Cursing rough cut pine, need help!

fishon

Rough cut pine, need help cureing? Need help
I and my wife have a problem. We have worked hard wiring and insulating and A/C a shed to make as a hunt shack. We picked up 80 pieces of rough cut pine from a mill, to panel the inside of the shed. But the pine was a bit moldy, the lumber yard said to brush off mold then bleach. We did this yesterday. Dried in the sun And was able to instal 3 of the four walls with pine. We realized it was to rain today so we stored the unused pine in the shed last night. This morning the mold was back on the unused boards. Not happy we called the mill, they told us the lumber was not able to be installed as it was green. The mill knew we were going to install ASAP. So!
We have now removed all our work and resprayed top and bottom of each board and stacked under our carport with stickers at each end and middle.
We are tired, very tired and hope the pine will be OK to work with in a few months? Thank you for any thoughts? Will the wood be usable or are we wasting more time waiting for it to cure? Thanks for your help.
Feel free to e-mail me. Tomm from central Florida. Building in Georgia

Boards are 3/4x12x8 ft. And. 3/4x12x12ft

got ants?

You need two things, clamps, and heat.

You can just stack it on 2X4's and then through cement block on top.

Then get a old tarp from a fumigation company, and put a heater in there. Just leave a place for moisture to vent off.
I recommend a electric oil filled heater, like those made by Delongy (SP?)

Shouldn't take long to cure.... a week or so.

As for the mold, look online for Boracare. A half gallon should be enough and you thin it down 1 part to 2 parts water. It'll kill any mold, and stop it from coming back, plus keep any insects from boring into it. A big problem with cured pine.

got ants?

Calusa

Those boards still think they are a tree. They'll dry out eventually if you allow air space between each and stack them neatly out of the rain, and weight the top of each stack as best you can. But, they are gonna twist and split some as they dry. And they'll continue to swell and contract forever. Screw them on instead of nailing when you're ready.

Are they just for interior looks?

woodsrunner

OK, here are my thoughts/suggestions.

With 1 inch thick Southern Yellow Pine you can/should air dry it by stickering it in a stack with an inch+- between boards maybe 6-10 months and then nail it up. Have it under a shelter, of course, but with good air circulation. I wouldn't worry much about mildew at this point. The fact that you have it tells me that the mill didn't properly sticker the boards when they were cut. But maybe it was a special milling job just for you and the mill expected you to sticker it for several months if you wanted it dry enough to panel with. As for the mildew once the boards have dried for a few months this should easily be whisked off with a wire brush. Shrinkage of the boards will occur during the drying process. The rule of thumb is shrinkage across the board of 10% to 20%, with shrinkage in the length of the board usually less than 1%. The mildew will not weaken the board and can simply be wire-brushed off. Let it air-dry but under a shelter of some type for several months and go with it! What you may well end up with, however, is blue stain in the wood, and the only way that you'll get rid of this is to paint the board. So....if you intend to have a natural wood surface without paint, you might go ahead right now and figure on using what you have for other projects and go buy properly milled and air-dried boards! Wish I had better news for you!

treemanjohn

You biggest problem is not the moisture, it's buying 3/4" green stock. 3/4" boards will cup, check, and twist while curing and they'll end up looking like a boomerang. You wont have a straight board in the stack. You'll kill yourself trying to get a straight run

I would cut my losses and look for another alternative.

micci_man

Some will split, twist, warp, cup but it really depends on the grain of the wood. like how tight it is. It all will shrink some. Like said, stack and sticker in a place that air can get to it but not rain/moisture. it will take a few months. If you want to put something up now get some cured wood.

Mango Man

woodsrunner wrote: »

OK, here are my thoughts/suggestions.

With 1 inch thick Southern Yellow Pine you can/should air dry it by stickering it in a stack with an inch+- between boards maybe 6-10 months and then nail it up. Have it under a shelter, of course, but with good air circulation. I wouldn't worry much about mildew at this point. The fact that you have it tells me that the mill didn't properly sticker the boards when they were cut. But maybe it was a special milling job just for you and the mill expected you to sticker it for several months if you wanted it dry enough to panel with. As for the mildew once the boards have dried for a few months this should easily be whisked off with a wire brush. Shrinkage of the boards will occur during the drying process. The rule of thumb is shrinkage across the board of 10% to 20%, with shrinkage in the length of the board usually less than 1%. The mildew will not weaken the board and can simply be wire-brushed off. Let it air-dry but under a shelter of some type for several months and go with it! What you may well end up with, however, is blue stain in the wood, and the only way that you'll get rid of this is to paint the board. So....if you intend to have a natural wood surface without paint, you might go ahead right now and figure on using what you have for other projects and go buy properly milled and air-dried boards! Wish I had better news for you!

treemanjohn wrote: »

You biggest problem is not the moisture, it's buying 3/4" green stock. 3/4" boards will cup, check, and twist while curing and they'll end up looking like a boomerang. You wont have a straight board in the stack. You'll kill yourself trying to get a straight run

I would cut my losses and look for another alternative.

micci_man wrote: »

Some will split, twist, warp, cup but it really depends on the grain of the wood. like how tight it is. It all will shrink some. Like said, stack and sticker in a place that air can get to it but not rain/moisture. it will take a few months. If you want to put something up now get some cured wood.

...

Fish Haid

Is this the same shed somebody was asking about a couple months ago? There were plenty of better suggestions given there.

fishbit

treemanjohn wrote: »

You biggest problem is not the moisture, it's buying 3/4" green stock. 3/4" boards will cup, check, and twist while curing and they'll end up looking like a boomerang. You wont have a straight board in the stack. You'll kill yourself trying to get a straight run

I would cut my losses and look for another alternative.

especially 12" ones

Joey Buttons

got ants? wrote: »

Is this like Borate?

MadScientist

My Dad (GC in Florida for 40+ years) told me about a guy that did board and baton on a house with green wood, after a couple of years the wood shrank so much there were gaps at every joint.

MadScientist

Joey Buttons wrote: »

Is this like Borate?

MSDS says proprietary mixture of glycol borate. So more or less its anitfreeze mixed with boric acid.

Fish Haid

Regarding the Bora-Care product. It says fungicide. It does not say "moldicide". I realize that mold is a fungus, but in the wood industry, "fungus" refers to wood-eating organisms (rot). Even the common PT lumber loaded-up with copper fungicide is prone to black surface mold which feeds on the sugars leaching out of the wood. So, I guess I'm saying that it might not work for the problem described; although, it might still be a good idea, but unneeded if the wood won't get wet.

Ol Mucky

micci_man wrote: »

Some will split, twist, warp, cup but it really depends on the grain of the wood. like how tight it is. It all will shrink some. Like said, stack and sticker in a place that air can get to it but not rain/moisture. it will take a few months. If you want to put something up now get some cured wood.

Yep.

Ol Mucky

Fish Haid wrote: »

Regarding the Bora-Care product. It says fungicide. It does not say "moldicide". I realize that mold is a fungus, but in the wood industry, "fungus" refers to wood-eating organisms (rot). Even the common PT lumber loaded-up with copper fungicide is prone to black surface mold which feeds on the sugars leaching out of the wood. So, I guess I'm saying that it might not work for the problem described; although, it might still be a good idea, but unneeded if the wood won't get wet.

When I did the new const on my house I used this product to spray the trusses, walls, decking,.....etc anything wood I had for termite prevention.

Baits Out

No need to curse your wood, but to understand what you bought.

The information you gave is sketchy.

You bought directly from a sawmill?

No idea when the wood was cut? Was it ever stickered at the mill to start the air-drying process? No idea what kind of pine or how it was cut? 12 inches wide means it was probably flat sawn (as apposed to riff or quartersawn)?

What is the current moisture content? The EMC (equilibrium moisture content) in your area is probably about 8% (just guessing from southeast Florida where our EMC is 10 to 12%)? EMC means the wood is as dry as it is going to get for your area.

Air drying usually takes a matter of months -- properly stickered, and depends mainly on the wood specie and thickness.

That’s another thing – you say it is ¾ inch thick? Most rough cut boards I have ever heard of start at 4/4 (1 inch) and go up from there, 5/4, 6/4, etc., depending on the specie.

The type of mill is also a factor. A small local radial, or a bandsaw mill? Bandsaws are generally much more accurate so far as thickness goes. But then that depends on the top sawyer who is running the show.

Some above have mentioned speeding up the drying process by using heat, usually known a kiln drying. This is an art/science in itself and usually done in large professional facilities with knowledgeable managers. Drying too fast can result in the boards becoming case hardened. This is disastrous and only realized when the wood is further milled. Other similar type things can happen to destroy the usability of the lumber.

In my opinion, the bottom line in your low-tech application is to make sure the wood has reached its EMC before starting to use as paneling. Moisture meters are not expensive and the only way to go if you know how to use (READ THE DIRECTIONS!)

Anything else you want to know can probably be found here:

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/

Having owned a wood shop for over 20 years, these guys have saved my **** more than a few times.

Best of luck to you and enjoy.

CAUTION THOUGH: . . . woodworking can become very addictive!

:thumbsup

fishon

Thanks for the info. The wood is from a local mill that produce a lot of pine lumber. Our wood was outside stickered at the mill when we picked it up. it has been very humid and rainy for the past week. It is ga. Pine, not sure of the type of pine. We are leaving Ga. Tomorrow with hopes to return in 3 1/2 months, thanksgiving to check the wood and hope to install. It is a true 3/4 inch board. We have a one bed one bath cabin on this same site with rough cut pine inside and wished to match it in the shed. Yes we are going for the look of rough cut pine. I will have alternate plans for our return in case the wood is a mess or looks like a boomerang? I will shop dried ready to hang rough cut pine or just go with a box store paneling. But hope to use this wood we bought, as when bleached and sun dried prior to hanging looked great. Thanks for replies. I will get a moisture meter and have a friend check the wood. At what moisture content is safe/good to install? Thanks again.Tomm

Baits Out

Yes!

And whatever else you said should lead to your having fun with this project.

Am looking forward to seeing a later report.

I started almost where you are.

Back in those days, things really got crazy and completely out of hand.

I ended up with a 4000 sf shop working for a few of the rich and famous and some of wildest and best designers in this area.

It was a great trip, man!

Hang in there!

:Rockon

fishon

Been 2 1/2 months drying. Just got a report the wood cuts dry thru the middle with dry saw dust shavings! NO warping, splitting or curves.
Straight and flat! Though it is stained with black mold spots and dirty. So how to clean? Then re-install and may wish to shellac, how to do this?

allpurpose

If it's badly stained you could opt for a LOT of work and use a scrub plane to clear off the stained wood although it will make the boards narrower.. in lieu of a scrub plane go get a cheap Stanley plane and grind the iron a bit making it somewhat curved.. I'd go on ebay and grab an old Stanley #4 then put a cheap aftermarket iron in it and make sure that you have it razor sharp. The curved iron would give it a nice look if you like that look..

mindyabiness

2.5 years later......
Welcome to the forum?
Better late than never :grin

micci_man

Did this ever get built? This thread is from 2013.

allpurpose

That old? I'll be darned. I guess one of these days I ought to take a looksee at the posting dates.. It just popped up on a Google search and I joined.. I don't remember what I was searching for come to think about it.... Oh well..my point still stands..I guess. It just interested me at the time.

jad1097

:Bike

fishon

Original poster. Removed the wood from the walls, scrubbed and stacked. Let dry for 6 months. Ran the wood thru a planer, to reduce the stains. Reinstalled after drying 6 months. All is good. Turned out great. I will share photos if you wish to drop me an e-mail.....