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From: jriley@charm.net (Riley)
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
Subject: Re: Wood storage- vertical?
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 22:47:06 GMT
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On 15 Nov 1995 03:17:34 GMT, mbalmer@ichips.intel.com (Mark Balmer)
wrote:

>All the plans for wood storage seem to be horizontally oriented.
>All the places that sell wood use a vertical approach.
>What's the deal? ...

	Wood shrinks as it looses moisture.  Wood laid out for drying will
loose moisture unevenly and boards will try to curve first one way and
then another keeping the driest side inside the curve.  When they are
uniformly dry they can come right back to flat again.

	If the wood drys much faster on the outside than on the inside, the
outside will shrink like a too tight skin and the wood will crack or
check. 

	The best way to dry wood then is to stack it horizontally with wooden
strips between the layers and air spaces between the boards in each
layer.  Air can then circulate around the boards to dry them and they
will be held flat by there own weight.  

	Also, the end grain of the boards looses moisture much faster than the
sides so the ends must be sealed to prevent checking.

	Once the boards are fully dried and at a uniform moisture level they
can be restacked in a dry area to ease handling, or for customer
presentation, or for easy selection.  You do not want the laying
directly on top of each other if water will get between them and
promote rot.

	I worry more about how the air is circulating around the lumber and
weather dampness is getting to it, than the direction gravity is
pulling.  I hope this helps.

	Riley
	jriley@charm.net