Storing Lumber
You can save yourself a lot of frustration
in the wood shop by setting up a system for
storing lumber before you bring it home. Sure,
there are plenty of woodworking plans out
there for building storage racks, and plenty
of articles about stacking lumber and letting
wood dry before you cut it. But the kind of lumber storage I'm talking about is somewhat
less obvious. It's the way you manage the
lumber that you've already brought into the
shop - for one project or another. It's the
pieces that you have leaning up against the
wall, boards you tuck under the workbench,
the cutt offs sitting on the edge of your
table saw. I'm talking about the boards that
clutter up your shop, and end up making your
workspace not only difficult to work in, but
dangerous.
Convenience aside, the big issue in storing
lumber is getting it off the floor. That open
space under your workbench might seem like a perfect
place to stash a few boards, but you're asking
for trouble to put anything there. In most
all basements and garages, the concrete floor
can do some real damage to wood - sending
moisture into the fibers during warm, humid
months, or soaking moisture out of the boards
during dry winters. This is an easy fix, though.
If vertical lumber storage works best for
you, just be sure to first put some type of
platform on the floor under the boards. If
you need to stack lumber horizontally on the
floor, place your good lumber on top of a
series of 2x4s.
Keep lumber close to the door.
There's really no need to drag all the lumber
you buy off to some remote corner of your
shop. Better to arrange your shop so your
lumber storage area is as close to the back
of your pickup as possible. That only makes
sense. What's more, you'll avoid any mishaps
trying to weave through your entire shop carrying
an 8-foot board.
Put your cutoff tool by the cutoff bin
It's amazing how many people stash their cutoff
bin in some out-of-the-way location that's
hard to get to. That sort of defeats the purpose
of a cutoff bin to begin with. Who wants to
stop what they're doing to walk clear across
the shop to drop the end of 2x4 into a box?
A better solution is to set up a cut-off station
of sorts, and have the cut off bin sitting
there right by the saw. And since we're talking
about rough cutting edges here, a cheap chop
saw will do the job just fine - making a separate
cut off station like I'm suggesting something
that you can put together without spending
a lot of money.
Stacking boards - vertical vs horizontal
In an unfinished basement or garage, you can
use the exposed wall studs to help keep boards
stacked vertically along the wall. And to
make sure the boards won't tumble over (on
to you or your tools) I like to stretch bungee
cords across the studs about halfway up the
wall. You can attach these to the studs with
a few simple eyelet hooks. Keep in mind that
anytime you store lumber vertically, you run
the chance of the boards warping somewhat
in the middle. Try to keep all your vertical
boards stacked up snug against each other
- perhaps with a sheet of plywood behind everything
to help support the wood. And to be on the
safe side, you might consider rotating or
flipping the boards occassionally to avoid
any bowing that might take place.
Wood Tips
Cabinet
Levelers
Lumber
Storage
Table
Saw Dado
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