stickering wet wood spindle turning blanks?

[Jesse Tutterrow]

I just finished upgrading a wall in my shop and added shelves. I have many spindle blanks (square to rectangular) that are end sealed. I noticed that some woodturners just stack the wood for drying but I learned in flat woodworking to always sticker wood. So I have a couple of questions I hope you all will answer:
1. Is it necessary to necessary to sticker turning blanks (for spindle work NOT bowl blanks)?
2. Can I just lay a layer left to right and the next layer front to back without using stickers or do I need the stickers?
3. I have a bunch of OSB cut-offs will that work or do I need solid wood?

I live in Missouri with warm-hot summers and cool-cold winters but the shop is heated to mid 60s in winter and cooled to mid 70s in summer.

Thanks in Advance,
Jesse

 

[Bill Boehme]

When boards are sawn from a green log they are stickered to allow air circulation while drying and weighted down to keep the boards from warping. The difference between drying lumber and turning blanks is that the boards are very long and they are weighted with a considerable amount of weight. If you are talking about very long spindles such as balusters or table legs then you might want to leave the wood as wide boards that are stickered and weighted while drying and then rip them into spindle blanks after they have dried. For smaller spindles like chair legs and stretchers or smaller stuff it's sort of pointless to try to prevent them from warping after they have been cut into small pieces although it would be a good idea to provide for air circulation between them. Make sure that they don't dry too fast or else they might split.

 

[Russell Nugent]

I anchoseal and sticker my spindle blanks, just to prevent molding by showing some air movement.

 

[john lucas]

All I have ever done is to seal the end grain. They end up just stacked in a bundle. I do sticker the wide blanks for my hand mirrors but that's more to help get the drying even.

 

[Dean Center]

A little air circulation might speed drying in your climate. Placing on wire or plastic grid shelves might therefore be an advantage over solid shelving. You can also stack the blanks loosely and alternate rows E-W then N-S then E-W, etc. to allow better air circulation.

 

[Jesse Tutterrow]

Placing on wire or plastic grid shelves might therefore be an advantage over solid shelving.

I looked into wire shelves at the local Menards but the cost of six 8 foot shelves was cost prohibitive.

I ended up stickering some of the large 3 or 4 inch square blocks and stacking the smaller pieces crosswise (one layer left - right then front - back).

I was amazed on how many blanks I can stack on six 8 foot shelves with a foot between each shelf.

Thanks for all of your replies.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Unless you are cutting your blanks at a sawmill for tablesaw you probably have enough variance to allow air flow. seal the ends and stack away. What ever you do do not use OSB, particle board or any other manufactured wood as stickers. You do not know what is in that stuff and it could stain the wood. Preferable if to use ofcuts of the wood you will be stickering if you go that way.

 

[Richard Coers]

Stacking wet on wet is not good for lighter colored woods. Mold can grow just in that spot and produce a gray stain. Think about moving the blanks into the attic of your house in a couple months. Attics get really hot and make a good kiln since everything cycles between hot and cool everyday.

 

[hockenbery]

Stickers probably speed the drying time some.

Cross Stacking should provide enough airflow to prevent mold.

I never have a huge volume so I use stickers an mark species on the ends. Then they go on a heavy duty wheeled wire shelving unit. Using stickers let’s me pull pieces from the middle of the stack if those fit my needs without moving everything On top of therm.

 

[john lucas]

I purchased some wire shelving and it worked great. I'm going to invest in more. Well worth the money. They run between $85 and $100 here depending on how tall and if they have wheels. I'm going to look hard at the wheel'ed variety this time around because my new shop will be limited on space and I might find that i need to re adjust how everthing fits and having wheels will greatly enhance that option.

 

[Dean Center]

Wire "restaurant" shelving from Target has worked fine for me for mostly dry bowl blanks, though I use the ventilated plastic shelves from Lowes for fresh, wet wood. (I don't have confidence in the chrome finish on the metal shelves) Either option is in the $50 range, at least when they are on sale.

 

[Davis Stevenson]

Wire "restaurant" shelving from Target has worked fine for me for mostly dry bowl blanks, though I use the ventilated plastic shelves from Lowes for fresh, wet wood. (I don't have confidence in the chrome finish on the metal shelves) Either option is in the $50 range, at least when they are on sale.

Those $50 food service shelves are amazing for the price. Great for drying wet turned bowls. They also work perfectly with the black and yellow tubs from Home Depot for storing our market/show ready products.

I have a lot of 2.25"x28" spindle blanks cut from lumber that had been air drying for under a year. I cross stack without stickering indoors and it does well. That's a no go for wet fresh stuff, as it'll just mold here. I toss that stuff in the green house or a sunny spot for a couple weeks, then process and restack somewhere else. It's too cool and humid most of the year here for anything to dry in the shade. It makes for easy care of green bowl blanks though!

 

[robo hippy]

If I rough turn the spindle blanks to round, and make sure to round over the ends, just like bowl blanks, I end seal, and stack. There is enough air space so you don't get rot or mold. If I am stacking wet square blanks, then I do make a point to leave air space. The wire racks might leave too much air flow and cause them to dry too quickly. Depends on the wood and the weather...

robo hippy

 

[Mike Johnson]

If you plan ahead you can find shelving like that at University, Hospital, Municipal, Commercial, State, City, Big Box Store and Restaurant auctions. A few years ago the company I work for furnished about 50 offices, break rooms and conference rooms when we bought the entire contents of a Insurance company that was being liquidated, we paid about 10 cents on the dollar for high end commercial office furniture. After we sold the excess furniture that we did not need for our own use to other people we broke even on the venture, we were out maybe several days of labor and fuel to move the furniture from the office complex to our new office building. Furniture is a lot like buying a new car it loses about 25% of its retail value after it leaves the lot.

 

[Perry Hilbert]

I often get a number of 3x3 square lengths of green wood from a saw mill, particularly poplar and elm. In the barn, I stack it in alternating running direction with about a half inch of air space between the blocks. Sometimes three or four foot high. stacks. The poplar dries incredibly fast this way. Stack in early spring and ready to turn by November. The closed up pole barn acts a bit like a kiln in the summer getting up to 120 degrees on sunny afternoons. The elm and walnut take a little over a year. I just recently turned some red oak that was sitting for three years in the barn and it now seems dry all the way through. Even after two years the red oak was visibly darker in the center from moisture in the wood. I got the wood stcking idea from a German video about making nut crackers. they show the stacking of basswood outdoors in huge stacks. Here at 1:04

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDXzd1msvwg

 

[Richard Coers]

I often get a number of 3x3 square lengths of green wood from a saw mill, particularly poplar and elm. In the barn, I stack it in alternating running direction with about a half inch of air space between the blocks. Sometimes three or four foot high. stacks. The poplar dries incredibly fast this way. Stack in early spring and ready to turn by November. The closed up pole barn acts a bit like a kiln in the summer getting up to 120 degrees on sunny afternoons. The elm and walnut take a little over a year. I just recently turned some red oak that was sitting for three years in the barn and it now seems dry all the way through. Even after two years the red oak was visibly darker in the center from moisture in the wood. I got the wood stcking idea from a German video about making nut crackers. they show the stacking of basswood outdoors in huge stacks. Here at 1:04

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDXzd1msvwg

I mention this many times, but the pain of burning a thousand bd ft of lumber due to an extensive long term powder post beetle infestation really hurt. A barn is a poor place to sticker up rough sawn wet lumber where it is susceptible to bugs. Around me a stack of wet lumber in a closed up building will grow mold. Must be drier where you live.

 

[Perry Hilbert]

I mention this many times, but the pain of burning a thousand bd ft of lumber due to an extensive long term powder post beetle infestation really hurt. A barn is a poor place to sticker up rough sawn wet lumber where it is susceptible to bugs. Around me a stack of wet lumber in a closed up building will grow mold. Must be drier where you live.

I am only 100 miles from the Atlantic here on the east coast. The pole barn is not "closed up" the way folks think of houses, etc. There is a one or two inch gap around the exterior base whee the steel sides are above the exterior grade and the soffits around the roof are perforated and let ventilation through. In addition, the sliding doors on each end are about two inches above the gravel floor. And I am fairly certain, my weather is more humid than yours. I have the stacks up on pallets that are set on cinder blocks. But not for ventilation so much as so the barn cats can get through under the stacks and eliminate rodent problems. I found that pallets on the ground are just instant mice and rat habitat. I have a dirt floor in the pole barn. Have not had any wood mold yet. Depending on what product my daughter uses on her horse tack, it molds. (neets foot oil molds, Sno-proof does not)

Powder post beetles do get into things here, but I have never had them into the wood stored in the barn Their life cycle here is so short each year, it takes quite a while to get established. I have seen lots of planks stored in barns for sale at farm auctions here and sometimes it has evidence of powder post beetle infestation, but that is not common unless it was stored close to the ground. The other thing is that temps of 125 degrees and higher for even a relatively short duration kills off such beetles. Old fashioned bank barns rarely get up to that temperature, but that would be easy for a hot day in a metal covered pole barn.