Juniper Seasoning Questions

[Randy Leo]

New to board...so this may have been covered before. Bear with me...tks!

We are blessed (?) to have an abundance of Juniper (Eastern Red Cedar, Swamp Cedar...oh gee, whatever you want to call the darned stuff) here in Central Tejas. Most of these trees are too short to be of much use in boat building however, east of town, I have access to many older Junipers that are in the 20'-35' range. Basically, they are free for the taking since they are invasive and land owners hate the stuff.

My question is: "What would be the proper thechnique for seasoning/drying this lumber?"

The end use would be in strip planked canoes or similar craft.

Thanks everyone and best regards,
Randy Leo

[WWheeler]

There's a really standard way to season lumber. It should be cut green into rough planks. The planks are then stacked with sticks between them ("stickers"). The stack is often the width of a forklift (about 3-4'), so it's called a "lift". The stickers should be placed cross-wise about every 2", between each layer of planks, so that air can get in there. The stack should be covered, and preferably indoors, but in a area with lots of air, such as barn, carport etc. Once the planks have dried somewhat, they can be used as is or planed to get a smooth finish. The drying varies considerably according to local climate, but the rule of thumb we use around here is 1" of thickness per year. 1" board takes 1 year, a 2" board takes 2 years etc.

NB There's just been a whole thread about how dry the lumber should be for boat building. Depending on the use, you may be wanting to use it green or nearly so.

[Randy Leo]

:rolleyes:

[Randy Leo]

Wheeler,
Thanks for the info. Now I need to find a mill that can make these trees into planks.

I expect that a challenge I'll encounter down here will be keeping the planks from drying too quickly...or is that a problem?

Regards,
Randy

[wolfietuk]

When you cut the trees paint the ends to prevent them from drying too fast and spliting. I will bet you have someone locally with a portable mill that will mill them on site once felled (makes transporting easier). Make you figure a good waste factor.

Rick