To Sticker or Not to Sticker?

[RJC58]

I am processing/planing air dried, 8-10% moisture oak and hickory and plan on storing it indefinitely in my insulated basement shop. I maintain my shop at 45-55% humidity and the temperature ranges (changing gradually) from 52-80 degrees based on season.

Do I need to continue to sticker this semi-dimensioned lumber or can I stack without stickering?

 

[Mike Davis]

Sticker to maintain equilibrium since dry wood will be removed and additional moisture will migrate from the center of the boards toward the surface.
Be sure to take off equal amounts of wood from each side of the boards to help prevent cupping.

 

[Rwe2156]

Absolutely necessary!!!

 

[Wilsoncb]

How about rough cut kiln dried?

 

[HMH]

I honestly sticker everything - certainly cant hurt/ better safe than sorry.

 

[creasman]

I don't believe you will go wrong by using stickers on dried lumber. That said, I probably have a couple thousand bd ft, both air dried and kiln dried, stacked in my basement w/o stickers. When I start a project I pull out the boards I will use and stack these on a couple of saw horses, letting it sit there for a few days to acclimate. The amount I'm using is seldom more than 1-2 layers deep on the horses, so it gets plenty of air circulation.

For anything that isn't well dried as a first step, ALWAYS use stickers.

FWIW, I don't like to plane before I'm ready to start. You'll probably just have to plane again unless you are using it relatively soon. I started out doing this and realized I was dulling my planer blades for not much gain. Now, I leave it rough and cut it to size before planing. Even with well-seasoned lumber a board can have a lot of internal tension that gets released when you cut it to size. This can take the form of warping or cupping, so you have to flatten one side and re-plane. By deferring the planing I'm ensuring flat lumber, minimum waste, only planing the least amount, avoiding knots, etc. Just my two cents.

 

[Berta]

Stickers are always worth it.

 

[Gofor]

My shop is not climate controlled. I mostly store my long boards vertically if I have the room (ceiling clearance). Shorter ones (i.e. less 3') are on a shelf on edge. I haven't had problems with continued warping. Storing like this makes it easy to pull out a board and inspect it when selecting which I want to use for a project. Stickering makes this an onerous chore.

This is after the boards have air dried down to about 12%-14%. Green/wet lumber gets stickered.

 

[Rushton]

I honestly sticker everything - certainly cant hurt/ better safe than sorry.

I follow this philosophy, too. But I find it interesting that my hardwood supplier (Hobby Hardwood, a commercial sawmill operator just north of Huntsville) does not sticker its kiln dried boards on it's retail sales racks. Perhaps their turnover is higher than I realize. I'll have to ask on my next trip out there. The picture below just shows their short board racks. The 8' and longer boards are on other racks. Live edge slabs are stored vertically.

 

[RJC58]

What are the pros and cons of a vertical stack related to warpage? Certainly would be different forces on the board. I can store vertically up to 9’. Perhaps that would be a better option? Certainly would be from a floor space and viewing perspective.

 

[Rushton]

Easier to look through boards. I've seen enough reports that it is fine for preventing warpage to move ahead with setting this up in our shop. You just need to be sure they are not "leaning" but are standing vertically without stress on them. Think if shelving vinyl records (if that means anything to you).

 

[RJC58]

Easier to look through boards. I've seen enough reports that it is fine for preventing warpage to move ahead with setting this up in our shop. You just need to be sure they are not "leaning" but are standing vertically without stress on them. Think if shelving vinyl records (if that means anything to you).

Yep, I was a teen in the 70’s. I think I’ll try it. I have the floor space and ceiling height and about 1200 bf. of 9-10’ lumber.

 

[Rushton]

One consideration: if on a concrete slab, don't let the ends of the boards sit directly on the concrete. Elevate them onto a wood platform of some sort. Goal is to keep them from absorbing moisture from the concrete slab.

For our much more limited stock of wood, and lengths only up to about 8 1/2 feet, this is what I'm planning to make for our vertical storage. It's a cart because we have to be able to move it.

 

[JRedding]

I stand mine and have never noticed any unusual warpage though I sometimes read people talk about it (often “I heard”). One thing I did to avoid any falling is to create a series of 18” long low angle wedges out of 2x4 with the angle back toward the wall. I then covered with OSB and it has just a slight lean. I did that in SoCal as well, though we had small earthquakes a number of times a year and I doubt that risk exists in Charlotte so vertical may be just fine (though you’ll never have everything perfectly vertical so don’t worry about it).

 

[Gofor]

Definitely do not put directly onto concrete. If you have the edge out, it will be much easier to sort. As that will require some supports perpendicular to the wall, (unless its in a corner) it is easy to just put a restraining strap to prevent one rotating out.

 

[Larry C]

I am processing/planing air dried, 8-10% moisture oak and hickory and plan on storing it indefinitely in my insulated basement shop. I maintain my shop at 45-55% humidity and the temperature ranges (changing gradually) from 52-80 degrees based on season.

Do I need to continue to sticker this semi-dimensioned lumber or can I stack without stickering?

Bob, it looks like your in Pittsboro. I doubt very seriously that your wood has been air dried to 8-10% moisture content no matter what your meter reads. More likely in the 12-15% range or even slightly higher.

Next I went to my equilibrium moisture content chart and plugged in conditions for your basement. 50% humidity and 70 degrees. It told me the EMC for those conditions will be 9.2% moisture content. Based on my assumptions your lumber still has some drying to do. I would definitely sticker with sticks no more than 2' apart (18" would be slightly better) and directly above each other.

I have a sawmill and dry kiln. With kiln dried lumber I do not sticker, same as Hobby Hardwood although my operation is a micro minnie compared to his. I do skip plane the lumber before stacking so their is still meat if it does something but it normally does not.

 

[Rwe2156]

The only time you need stickers is when drying or acclimating. KD lumber in storage doesn’t need to be stickers, nor does most other lumber at EMC.

I have both vertical and horizontal storage. Vertical only for convenience in sorting lumber. I have a very subjective impression I see more bowing in long boards stored vertically, but I need to pay more attention to how much bow when stacked & whether it becomes more pronounced.

 

[blackhawk]

I have never stored dry lumber with stickers. In 30 years, I have never ran into a problem.