I'm planning on building a lumber shed to air dry my lumber and was wondering if I can use fresh cut southern pine. I also thought about doing it using mortises and tenons. Any thoughts?
I pretty well build all my sheds straight off the mill regardless of species. I have no thoughts about mortises and tenons because I'd never take the time to make them.
Most of the nails I buy are galv. dipped but have never had a problem with any screws or nails holding the sheds together. Pine will stay in place once nailed but fir can twist when drying. 6" boards will end up with approx. 3/8" gap between after drying average with any wood that's green. For my wood drying shed I wanted the air to be able to move through so I intentionally used spacers and left horizontal cracks so a little shrinkage didn't matter. If vertical just put bats over the joints if you want it sealed. I've put up a lot of buildings and can say I notice much dif. from KD or just off the mill.
Billy I just stuck them in the ground and packed good size rocks against them for stability. So far so good but it is dry around my sheds the over hangs keep the rain far enough away. With treated posts I found wrapping them with tar paper or plastic protects them for a longer life span but with green wood I thought it would hold in the moisture and create wrought. One of the buildings I put up has been there since 1991 and still no sign of falling down rotting . The back of that building was into a bank & back filled 8' made with straight off a mill ( not mine) ruff 2x6 with lumber yard lumber wrapping stapled to it . A couple years ago I dug it out with my backhoe to pour concrete and the only rotted 2x6 is where there were a few holes in the wrapping. Hard to give sound advice on this sort of thing most contractors have their own theory of what's the best way to do it. I don't recommend concreting them in solid but what I have done on occasion with pole barns when there were no stones around is put a couple shovels full of cement in the bottom then fill with dirt and just down a ft. from the top put in a few more shovel fulls to stabilize the post these were treated posts.
Hello everyone! I'm just starting out and I'm going to be processing my lumber for my own projects on my 6 acre farm and considering using using Granberg chainsaw mills. I hope that doesn't offend anyone!!! I still haven't purchased any mills or such, but have finally decided to stop climbing trees for a living at 52 years of age and chainsaw carve full time. If anyone is willling to give insight, and I hope that this is the correct place to post, I have a 30' x 100' greenhouse that I wood like to use for drying lumber. My intentions are to make posts, lumber for a horse walk-in shed, and planter box beams - 4" x 6". I live in NC, in the Winston Salem area and the temperatures in the greehouse are already in the 112 degree F zone. The 2 long runs of the greenhouse can be opened 3' on the bottom and I want to doghouse the whole top run for ventilation. There are 2 - 4' by 5' industrial ventilation fans on 1 end and the other end has the same sized shutters. They are electrically wired to work in unison according to temperature. I know that in the summer the temperature rises to near or over 200 degrees F. If I can doghouse the top as I plan for moisture escape, are any opinions on my thoughts? I know it's asking a lot but I need to do something with this greehouse because the previous homeowner who erected had no clue and I need to correct several, main issues, in order to have it function the way a greenhouse is supposed to. The main issue being that the drainage is all wrong and I have a constant battle with the weeds growing through the supposable weed barrier! Thanks anyone for reading this and if anyone comments I would be very appreciative! Stay Safe All and Thanks again! - G Man!
I'm not full of suggestions but I think the building will be a great place to dry your lumber. I think trail and error is going to give you the most info that's sound.
Is it pretty humid in your area? I think you may be able to use the fans to advantage, if you can find find some way to have the incoming air a bit drier than normal (chilled,from a colder area, or something). That way, when it heats, it can carry more moisture. If you add to this a slight negative pressure by having the fans slightly over capacity of the intake, then it will tend to pull more moisture from the wood.
His fans are blowing in which pushes open the lovers at the other end. It will take some sheet metal work to reverse the flow. I don't know how many milli-bars you could drop the pressure without putting a strain on the motors . It'd be great if it would lower the humidity to prevent fungus on tomato leaves.
I have seven hoop houses with tomato plants, one thousand total, all of which need to be transplanted this week. I need to get some sawing done before it's time to work in the hoop houses for the next eight months.
Thanks everyone for the comments! I am located at 1000' elevation and it's not too humid. The heat cooks you in there and my biggest problem will be to having the moist air leave as it rises. The greenouse has no high high openings for the release of the moisture laden air, but when the sides are completely open the temperature change is drastic. When the sides are down the fans pressure is diminished because it has a place to escape. I had read somewhere that I need to be careful of the wood drying out too fast in a greenhouse. If that is the case I'm sure I could leave the sides less open and take good notes! It may just be a try it and adjust process?
G Man, welcome to the forum! Hard to visualize exactly what you have, but if you can control the vents to regulate moisture loss, you should be ok. Temps of 135F or higher will kill any bugs in the wood, which is important. Get a good moisture meter and set up the wood to take readings at least once a week. Do a google search on solar wood kilns for good info on some of the issues involved. I think that you'd outgrow the chainsaw mill pretty quickly and want a band mill. When word gets out, you may have people willing to give you urban logs to keep your sawmill running.
Good judgement comes from experience... experience comes from bad judgement.
Thanks for the input Post Oakie! I will take some images and post as soon as I can. Friday through Sunday are really busy for me. I carve and show my sculptures and during the rest of the week I'm always doing something, mostly carving! I just cut up the brush from 2 downed trees, 1 Oak around 32" in diameter plus 60' of trunk and 1 Poplar around 35" in diameter plus 65' of trunk. It took me 4 hours of straight cutting but the wood is all mine less a small amount to make a 8' long x 4' wide foot bridge. That came about after looking to help a fellow out who didn't want to buy a big chainsaw just for it. He was going to turn it all into firewood but already has too much rotting away. I have always wanted a sawmill but for now I will start with the chainsaw mill and see how quickly I will need to go bigger and better. I'm always chasing the dreams!
One thing I'm wondering about drying lumber in a greenhouse… Will you have problems with sun exposure, as you would with uncovered lumber? Seems like much of my lumber degradation comes from exposure to the sun-- at least as much as drying too fast, or not being stickered and stacked properly.
I pretty well build all my sheds straight off the mill regardless of species. I have no thoughts about mortises and tenons because I'd never take the time to make them.
Do you have any problems with shrinkage or warpage?
Most of the nails I buy are galv. dipped but have never had a problem with any screws or nails holding the sheds together. Pine will stay in place once nailed but fir can twist when drying. 6" boards will end up with approx. 3/8" gap between after drying average with any wood that's green. For my wood drying shed I wanted the air to be able to move through so I intentionally used spacers and left horizontal cracks so a little shrinkage didn't matter. If vertical just put bats over the joints if you want it sealed. I've put up a lot of buildings and can say I notice much dif. from KD or just off the mill.
Did you set your post in concrete or on top? Just wondering about ground rot.
Billy I just stuck them in the ground and packed good size rocks against them for stability. So far so good but it is dry around my sheds the over hangs keep the rain far enough away. With treated posts I found wrapping them with tar paper or plastic protects them for a longer life span but with green wood I thought it would hold in the moisture and create wrought. One of the buildings I put up has been there since 1991 and still no sign of falling down rotting . The back of that building was into a bank & back filled 8' made with straight off a mill ( not mine) ruff 2x6 with lumber yard lumber wrapping stapled to it . A couple years ago I dug it out with my backhoe to pour concrete and the only rotted 2x6 is where there were a few holes in the wrapping. Hard to give sound advice on this sort of thing most contractors have their own theory of what's the best way to do it. I don't recommend concreting them in solid but what I have done on occasion with pole barns when there were no stones around is put a couple shovels full of cement in the bottom then fill with dirt and just down a ft. from the top put in a few more shovel fulls to stabilize the post these were treated posts.
Hello everyone! I'm just starting out and I'm going to be processing my lumber for my own projects on my 6 acre farm and considering using using Granberg chainsaw mills. I hope that doesn't offend anyone!!! I still haven't purchased any mills or such, but have finally decided to stop climbing trees for a living at 52 years of age and chainsaw carve full time. If anyone is willling to give insight, and I hope that this is the correct place to post, I have a 30' x 100' greenhouse that I wood like to use for drying lumber. My intentions are to make posts, lumber for a horse walk-in shed, and planter box beams - 4" x 6". I live in NC, in the Winston Salem area and the temperatures in the greehouse are already in the 112 degree F zone. The 2 long runs of the greenhouse can be opened 3' on the bottom and I want to doghouse the whole top run for ventilation. There are 2 - 4' by 5' industrial ventilation fans on 1 end and the other end has the same sized shutters. They are electrically wired to work in unison according to temperature. I know that in the summer the temperature rises to near or over 200 degrees F. If I can doghouse the top as I plan for moisture escape, are any opinions on my thoughts? I know it's asking a lot but I need to do something with this greehouse because the previous homeowner who erected had no clue and I need to correct several, main issues, in order to have it function the way a greenhouse is supposed to. The main issue being that the drainage is all wrong and I have a constant battle with the weeds growing through the supposable weed barrier! Thanks anyone for reading this and if anyone comments I would be very appreciative! Stay Safe All and Thanks again! - G Man!
I'm not full of suggestions but I think the building will be a great place to dry your lumber. I think trail and error is going to give you the most info that's sound.
Is it pretty humid in your area? I think you may be able to use the fans to advantage, if you can find find some way to have the incoming air a bit drier than normal (chilled,from a colder area, or something). That way, when it heats, it can carry more moisture. If you add to this a slight negative pressure by having the fans slightly over capacity of the intake, then it will tend to pull more moisture from the wood.
His fans are blowing in which pushes open the lovers at the other end. It will take some sheet metal work to reverse the flow. I don't know how many milli-bars you could drop the pressure without putting a strain on the motors . It'd be great if it would lower the humidity to prevent fungus on tomato leaves.
I have seven hoop houses with tomato plants, one thousand total, all of which need to be transplanted this week. I need to get some sawing done before it's time to work in the hoop houses for the next eight months.
Thanks everyone for the comments! I am located at 1000' elevation and it's not too humid. The heat cooks you in there and my biggest problem will be to having the moist air leave as it rises. The greenouse has no high high openings for the release of the moisture laden air, but when the sides are completely open the temperature change is drastic. When the sides are down the fans pressure is diminished because it has a place to escape. I had read somewhere that I need to be careful of the wood drying out too fast in a greenhouse. If that is the case I'm sure I could leave the sides less open and take good notes! It may just be a try it and adjust process?
G Man, welcome to the forum! Hard to visualize exactly what you have, but if you can control the vents to regulate moisture loss, you should be ok. Temps of 135F or higher will kill any bugs in the wood, which is important. Get a good moisture meter and set up the wood to take readings at least once a week. Do a google search on solar wood kilns for good info on some of the issues involved. I think that you'd outgrow the chainsaw mill pretty quickly and want a band mill. When word gets out, you may have people willing to give you urban logs to keep your sawmill running.
Good judgement comes from experience... experience comes from bad judgement.
Thanks for the input Post Oakie! I will take some images and post as soon as I can. Friday through Sunday are really busy for me. I carve and show my sculptures and during the rest of the week I'm always doing something, mostly carving! I just cut up the brush from 2 downed trees, 1 Oak around 32" in diameter plus 60' of trunk and 1 Poplar around 35" in diameter plus 65' of trunk. It took me 4 hours of straight cutting but the wood is all mine less a small amount to make a 8' long x 4' wide foot bridge. That came about after looking to help a fellow out who didn't want to buy a big chainsaw just for it. He was going to turn it all into firewood but already has too much rotting away. I have always wanted a sawmill but for now I will start with the chainsaw mill and see how quickly I will need to go bigger and better. I'm always chasing the dreams!
I hope to see pictures of your shed. :)
One thing I'm wondering about drying lumber in a greenhouse… Will you have problems with sun exposure, as you would with uncovered lumber? Seems like much of my lumber degradation comes from exposure to the sun-- at least as much as drying too fast, or not being stickered and stacked properly.