air drying

[logger1776]

is there a way to speed up air drying ? I have my wood stacked and stickered in my shop with plenty of air flow.
What can I apply to the ends to stop cracking.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

End cracking (also known as checking...) is minimized by coating the ends of the boards with a sealant such as AnchorSeal. It's best done as soon as possible after felling the tree and cutting it into sawlogs. If you've already got end checking it's probably pointless to coat the ends now...

[logger1776]

thanks for the info

[northwoods1]

Not pointless to coat the ends if checking has already started you can prevent further checking by doing it. To seal the ends just use the cheapest water based polyurethane floor finish that you can find, you can even thin it  down with water a bit if the ends are checked it will flow in and seal them up. How is it you have air flow to your stacked and stickered wood if it is inside you shop? I would not put fresh cut lumber inside an enclosed building it I wanted it to dry unless the building was heated and then you have to have some way to remove all that moisture coming out of the wood from the building. Probably best to let it mostly dry outside only bring inside so it can acclimate and adjust just prior to use.

[WDH]

You can speed up air drying by creating high air flow like with fans.  However, drying some wood too fast like the oaks will ruin it.  It will honeycomb inside the boards and be useless.  There are tables on the maximum safe drying that can occur in % moisture  per day by species.  You can take moisture content samples to determine the daily drying rate to stay within safe limits.

[Magicman]

I've seen hardwood mills sticker stack it out in the open uncovered for up to a year before it went to the kiln.

[Tom]

I've tried that too and ended up with a heck of a mess every time.   

[flip]

A place that I buy some KD hardwoods will air dry for a few months before going into the kiln, he does not end seal and has very few checked boards.  Same guy also works at one of the local chair factorys, they don't coat their's either.  He said the trick is to sticker within 6 inches of the ends and every 16" inches or so.  I have boards that check a foot in and they were coated the same day the tree was felled.

[beenthere]

Both "tricks" will help. Neither end coating nor stickering close to the end are going to keep all end checking at bay. There are stresses in the tree that will relieve themselves when the board dries.

So, IMO, doing neither will not help a bit.