Hi John - welcome to NCWoodworker!
I noticed your posting regarding the red oak lumber, and figured that this would be a good opportunity to let you and some of our other new members know how the lumber runs operate.
The lumber runs are an NCWoodworker Club event, and Jeff does not advertise them outside of North Carolina Woodworker. He will make a posting (such as this one), and depending upon the interest establish a “lumber run”. In the past Jeff has done Oak, sycamore (QS), walnut, maple, hickory, etc. NCWoodworkers will respond and let Jeff know how much wood they are interested in, and he mills accordingly.
Typically a few folks will sign up for wood after the run has sold out, and Jeff will place their names on a “standby” list. Almost always a few people that reserved wood will have to cancel their reservation, so the standby orders are usually fulfilled.
Usually Jeff hosts 2 – 3 lumber runs per year, depending upon interest, time and kiln availability. For kiln drying quality reasons, the entire load needs to be the same species and thickness of wood.
Typically a lumber run is comprised of somewhere between 2000 – 4000 bd ft of 5/4 boards. When milling oak or sycamore, Jeff will mill as much QS as possible with the remainder as FS. Jeff selects high quality logs, but the lumber is "log run" which means that there will be a mixture of #1C, #2C, Select and FAS in the load. Jeff usually applies end sealer the day that he receives the logs (and sometimes the day that the logs are harvested), mills them, and delivers them to my kiln in short order so as to maximize quality. Oak boards are usually in the kiln for 4 weeks, give or take, depending upon the wood and drying rate necessary for the best quality.
2 – 3 weeks before the boards are ready to come out of the kiln we schedule a pickup event at my farm, and everybody comes out on the morning that the kiln is unloaded. We usually try to make this on a Saturday, starting mid morning and lasting until the kiln is emptied (takes around 3 – 4 hours). The club members register with Jeff when they arrive, and as the carts come out of the kiln they are unloaded by the purchasers. Usually the folks will go in order based upon when they arrived that morning.
We do not separate the boards based upon size or quality when they go into the kiln; rather they are loaded based upon how they came off of Jeff's mill. On some loads, I will have some of my lumber mixed in for other customers (typically their own logs that I milled for them - usually something special such as a log from granddad's farm, etc), and these boards are not for sale. They will be both marked and also stacked together - such as all contained on one cart or all placed either on the bottom or the top of the stacks on the individual carts.
Hope that this helps, and we hope to see you at the run!
Scott
