or down.
Interesting I had some 60 x 60 mm oak essential scraps that was mostly milled from sapwood areas of the log. I threw them into the metal shed not giving them much care as I consider them waste. However I am glad I did not put the good wood into that steel shed. Because those 60 x 60' are so warped that they would give bananas a run. I think is part due to the extreme summer heat and that they are sapwood / knot rich pieces.
At this point I am not concerned about how dry it is because I am expecting that it will be at least 2 more years before I will use a moisture meter on the boards. I have looked into buying a Wagner Orion 930 Moisture Meter: Dual Depth Pinless | Kevmor Australia
Having no shed to store the wood and little other space at my new place, I put down some heavy duty pallets on the concrete and then bearers on top of them, then stickers on the bearers and then the oak was stickered and ample spacing (~25mm) all around each board/slab of oak on top of that I placed the plane boards. To get the wood out of the rain I bought a heavy tarp and covered it well enough so the tarp keeps out the water. I know this is not ideal and it would be nice to get more airflow. However it was makeshift stop gap measure.
OPTIONS/IDEAS
I have thought of sticking a fan under the tarp and then letting it blow air through the pile.
Or opening the tarp up and then expanding it to create an under cover area. It would look ugly and the wood would be more exposed but more air would get around.
Or I have thought of buying a Coleman Gazebo 3m x 3m and erecting it over the wood pile it would be the neatest solution. As it has a rain proof roof and a screen mesh that lets air in but is costly.
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I have very limited flat concrete space and the timber is to heavy to move again, so my options are limited and their is no space in the house this time.
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You are running a risk with mould rapping it up like that. Your gazebo idea sounds like a good option. And sooner rather than later.
Agree re the Gazebo idea will keep rain off and allow airflow and later reduce direct sun. You may be able to find one second hand.
Of course the downside of using a gazebo is the durability of he gazebo itself.
Even the good quality ones aren't designed for continuous use in high winds. Even when securely pegged down they will sustain damage quite quickly. The cross struts will get damaged, compromising the integrity of the structure.
The canopies will start to break down after a couple of months of exposure to UV rays and will need replacing a few times over the course of he required drying time.
Gazebos are designed to be a temporary structure only. I own three of them and have found that the maintenance required after being used for a week at a time is a lot more than I anticipated, particularly if the wind picks up. I have come back from camping trips with cable ties temporarily taking the place of screws that have come loose and gotten lost.
Doug that was my concern with the gazebo - I am thinking that I will stick with the tarp but using Steel Fence Posts to make an under cover area that is durable, airy and dry.
A good quality tent sealer will extend the life of your gazebo. Doesn't help with wind though.
Yesterday I turned the tarp into a tent. It now has large open side however it is completely covered. The vertical pole is a sapwood bark board so it is waste.
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