Eastern Red Cedar

[Fran1942]

A friend brought me a bunch of red cedar on Sunday. It had been strapped in bundles. After unstrapping and carrying it into the shop, it had a lot of saw dust, and was very heavy, telling me, if I am not wrong, that it had not been dried. So I figure I should sticker and stack it. The ends are already cracked some. Questions---How much room between each layer, how long will it take it to dry enough to start using. I don't know how long it had been cut or anything like that. Any other info you can give me would be helpful.
Thanks for any info. you give.
Fran

[greatdane2]

Western Red cedar is what I play with and that I use 1"squre sticks every 18" and leave an inch between the boards. I put a lot of weight on the top so they do not twist.
When I do dry wood I do it indoors and turn a fan on for 2 hours each day. This is for boards 10-12 ft long. I have not added anything to the ends to slow things down.
2X10 cedar would take 3 months to dry down to 8%. This wood was for building Cedar Hot tubs and furniture. I have also done Maple and Spruce and Cedar in 1x12 boards that I get from the mill very wet. Cut them down to 4' lenghts and stack on a cart in my shop. I do not get much spliting, I think because of the even way it dries. Any wood I have done outside in an open sided shed did split a lot, even when I sealed the ends.
The fan cuts the time in half. We do not have high humidity or high heat and that is a factor in drying wood. When I was doing the hot tubs I built a small shed with 2x4s and OSB. The roof was just thick tar paper, cheap but it worked real well.
You can buy Moisture meters that will tell you the water content. I allways take it with me when buying wood at a mill or into the bush to cut logs for boards. They run around $100 I think. They come with a list of woods so you can figure out how dry each type of wood is.
This is a long answer but hopefully it might help others as well.

Alan.

[Fran1942]

Thanks, Alan. Will try to stack it tomorrow. It is 1 inch thick, and since I live in Texas, it should dry pretty fast. It isn't planned, so I will leave it stacked until I need one of them.
Thanks again
Fran

[thumbs]

Fran--It's been said the eastern cedar dries better in south west Iowa and I have plenty of room in my shop. Of course during the drying time some may disappear due to shrinkage. But in all reality, 3-4months should due it down there in Texas. Richard aka thumbs

[Fran1942]

Richard, If you lived closer, I might take you up on that, and wouldn't even care if some dissapeared. lol I have finally got it stacked, after having to clean out a spot for it. I had been wanting some red cedar, but dang he went a little overboard with it. About 175 bd ft.
Fran