Help with wide boards

[KjBarnwood]

Ok so I want to build a table and a door for our new house.  I'd like to use oak boards that are about 18"+ wide.  I have the logs for it, just want to plan ahead.

Should I air dry first?
8/4 good to cut it?  I'm assuming if I go too thin they will warp or split. 
Any hints suggestions on how to keep them from splitting once made?

ANY help would be great.

Merry Christmas!

Kj

[ely]

cut them longer and wider than you need them and it should help you with the end product. air dry is all i have available, so im not the man to ask on that.

[beenthere]

Kj
Do you have experience with using 18" wide boards?
And curious what size logs you will saw to get them?

[jim king]

When I first came to the Amazon I was always impressed with 3 and 4 foot wide boards without a flaw.  But then what do you do with it ?  They are nice to look at but reality is when ripped into 6 to 10 inch boards they become useful.  And stable.

[Den Socling]

Jim is right. You may be thinking about flat sawing to get 18" boards. If so, you may get too close to the pith and cracks will occur. And, an 18" board isn't likely to stay flat.

[KjBarnwood]

I have a couple of old red oaks that are 32" at the small end.

I do want to straight saw and am hoping to cut around the pith.  That's why I was thinking of cutting it thicker than needed, and was wondering if putting a lot of weight on it while drying would help.  I also thought about bracing it under the table top.

[Den Socling]

If you want to use weights, I've been told that you need 400lbs/sq.ft. for 4/4.

[scsmith42]

Instead of a pair of 18's, why dont you quartersaw your 32" long and use three 12" QS boards to get your 36" width?  That way your boards will be much more dimensionally stable, plus you will have the added beauty of the quartersawn ray fleck.

For wide boards, mill them at least 1/2" if not 3/4" thicker than your desired final dimension.  An 8/4 QS oak board will shrink 1/4" in thickness as it dries, leaving you 1/4" on each side for clean up (if you want a 5/4" table top).

[DR_Buck]

I've got 1200bf of 1 1/2" (6 qtr) red oak that is 18" to 20" wide in the kiln now.   That's what the customer wanted, even against my suggestion because of cupping.   Well they began cupping right on the mill.     He still insisted that was the way he wanted them cut.   I'm not sure what he will end up with but I'm going to make sure I get paid in cash before I unload the kiln.   

[5quarter]

KJ...When I saw, I am always looking to saw wide. as long as you keep your widest boards in the bottom 1/2 of the stack, your bigger problem will be splitting. With sufficient weight, I have had very little trouble with wide stock. You need to start with good logs, make sure the board is balanced with respect to ring orientation and be sure your boards are dead flat off the saw. something I do to ensure uniform stacking is to plane all my stickers. It helps ensure uniform pressure across the whole board. Compared to drying lumber, sawing the logs is the easy part.

[shelbycharger400]

i had one of my boxelder stumps sawn , it was 24 in +  wide after clean up.
plain sawn at 3 in thick.  stickered , stacked and wratchet straped, parents shed, checked straps about every other month, after a year, took them out,  loaded them,  brought home 30 min drive, warped slightly.  left them leaned against the side of the garage on the cement, quick washed to get the mold off..  after about a week later they surface checked.  a few had long cracks all the way through just from drying in the shed.

lesson learned,  3 inches takes 2 to 3 years or more to dry right,  and nothing you can do to stop cracks from occuring.  Also, most of the cracks occured due to the way the log was sawn , pairing off as to seperating the y down the middle, left a lot of stress .  along with a fence staple in their.   the house it was 4 feet from  was built in the 40 or 50's in town.  next door (my buddys house) is early 1900's

[WIwoodworker]

Maybe I'm just lucky but my wide boards generally dry flat. I'm a big believer in a few simple rules (most pointed out by others in this thread).

Start with good logs, sticker the stack properly, air dry first. I routinely have boards up to 24" wide that dry flat. Right now I have 16" wide Maple, 18" wide White Oak, 20" Catalpa, and 24" Ash (courtesy of Stumpy) drying. With the exception of a little end checking there are no issues.

Jim King has a very valid point about wide boards. They're much more useful in narrower widths and much easier to work with. Although I keep wide stock on hand it tends to sit around much longer than traditional 6" to 12" wide stock.

Good luck with your wood. Every board is a learning experience.

[Handy Andy]

  I've had pretty good luck with wide boards.  Sawed some American elm 18" wide, expected it to come out cupped, but wasn't bad. Just planed with the hump up first time through and just took off 1/16 per pass, rotating it till I had it planed.  Most cleaned up at 3/4", what didn't I ran down to 5/8 for drawer sides.

[tyb525]

I've found really wide boards dry flat pretty good when they are stacked good, but there is a certain width range that I always have trouble with (10"-12").

[5quarter]

Jim...wouldn't take too many of those boards to side a building.
how about doors?
and lets not forget WIDE plank flooring!

   I wouls sell my neighbors soul to have that problem..

[ForestMan]

One rule of thumb I learned about drying wood is that it takes about a year per inch of thickness to dry from green down to about 12% moisture content.  From there you can throw it in a kiln to bring it down to 6-8% MC for use indoors.  To prevent checking you can try Anchor Seal, a product that seals the ends of logs/boards.  Along with proper stacking and weights or strapping, this may help to keep boards straight as they dry.

[WDH]

It does not take a year to dry 4/4 wood down to air dry moisture content here.  Some species, like yellow poplar, ash, walnut, and cherry, will dry much faster.

[scsmith42]

It does not take a year to dry 4/4 wood down to air dry moisture content here.  Some species, like yellow poplar, ash, walnut, and cherry, will dry much faster.

+1; that "rule of thumb" is not accurate. 

SYP air dries from green down to 18% in about 60 - 90 days.  Even 4/4 oak takes less than year, sometimes six months if it is started in the spring.

[WDH]

That has been my experience, too.  Yet, you keep hearing the one year to the inch rule.  Maybe for 8/4. 

[ellmoe]

That has been my experience, too.  Yet, you keep hearing the one year to the inch rule.  Maybe for 8/4. 

   Ditto that for Florida.. I always thought that "rule" was Yankee Imperialism being imposed on our Southeren Brethren. Actually, I have thought that with the cold winters up north and the inability in the early years to measure moisture content deep inside an airstack pile (and with no moisture meters), this was probably a simple, fail safe method of insure the m/c of lumber. I suspect also this appliedalso wide stack bundles with no covers. Anyway, a few months done in Fla. and 4/4 is usually at EM/C.
Mark