Kiln Dried or Green Lumber

Sparetime · Post by **Sparetime** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 2:32 pm

I am in the process of building a cedar canvas canoe. The planning process actually. I know most on this forum are strip builders, but I have a question anyway.

I can get clear northern white cedar for the planking and ribs with the option of kiln dried or green. I think the green would steam bend easier for the ribs. However, I need to store the lumber for a couple months and was curious if there will be any problems with storing green lumber. Checking, splits, etc.

Tom in MN · Post by **Tom in MN** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:57 pm

If it is green, you will have to store it with "stickers" between the boards to allow air to get to both sides of the wood. With all lumber, you will get some cracks on the ends of the boards. You can minimize this by painting the ends of the boards. In many cases, the logs are painted on the ends and thus every board that is sawn off the log is already painted.

With regard to bending, there is little doubt that air dried lumber will bend better than kiln dried lumber. Something in the way the heat from drying affects the lignin in the cell walls makes the board more brittle. Not entirely sure how this happens, but air dried always bends better than kiln dried.

Nothing wrong with air dried, just make sure it is fully dry before beginning to build with it. You can check moisture with a wood moisture tester or take a small piece to someone who has a tester.

Glen Smith · Post by **Glen Smith** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:08 pm

To verify the dryness of my white cedar I make a large "X" in chalk on one board. Every week I weigh that board. When the weight stabilises, it's as dry as it will get and the lumber is ready to use.

Sparetime · Post by **Sparetime** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:16 pm

Thanks,
I'll get the wood green and let it dry for a while. I have the perfect place to put it where it is out of the elements, gets some air circulation, and is out of my way.

I realize that environmental conditions awill play a large part in the drying time, but any guess as to how long it will take for 1x material?

Tom in MN · Post by **Tom in MN** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:15 am

Sparetime,

My uncle used to tell me one year per inch of lumber. So, if it is sawn to four quarters and you have good circulation through your stack, should be air dry in one year.

Sparetime · Post by **Sparetime** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:09 am

I will be picking up some green lumber and plan to resaw it to a little thicker than I need. That way I can cut the drying time down some.

I plan to get a bandsaw blade for resawing green lumber, anything I need to be careful with, other than the obvious safety precautions in woodworking.

Tom in MN · Post by **Tom in MN** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:13 pm

resawing with a bandsaw can be a little tricky. sometimes, depending on the type of blade, your set up and the wood, the blade will drift leaving you with two pieces of different thickness. Take your time and keep your feed rate slow. Do some research on re-sawing and make sure you test your setup and keep a close eye on the blade while sawing. Also, depending on how long your boards are, supporting them can also be a challenge as most bandsaw tables are pretty small. You might need a helper to assist in the process to pull the board through the blade at the very end. Or, make sure you have a push stick. I would rip the boards first and try not to resaw anything wider than about 4" or so. This will also come in handy at strip ripping time. It creates a little more waste, but a lot easier to rip a strip off a board 4" wide than 8" or so. Plus, having a smooth edge on the outside of the board is easier on the hands (or gloves) than the rough outside edge on a full width board (I always buy my lumber jointed on one edge only). I just ripped about 2500 linear ft (I have probably made 25,000 ft of strips in my life) and having a nice edge on both sides of the board makes ripping more tolerable.

Good luck