Heavier Than I Thought

I’m over-run with lumber. I have been sawing lumber on and off for two years. Air drying 1” or 4/4 lumber takes one year, 2” or 8/4 takes two years. Some people will buy green (freshly sawed) lumber but most people want to buy it dry. I have stacks of lumber covering every square foot of my 36’ X 36’ covered storage area.

After sawing, the boards are stacked in what are called ricks. Each row of boards in the rick (stack) is separated by sticks about two feet apart. The sticks let air circulate through the pile facilitating drying. I make my ricks 4 feet deep. My sticks are 1” square and 4’ long. The length of the boards is determined by the log length. I have ricks from 4’ long to 16’ long. I stack the boards in the ricks about 4’ tall.

Since I’m out of room but still have logs to saw I either need to sell some lumber or stack it higher. I have a small forklift that I use to move the lumber around. Yesterday I tried to move a double stacked rick about 6’ tall and 12’ long. The rick stayed on the ground, the back of the forklift went in the air. Oops!

There goes that idea. I could get a bigger forklift, that seems like the most logical solution to me but my wife suggested selling some lumber instead. I have 4/4 and 8/4 hickory, red oak, southern yellow pine, poplar and sweet gum that is dry. I also have cherry, walnut, ironwood (hop hornbeam) and beech in various stages of drying.

This photo was taken some time ago (April 2019) before I ran out of space.