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My Lumber storage story

Started by Jim_Rogers, February 08, 2011, 06:25:44 PM

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Jim_Rogers

Lumber storage story.

A while ago, a friend from Ohio asked me how did I deal with moving lumber around my sawmill yard. And how did I deal with storing lumber.

Well, I don't have a very big sawmill yard, and when we started out with the sawmill business, back in 1994, all we had was the sawmill and a pile of logs. But we did have some heavy equipment as well. We, and when I say we, my brother who was out of work from a computer company was working with me at the time, had a backhoe, a dump truck, a flat bed trailer, and a log hauling truck.

When we started sawing lumber, we would just stack it up and put some stickers between the layers of lumber.

Then someone would drop in and ask: "do you have (20) 1x6's in that pile? I need some for my project." We have to un-stack the pile separating out all the 1x6's and see if we had 20. Well that got really old very fast.

We needed to figure out a better way to store the lumber all flat and stacked up on stickers properly.

One of the first extra things we got was a set of forks for the front bucket of the backhoe:



I think I paid around $650 for these and then hired a welder to come over and weld the hooks onto the top edge of the bucket. I think he charged me $100 for the job.

After that we could easily move lumber and logs around the yard as we needed to.

One of the first things we did was saw out some timbers to make up some lumber drying foundation frames.

We would make them like this:



These frames were made to match the lengths of the lumber to be stored on them.
The above frame is 16' long with cross blocks every 2' on center.

So we had five drying frame foundations. One for each length of lumber from 8' to 16'. That is an 8' frame, a 10' frame, a 12' frame, a 14' frame and a 16' frame. This would allow us to stack our lumber on the frame, with it being level from front to back and left to right so that the fork lift on the front of the backhoe could easily drive up to the stack and move lumber on and off the stack.

The next problem was keeping all the sizes of the lumber separated so that it could be easily counted and easily handled when the customer arrived to get some lumber.

From reading a book on drying lumber we knew that each layer of lumber needed to be separated from the layer above it and below it with some stickers. And to keep lumber flat and straight that all these stickers had to be aligned vertically over the support blocks, so we had to come up with a method of moving lumber easily and quickly.

One of the things that was most irritating to me was when you picked up a bundle of lumber and carried it off to set it down out of the way, you'd have to get down off the forklift and place blocks under the pile to keep it up off the ground/mud/snow. And enough clearance to be able to move the forklift out from under it, easily. Getting on and off, chasing down blocks from the block pile, again, got old real fast. So I decided we'd make up some lumber "pallets" to store the lumber on.

Here is a drawing of an 8' lumber pallet:



As you can see the 2x4x4's that I stand up on edges and then place the 1x4 boards on top of them. I use a nail gun and nail these boards to the 2x4's and that helps make it stiff. After I have nailed the boards onto the 2x4's I then place the stickers on top and nail them on as well. The drawing shows 1 ½" wide oak stickers as I use oak for all high grade lumber. But lately I've just been using regular 2" wide pine stickers for everything.
When I nail the boards on, I nail them near the edge of the board. When I nail the stickers on, I nail them at the center of the board. This makes two nails into the 2x4 and that make it so the pallet is stiff and won't shift or pivot on the nail.

The 2x4's and the stickers are placed 2' on center.

Next comes stacking the lumber on the pallet.

I decided that when I stack 1x12's on the pallet that I would use only three per layer and that would make it so that there was plenty of air space between the boards.
I decided that when I stacked 1x10's on the pallet that I would place only four per layer.
I decided that with 1x8's I'd do five per layer. And with 1x6's seven per layer, and finally with 1x4's I'd put 11 per layer.

Do this you would get a stack of lumber that could/would look like this:



As you can see this makes a very nice and neat stack and it only takes up one "footprint" in my yard.

Sometimes, I add pallets of 2x4's and 2x6's on top of the 1x4's should I have some on hand.

After doing this for a while, I decided to make up a lumber stack cover. I made only one so far for my 16' stack:



I wish now I had more. They really help keep the snow off your lumber stacks.

So, here's how it goes. Someone drives in and says: "have you got (20) 1x6's in that pile?" I can easily look at the pile, see that I have five rows with seven per row equally 35 pieces in the pile. And I can say, "yes, I do." Next I get the forklift going and lift off the pallet of 1x4's and I can set it down anywhere as the pallet has blocks on it and I don't have to get off the seat to find blocks and set them up. Then return to the stack, lift off the pallet of 1x6's, lower it down to the back of his truck and slide off 20 pieces, removing my stickers as we unbundle the pile.
After the guy leaves, I just set the pallet of 1x6's back on the stack and put the pallet of 1x4's back on top. Very easy and very simple.

The only thing you have to watch out for is keeping your lumber pile aligned vertically so that all the stickers are over your support blocks. And that you don't make your pallet heavier then the load capacity of your forklift (don't ask me how I know this).

I hope you have found this story helpful.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

VT-Woodchuck


jdtuttle

Great story, as soon as it thaws out I'm going to start building some drying frames.
jim
Have a great day

Tullivor

Thanks for being so descriptive Jim!  That is a great method.  I think I will use that plan to stack my lumber ae well

wesdor

This is the exact problem I've been trying to solve. 

Thanks for providing great ideas AND pictures

Ohio_Bill

Great system Jim.  Thanks so much for taking the time to share it.  It will solve several problems for me and will allow use of my new to me old fork lift being delivered this Weekend.


Bill
USAF Veteran  C141 Loadmaster
LT 40 HDD42-RA   , Allis Chalmers I 500 Forklift , Allis Chalmers 840 Loader , International 4300 , Zetor 6245 Tractor – Loader ,Bob Cat 763 , Riehl Steel Edger

Magicman

Now, that's a neat looking rig Bill.   ;)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

OlJarhead

This is great!

I nailed up our first 60+ board feet to the front of our shed (I was impatient) and our next 100 board feet was stacked and stickered (using OSB because that is what I had handy) on the loft floor of the cabin....now however, we have the LT10 and I plan to mill a LOT more lumber and have been wondering about setting up something like this.

I'll steal yours ;)  Figure I can just mill the lumber for the drying racks and then start milling lumber to stack on them :)
2016 LT40HD26 and Mahindra 5010 W/FEL WM Hundred Thousand BF Club Member

redbeard

What a informative story! Excellent way to move bunks of lumber around, the first row of drying sticks is always hit or miss on them lining up with dunage for me, with your idea of lumber pallets with the fixed row of drying sticks nailed down is the cats pajamas. 
Whidbey Woodworks and Custom Milling  2019 Cooks AC 3662T High production band mill and a Hud-son 60 Diesel wide cut bandmill  JD 2240 50hp Tractor with 145 loader IR 1044 all terrain fork lift  Cooks sharp

Brucer

I use a similar system, but not quite as elaborate. Mine has been evolving over several years.

At first it was for piling my timber-framing customer's side lumber, so I was using his employees to build the piles. What a pain that was. I couldn't seem to get across the idea that by building standard piles -- same number of boards per row, same number of rows per pile -- that all we needed to do to fill an order was to count piles.

Quote
I decided that when I stack 1x12's on the pallet that I would use only three per layer and that would make it so that there was plenty of air space between the boards.
I decided that when I stacked 1x10's on the pallet that I would place only four per layer.
I decided that with 1x8's I'd do five per layer. And with 1x6's seven per layer, and finally with 1x4's I'd put 11 per layer.

I use the same system. I used to tell the "helpers" that the way to figure out how many boards in a row was to figure out how many would fit in a 4' wide pile, then subtract 1. That gives exactly the same number as you use.

After keeping records of 3 years of sales, I determined that there was very little call for 16' boards, so we eliminated that length and cut any 16' boards into to 8 footers. By the time I started doing it all myself, I figured out that hardly anyone wanted 14 foot boards, and I hardly ever cut 14' timbers. So I did away with the 14' lengths as well. That's really made storage simpler.

Because I produce so much side lumber -- and because it can sit for a year or more before it's sold -- making individual racks doesn't work for me. What I've done instead is to make several sets of storage bunks, all with standard spacing that matches the sticker spacing. Then I can just park a pile (or partial pile) on an unoccupied set of bunks.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

redbeard

seems like 8'-10'-12' lengths are the best sellers here also. I will also make up cants and stack e'm accordingly  8" 10" 12'
Whidbey Woodworks and Custom Milling  2019 Cooks AC 3662T High production band mill and a Hud-son 60 Diesel wide cut bandmill  JD 2240 50hp Tractor with 145 loader IR 1044 all terrain fork lift  Cooks sharp

Jim_Rogers

Thanks for all your comments.

And yes, of course, adjust to what works for you....

When I know I'm going to produce a lot of side lumber, from sawing timbers or whatever, I carry the pallets over to the mill and leave them on the ground next to the mill and carry the lumber off the mill and place it right onto the pallet stack. This saves sorting and stacking later on.....

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

KyTreeFarmer

Great storage plan. Was wondering if you could put multiple species on pallets like that in the same big stack? Right now I have several smaller stacks I would like to put together.
KTF
Woodmizer LT15G
Belsaw from Sears & Roebucks
8N Ford
87 Kubota 2550 W/FEL

flibob

Bill,   What is the title of those tractor fork lifts.  I have been looking for one.  If I were to google.  What is the nomenclature?
The ranch is so big and I'm such a little cowboy

ljmathias

Great story and pictures, Jim; thanks.

Don't know how others do it, but I rarely get just one kind of tree to cut, so I always end up with oak, pine, poplar.... kinda mixed together.  I'm doing good to keep the same thicknesses in a row, and I've even had different thickness in adjacent rows- 4/4 in one row, dimension lumber in the next... just don't have enough room and stacks to keep everything nice and clean: think about having 3-4 different lengths (8, 10, 12'), two or three different thicknesses (although with hardwood, this may not be such a problem as most of what is done with oak and cherry, for example, can be done with 4/4 rough sawn lumber) and three-four different species.  That works out to be...  ??? ??? well, lots of stacks to find room for and keep covered.

Lj
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

Jim_Rogers

Quote from: flibob on February 09, 2011, 10:39:56 AM
Bill,   What is the title of those tractor fork lifts.  I have been looking for one.  If I were to google.  What is the nomenclature?

Here is the label off the forks:



unfortunately you can't read it.

However, when I got up real close to it I could see Guest industries on the bottom of the label. And they are in CT according to a google search.

I couldn't get their webpage to load, but it does say in the google search that they make forks.....

And there are all different kinds of forks. I don't know what the name of this type is. But they just hang from the top bar and rest against your cutting edge.

To attach you just curl your bucket to full dump and drive the hooks up under the bar and roll the bucket back and they attach without getting off the seat.

There was a hole for attaching a chain with a bolt to the back bottom of the fork to come around up behind the bucket to drop into a key hole in the top of the fork for making it so that they would not swing when you dump. That way you could point the forks down more then the position they "hang" in when you roll your bucket to dump. I never did set mine up this way, as you'd have to have good strong chains and get off every time you hook up to secure them to the top of the forks.

Hope this helps...
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

ScottAR

Typically, the name of the very tidy Allis lift in the pic above is a rough terrain forklift.  Also seen em called construction forklift.

Great pics and great thread.
Scott
"There is much that I need to do, even more that I want to do, and even less that I can do."
[Magicman]


backwoods sawyer

I like your lumber storage system 8) Something that can evolve right along with the milling process :P Wood that is properly handled just retains its value better then poorly handled wood ::) How much land dose your lumberyard take up? I am very limited on space at both sawmill locations for lumber storage smiley_lit_bulb 
Backwoods Custom Milling Inc.
100% portable. . Oregons largest portable sawmill service, serving all of Oregon, from our Backwoods to yours..sawing since 1991

Brucer

I only have one species to deal with :).

My first year on my own, I tried mixing different widths in my piles. I'd do my best to keep each row all the same width but that wasn't always possible. The theory was that I would unstack them when they were dry, and sort and rough grade them then.

That turned out to be a real pain. Before the piles were sorted, I'd often have a customer wanting an entire lift (or 2 or 3) of one size. The customer was happy to take a stickered pile (even when I asked for a deposit on the stickers). But because the piles were mixed, I'd have to drop everything and unpile everything.

Last year I decided to keep everything in its own pile and that worked out much better. When I sold a whole pile I'd warn people they might get some poorer pieces in the mix, but I'd give them 10% extra to cover it. I'd also knock 10% off the sticker count to allow for wear and tear. That made everyone happy.

You pretty much have to figure out what works best for your own operation. I earn more by selling my lumber at a reduced price and spending more time cutting timbers.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Ironwood

I am hopiing in the next several year to have these reassembled, I just need $15,000 in concrete. I could have had the concrete beneath them too, but getting it levelled would have been difficult  :D When you do the math as to what these racks will hold, you REALLY need a mass down low. I may split the 120' length to 60' and bridge across w/ flat roof trusses to make it more stable AND eventually roof it, for a BIG breezeway for truck, trailer, forklift storage.

Ironwood


>:(





There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

oakiemac

Jim, nice write up. What program did you use to make those pretty pictures?
Mobile Demension sawmill, Bobcat 873 loader, 3 dry kilns and a long "to do" list.

Sawmill_Nick

That is the same basic system as I use for stacking my lumber, it's worked well for me over the last couple of years.  I never thought about the "pallets" in between the different types of wood.  We've always used Oak 2x3's in order to get the forks in and I know what you mean about always having to find blocks.  I think I'll build some pallets instead.  I built a cover very similiar to yours except I added 4 mil plastic to the top and this helps to keep the water from the pile when the snow on top melts.  Great pictures!

clww

A  great, informative post, Jim! ;)
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

Jim_Rogers

Quote from: oakiemac on February 10, 2011, 07:06:25 PM
What program did you use to make those pretty pictures?

That's my timber frame design program, that I use to design timber frame buildings.

It is very easy to copy a piece from one place to the next to make aligned stack pictures.....
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

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