From: "Gene Smith" <SmithFrow@worldnet.att.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: Re: [baidarka] Wood Selection
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 11:13:32 -0000
>Which brings up a question. A carpenter working on my house had to have
>some lumber cut just to match my siding. He left me the un-used lumber
>(1"x8"x14'), which I carefully stacked at a level spot on the side of
>the house, with little spacers between each board.
>
>Lo and behold, within a couple of weeks the boards were warped
>every-which-way. Was this because they were exposed to direct sunlight?
>Or did I misunderstand something else about drying lumber?
>Charles Hall
Some wood, particularly if cut from small, young trees just warps no matter
what you do. This was the point of the "seasoning" that I mentioned which
had to do with when the tree was felled - in the winter the sap is down and
there is less water to get rid of and therefore more stable lumber that
"seasons" (in the more modern sense of being ready for use) much more
quickly. If your stickers are all nice and even in between the boards, then
I would guess the warp is due to the direct sunlight. Try turning it over
to see if the heat differential will warp it back (often works) and when you
get more or less back to square, get it out of the direct sunlight.
WoodenBoat has had some good articles on air-drying of lumber and also one
on building a solar drying kiln - check out their search index at
http://media4.hypernet.com/~WOODENBOAT/wb.htm
search on "drying"
Gene Smith