Drying Wood

For all the effort that goes into felling trees, traspporting logs and sawing lumber you would think that people would be more aware of the importance of proper drying methods. Quite often a substantial portion of the lumber that was so carefully transported and sawed is ruined on the drying pile.
The rules that need to be followed for proper lumber drying are available from many sources (especially the internet!) . One aspect of proper drying that I want to emphasize is end grain coating. For years I have used old paint to coat the ends of my logs. This is a great way to use up that old paint (especially oil paint!). It might not be as effective as a ready made end coating, but it has another advantage. As a woodworker I am mostly sawing from my own use. Organizing the wood into nine different piles for nine different species of wood is just not practical. It is not often apparent if a rough cut board is elm, maple or oak without pulling it off the pile and taking a good look at it. What I have found very helpful is to use different color paints to mark each type of wood. In the picture below of the (dry) lumber rack you can easily pick out the white oak from the white paint that was used to end protect it. The cherry lumber is end coated with a dark green. The grey was maple (I think!).