Drying wood in the desert summer without cracking it?

[davidwyby]

I have a bunch of green wood on the ground we want to mill...but wood gets destroyed outside here, cracks huge...want to dry it over the summer, but not so fast it is destroyed. Shade/indoors is hard to come by...have CONEX shipping containers, they get super hot...if we controlled the moisture outlet, might work?

Help, thanks!

 

[walkdog]

If you’re gonna try drying in one of your shipping containers, I can tell you that heavy insulation, multiple big oscillating fans, and a commercial dehuey will be worth the investment. I would strongly consider also erecting a post and cable shade structure above/around the container to prevent it getting blasted by the sun directly. A vine trellised on the south side of the container, even allowed to crawl over the top, will help keep it cooler as well.

AnchorSeal IME, is far superior to other end grain sealers. Doubly important in an environment such as yours.

If funds permit, I would build a single pitch corrugated aluminum structure with the high open side facing north. That will save you from humidity and air movement issues, and the long term electrical cost of running the equipment necessary to mitigate those issues in an enclosed kiln-like space.

I see summer highs in the triple digits at both locations I dry slabs in Northern California, but what seems to be most challenging for me is the extremity of the shift in relative humidity from our hot, dry summers to our cold, wet winters. At least your humidity is much more consistent throughout the year, you just have to prevent your lumber from drying too quickly/unevenly.

I almost forgot one of the most important things - Ratchet straps (min 1000lb rated) cranked around carefully stickered stacks will save you a lot of sadness

 

[davidwyby]

Would you say slabs are less likely to crack than logs...and would thicker or thinner be "safer"?

Thanks

 

[walkdog]

If you’ve thoroughly sealed the ends, at least in the short term, I think logs are less likely to crack, as their bark prevents extra rapid drying. If you ultimately want dimensional lumber, plan to process the logs as such directly, rather than slabbing and then trying to rip boards from the slabs later.

Many sawyers “rest” logs of species prone to problematic drying for a couple seasons before milling, in hopes of slowing down and equalizing initial moisture loss.

I like to cut my slabs thick, because they always require resurfacing, and if things go wrong during drying 13/4 gives me a lot more options to salvage something from my efforts. If you want anything thinner than 8/4, take it to a bandsaw mill - you lose too much wood with the wide kerf of even the thinnest chain, and it takes way too much time and suffering to get potentially valuable board footage out of the logs.

 

[walkdog]

Sorta missed your question re: “safety” - unfortunately that’s a matter of perspective. Thinner boards are dry and usable sooner, and theoretically easier to prevent from warping, but if your cuts are off, or drying doesn’t go well...

IMO, one of the greatest joys of chainsaw milling is the ability to cut big honkin chonkin slabs and beams that are otherwise unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Takes more patience and serious stack weighting/compression, but as with most things, delayed gratification packs a bigger punch

 

[davidwyby]

This sounds kind of weird but I wonder if it wouldn’t work to just bury them for the summer...

 

[walkdog]

Soil microbes, even in the desert, will destroy your logs faster than just about anything, and soil caked into the bark will quickly dull your chain when you go to mill. Even if you could encapsulate them in geotextile fabric, the steady moisture coming off them combined with lack of air flow would seem too great a risk for me.

Any reason you can’t start milling now while temps are lower? Open up the doors on one of those containers, put a fan in there, and start stacking. Then chip away at refining your drying environment as the problematic season approaches...

 

[EvilRoySlade]

From Michigan that is still all good advice. Speed at which moisture leaves and convincing the wood to be in the shape you want are hard. I still feel cut then stack.
Of course you can cut big and let dry on it’s own but wood still does what it wants. Don’t believe me, try to butterfly re-saw a 5/4 board for a cabinet door. They tend to get excited if originally from bandsaw logs

 

[davidwyby]

I was told they bury the wood for two weeks in Saudi Arabia. I was thinking leave em logs...some/most of them have already been drug in the dirt and need pressure washed.
I can mill it now but it’s already 80 during the day and I also have a lot of other stuff I need to get done before summer.

Mainly insulating and air conditioning my shop.

 

[davidwyby]

Spose I could squeeze some slabs in there

 

[davidwyby]

...there is also the risk that the logs will sprout root and shoots. Not that that’s a big problem unless left for a couple years.

 

[davidwyby]

My buddy who is the woodworking in this with me bought a book on vacuum kilns. I could build one...thoughts?

 

[walkdog]

Do it! A kiln is the dream.

Mill now, start air drying as discussed, build kiln, and you’ll have usable lumber before year’s end

 

[davidwyby]

Fingers crossed

 

[davidwyby]

A friend suggested buckets or pans of water to keep some humidity?

the mill slabbed them two weeks ago, didn’t let me know, and they’ve been outside since and already started to dry and crack

 

[rogue60]

Slabbing a log top to bottom is not the best way to cut timber is the short answer.
Slabs have lots of tension still in them maybe try cutting them into the timber/lumber you want then drying the boards not hole slabs.
In some cases the sapwood dries faster and puts stress on a slab and can rip them in half cut the live edge sapwood off the slab if not needed.
Depending on the species of timber a sawmill will breakdown the log different for example it's a no no to quarter cut hardwood down here it would be unsellable.