Worth Kiln Drying expense???

[Bigmon]

Need some more advice from folks that might have gone thru this??
I have six or eight nice big Wild Cherry plank I cut from a tree here on my own property.
These were cut into planks in May of 2015.
The size is a minimum 3" thick by approx 12"+ wide and maybe 6 ft long or more.  Obviously the sizes vary other than the 3"+ which is pretty constant.
I just found a guy about 25 miles from me that will dry them at .40 cents a board foot. At 3" thick that is already #1.20 a Square foot.
Do you guys think it is worth the expense?  I would like to have some wood of my own to use before I get too old to do anything with?
Is there a market for any of this as there is far more than I'll ever need.
Each of these plank will yield at least two if not more long gun stocks and many more shorter ones.
Thanks

[snapper]

depending on how you have had them drying for the past 2 plus years you might be really close to them being dry now.

General rule of thumb is 1 year per one inch of thickness.

I have some hickory sticked right now in my machine shed.  It has been there 10 months, it gets fairly warm in there.  I bet it is dry now.

fleener

[Bigmon]

This stuff is stick stacked under a tin roof open on three sides.
It never gets wet or rained on, but it never gets much sun on the roof or especially on the pile.
I painted the ends when I cut it.

It is just that I am starting to realize that for all the wood I'll ever need I might be just as well off to just but what I need as I need it?

Thanks as always

[Jim Kibler]

No need to kiln dry.  Cut your wood into blanks and bring it in a temperature / humidity controlled environment.  Weigh one and when it stabilizes it should be good to use.  Shouldn't take too long.  I would guess maybe three months or so.  As others have mentioned, you should be pretty close to dry.

There are moisture meters that will let you know a ball park moisture content as well.  You should be able to get a decent one for around $150 or so.   Cut the wood and check the interior if using a meter.

No matter how wood is dried, I like to blank out stocks and let them stabilize for a period of time.

Jim

[smylee grouch]

You might want to lay some stock pattern profiles on those planks to see how the grain runs through the wrists, if it looks good it might influence your thoughts about how much you can spend.

[jerrywh]

 Get a moisture meter and check them. They might be dry enough now.  10% t0 12% is about as good as you can get them.

[snapper]

we have a local wood working club that has a moisture tester that they let members use for free.

Perhaps you can borrow one from somewhere.

Fleener

[Bigmon]

Thanks to all, maybe you have saved me a few dollars?
Ya say 10%  to  12% is as good as it will get?
What would be the minimum I'd want?

Finally, could I just cut off a couple inches from an end and check it, would that give me an accurate moisture content?
I have a local friend with a meter.

Thanks as always and regards to all

[Justin Urbantas]

This might be worthwhile if you don't need it much.
https://www.harborfreight.com/digital-mini-moisture-meter-67143.html

[Scota4570]

Kiln drying stock wood can destroy it, especially fancy grain wood.

[WadePatton]

Kiln drying stock wood can destroy it, especially fancy grain wood.

Was my initial thoughts. Why risk your wood? I don't want any wood that was in a kiln. I like the accurate weighing method spoken of by Jim.

[Bigmon]

Wondering how the "weight" method would work.
This wood is already near three years air dry.
So how would I know what it is supposed to weigh now.
Even if I had weighed each plank when cut, how would I know what it SHOULD weigh now.??
Very interesting.

[rich pierce]

It’s weight stability that is useful. If still losing weight over a month, it is still losing moisture.

[Bigmon]

Ahhhh.... I seems to learn something about every time I comes to this sight.
From what I have heard here, I could now cut these big planks in to more managable sized, giant hockey sticks.??
Just roughly into stock shapes but getting rid of allot of extra weight??
Just wondering if that might make them more apt to twist or warp?
Or is most of that danger past?

If I could cut these down some I could then get them into a better drying and protected location.
Maybe over head in my garage, or at least stacked in the corner.

[Jim Kibler]

Thanks to all, maybe you have saved me a few dollars?
Ya say 10%  to  12% is as good as it will get?
What would be the minimum I'd want?

Finally, could I just cut off a couple inches from an end and check it, would that give me an accurate moisture content?
I have a local friend with a meter.

Thanks as always and regards to all

You'll need to cut more than a couple inches off the end.  End grain looses moisture much faster than long grain.  I would cut a coupld of feet off to get a good interior reading.  Cut blanks out of it now and just check the cut surfaces.  Bring the blanks to in a temperature and moisture controlled environment and you'll be good to go in short time.  Check with either weight stabilization of a decent moisture meter.

Jim

[jerrywh]

 If I were going to buy one of your planks I would prefer it to be as is now. 

[Bigmon]

Even after I cit these into very rough shapes. I will never be able to get them into an actual climate or moisture controlled environment.
But yes, I'll cut one or two of them into shapes and check the moisture along a fresh cut from deep in the plank.
And I'll leave the others as they are.
Some of these are big enough to maybe get three or four from, at least from my memory.
Of course who knows what they might have done while under that board pile I stacked on top of them.
But I did heavily paint the ends.
From what I can see they do not appear to be splitting or twisting
Thanks to all.
I think I'll just for-go the kiln drying and let them continue as they are now.
Once I dig them all out and see what I have I might try trading for some other type of wood.
All I am looking for is maybe a fowler stock or two as well as maybe an early transitional rifle stock.
But I have a good friend that has a duplicator and he may be able to use some of this?
He has some nice walnut we'll probably trade, but this is allot more cherry than I'll ever need.

[rich pierce]

I’m sure you’ll find an eager market for nice thick cherry blanks here.

[WKevinD]

Many years ago I read a book by Scott and Helen Nearing "Living the Good Life". In it Scott said something to the effect that a supply of good lumber under cover was equivalent to cash or money in the bank, good for trading using or just plain selling.
I have squirreled away, sold traded, and used up alot of fresh cut and stickerd well covered lumber thru the years. It has saved my bacon a few times.
Scott was right.
Kevin

[Bigmon]

My Dear Old Daddy, whi I lost just a couple years back loved to mess with lumber.
When he retired from being a union bricklayer at age 62 he bought a band saw mill and a small kiln.
He then started cutting anything he could get his hands on, for about 12 or 15 years.
One of the things we cut out was the log house I now live in.
Along with most of the trim, a set of spiral stairs, and more stuff than I can remember.
I was really blessed to have such a Daddy.  I miss him every day.

He had a stoke and we took care of him at his home for about 3 1/2 years, my Brothers and I and our wives staying with him and Mom 24-7.
About the time he passed Mom was so bad with Parkinson's we just kept on staying with her and still are.
That's why I have so much time to get on this web site, when I'm there with her.
Anyway, we still have a little lumber left that he cut and dried.  Some more cherry boards as well as oak a very little walnut and hemlock.
Thats what I have piled up on top the planks I cut 2 1/2 years back.
I am reluctant to get rid of the stuff thats left that he cut and dried, there might only be a pick up truck load or two.
I gathered it all together about the time I cut those cherry planks.
He had sold his band saw, and the kiln enclosure went bad.  I gave the mechanism of the kiln to a family friend but he never got it set back up.
Thanks fer  reading about my Dad.  I am 64 and I still can't ever seem to get him out of my head.
Regards to all

[Fiftyfour]

I built a set of cabinet from cherry that I had sawn out with a band mill.  After it air dried I shorten the boards but left them a foot longer than needed
And stacked them in the house in the late fall.  Over the winter they got down to 6 or 8 percent.  The poorer quality boards checked, split twisted and
Bowed.  These were 1 x 6 boards and not  a 3 x 8 or 10 slab. I had one piece cut 2.5 x 8 for stock. I did not bring it in the house like the boards as I did not want to
Stress it.  Once I  inletted the barrel, I clamped it in place and then would bring it into the house when done working for the night. Not securing the barrel in the channel Would have caused serious problems.  I pinned it one I felt the wood stopped thinking. I like having a moisture gauge even I I only a few times
Every couple. 

[Sweeney]

Kiln drying stock wood can destroy it, especially fancy grain wood.

Was my initial thoughts. Why risk your wood? I don't want any wood that was in a kiln. I like the accurate weighing method spoken of by Jim.

Wade, I am curious about your avoidance of kiln dried wood. Could you elaborate?

[WadePatton]

Older wood has experienced more seasons. Seasons/ing happens. I figure there's plenty of long-time-well-air-dried wood out there, to take up the duration of drying one's very own. 

I have not personally had a bad experience with kilned wood, but have faith in the teachings of those who have.  Maybe I spoke "out of turn" with less experience.  But older woodworkers have been fairly consistent in telling me air-dried is preferred, hence my reservations. Old guys know some stuff and I'm yet learning. 

Also I heat with wood-so my house is a bit kiln-like through the Winter.  A gentler sort. I now keep my gun wood in the house. but I started with none green-yet.

On the subject of the drying of slabbed wood, some hold that standing blanks on end will allow gravity to assist on drawing the moisture out.  I've not seen this tested, but am sure that blanks dry faster than slabs with shorter distances to the end grain.

Have a big Cherry down now but no way to move it to a saw and no saw of my own for slabbing unless I chainsaw it. The day will come...my woods are full of stocks (and boat parts and buildings) cleverly disguised as trees. 

[P.W.Berkuta]

I have done air only drying and have done a combination of both "hot house"/air drying on maple & walnut. The maple was cut 3" thick and dried for 3 years in a dry basement before I used it that was back in 1974 and I have two full size planks left. The walnut was harvested in 1997 cut into 2-1/2" thick planks then "hot house" dried for 6 weeks then air dried for 1 year before I started using it - I still have some left. The walnut is the more stable of the two different woods. The maple did twist and check on the ends and some through the center not so with the walnut. 

[snapper]

A couple of years ago I cut up a 150 year old hickory.  The university has a kiln and they dried my hickory for me for free.   

I lost a lot of board feet due to splitting.

In January, when I cut up the oak, I just stickered it in my pole barn, it is looking good.

Fleener