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Any Pics Of A Sticker Wood Pile


jtg116

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Sorry, I know it too basic, but I've been looking on all the forums and can't find a pic of a well supported stack. What is a good non-reactive wood to use in it as well? I have a nice bunch of maple I'd like to season and protect until I've learned enough to work with it. Thanks!

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Sorry, I know it too basic, but I've been looking on all the forums and can't find a pic of a well supported stack. What is a good non-reactive wood to use in it as well? I have a nice bunch of maple I'd like to season and protect until I've learned enough to work with it. Thanks!

I don't have a picture handy, but placing sticks of wood between pieces is a pretty straight forward visual so I will explain what I use. I generally use light colored wood(whatever is handy), same species off cuts is nice and can be efficient and cheap. I try to keep a quarter inch to one half inch spacing(if you are drying). If the wood is very wet and you have little air movement increase the spacing. For thin wood quarter (inch or less), I use rubber bands around sticks or tie raps. For thicker wood weighting(generally I place about twice the weight of the top piece on the stack). I will some times stack equally sized billets(2"+ x 24-36" long stock) on edge each layer getting turned 90 degrees for ease(and no weight will do much good at that size). Be sure your end grain is sealed effectively.

I would add a note. I have come to the conclusion that you are best served(reduced losses from stress cracks and checking) if you have your wood closer(obviously you need to allow for shrinkage and planing) to the dimension you will use it at(if you know what you plan to do with it). As an example a large Spruce split bolt that is green will crack in several places to relieve stress due to its large form. You are better off cutting a green bolt into soundboard stock(thicker than needed say 3/16") and stickering it for drying. The changing stresses will move the soundboard around a bit, but by allowing it to move a little you will avoid checking or cracking that would make the piece useless. Allowing for the free movement(weighted wood will still be able to move freely enough) you will avoid a lot of damage and wind up with wood that has less stored tension.

Peace,Rich

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A long time ago, in a galaxy where I only had about 8 sets of tonewood, a stickered stack looked like this:

tonewood02.jpg

Fingerboards, bigger hunks of heavier wood and a gallon of paint on top for weight.

These days, I tend to sticker back/side sets and other thin stuff using 1/8" plywood stickers, unless it's particularly green, at which point I stack with 1/4" stickers. After 6-8 months, I simply revert to stacking without stickering.

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Thanks much, I was wondering how far apart the crossmembers would be placed for support. I have to go down to the basement and stack some wood(also it seems as a good place to store paint) :D

If you dont seal the ends of green wood with a commercial sealer or wax product all the stickering in the world will be useless. without a moisture block the ends will dry faster and split. If you could find a material made of a non wood product I think that would work better than wood as a sticker but make sure you are using seasoned wood not green wood as the sticker. Someone even sells stickers, but that seems like a waste. A PVC Sheet would be thin and cheap. dont make them too big you want the tops and sides open to the air, but again not the end grain.

Honestly I have not heard about spacing but I dont know everything

May 2 1/2 cents worth

Woodenspoke

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Note the white stickers up-top: melamine covered chipboard is cheap, readily available, and melamine won't stain anything, ever. As for spacing, I sort of do what seems right. At least 3 for something the size of a guitar top or back, more for longer wood, and fewer for thicker wood than for thinner stock.

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Adding a little more about spacing. For wood that is pretty much dry and you are just aclimating to your ambient humidity. Small spacing is fine say up to 1/4". If you are actually drying the wood increase your spacing and or use a fan to help circulate the air just a little. I can tell you this from experience. A tightly spaced large stack of wood will dry slower twards the middle of the stack if you do not space well or keep the air moving between the boards. I enphasize this is for drying wood, which is not the same as a little aclimation. Mattia is spot on and has dealt with plenty of expensive woods. I believe his setup is a perfect example of aclimating wood.

End grain sealing is very important. What Woodenspoke is saying is very true. There are many products available to seal end grain. You will find that some end grain sealers seal very well and some just act to slow moisture transfer a tad. Using shellac, thick paint, or waxed based paints will slow moisture transfer a little(which is fine for aclimating pretty dry wood). There are a few commercial wax based sealers that offer better protection and adhesion for wet wood, and straight up Parrafin wax dip on the ends is about the best in terms of staying in place and slowing transfer. The big thing to keep in mind if it is really wet wood is that the end grain sealer needs to stay in tact.

The reason for doing all of this, is to simply help the moisture out of the wood as evenly as possible. Some woods are more prone to cracking and checking(Madrone for example). Other woods will likely crack or check very little(say Port Orford Cedar). The cracking and checking are a product of the wood shrinking(as it becomes dryer). When wood is green it will go through a stages where the outer part of the board is dryer than the core. At times the shell is crushing the core at other times the shell is rigid and the core has very little pressure. This is why you see the cracks on the outer shell as it shrinks more than the core will compress, then you can see the heart checking as the core is shrinking more than the shell will allow it to. These are the stages that rip wood apart. Aclimating is much less drastic although you can easily see movement because the shell will aclimate fast. You can watch this happen. Just take a thinish(say 1/8"-1/4" thick board) and place it on a flat surface(little air will get to the down face). Then spritz water on the side facing down. The wet face will expand and the side exposed to air will be dryer, this will make the board cup on the dry side. After it has cupped turn it over and it will flatten back out as the side you spritzed with water drys back out. If you do this with fairly thin wood you can watch it happen in a matter of minutes. This is a good thing to understand if you recieve wood that starts cupping, as you can try to balance the moisture levels and then sticker it to allow it it balance evenly.

Peace,Rich

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There is a "show us your stash of wood" topic on the OLF-Link to topic that has plenty of pictures of stickered and stored wood(My buddy Mattia has shots of his FAT STACK-O-WOOD posted, and I had a couple pics of my shop(s) posted). These are mainly acoustic builders that know how to properly store and dry expensive woods. I caution you, ckpung's stash of Koa will make you drool :D .

Peace,Rich

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Holy mother of koa! That chpung had an evelasting stock of all kinds of koa! Everytime my jaw dropped from a set of pics, there would be another 3 posts worth of pics of tons of koa and mango and BRW and everything else. Geez, talk about hoarding, lol. Thanks for the link, that was inspriational. Thank goodness I have most of my money in a place I cannot easily withdrawl from because damn, I have a lot of catch up, lol. J

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