# Sticker questions



## jimmyjames (Apr 7, 2013)

Ive have a local millwork shop that goes through a TON of lumber. They get theyre wood rough cut, they surface and then straight line rip it. They have those 2' x 4' carts that have 4' tall post at each corner full of straight line rip cutoffs, 99% of them are well over 1" wide and have about 15 carts full of these in oak, walnut, cherry, maple, etc etc. They give these away or throw them in theyre dumpster so i was thinking i could get a load and cut them into stickers, now these being dry is there a particular species that would be bad to use? Since the oak is dry will it still stain other species of wood your drying? The walnut log company uses nothing but oak stickers when steaming and drying theyre walnut with no problems. In the near future i will be milling some maple, ash, elm and sycamore. I plan on getting a giant load and setting up my crappy dewalt table saw outside and getting a friend to help me rip these down, im going to setup a spring loaded featherboard on the table and a featherboard with a roller on the fence and just go to town....


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## woodtickgreg (Apr 7, 2013)

Free stickers is a good thing. I think the only time you will have a problem with oak staining is when it touches metal, due to the high tanic acid that it has. I have dried A bunch of oak and never had a problem with staining or transferring the color to the stickers. Hardwood stickers would last a long time, once they are dry also I don't think you would have any problems. I would use them. Plus hardwood stickers would support a heavy stack well. I have used maple and ash as stickers but not the darker woods before.


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## jimmyjames (Apr 7, 2013)

Won't the dry oak stickers stain every other species of lumber though? The downside is that 75% of the cutoffs are red oak.....


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## Kevin (Apr 7, 2013)

I've never used RO for stickers. I use ERC and never have a problem. For species that are prone to to stain and shadow (like maple) you have to have stickers at the right MC. Too wet and you can get stain because the startches pool beneath the sticks, too dry and you can get reverse shadow, where more of the moisture (with the startches) are wicked away than elsewhere. 

I don't know if knowing what causes it will help but that's the description the Doc (Gene Wengert at woodweb) gave us once. I've never dried maple (except FBE) and so I don't know if the ERC would stain it or not. The walnut would probably be a better sticker though because they'll dry straighter with less loss to warping, and walnut isn't as porous as RO. I don't know about cherry I don't have much experience with it. Keep us posted on how it turns out.


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## woodtickgreg (Apr 7, 2013)

And as far as staining and mold goes, I mill most everything oversize, like 5/4 or 10/4 etc. What little mold or stain I have had comes right of with the first pass through the jointer or planer. I once had a stack of wood that chipmunks built a nest in, peed on the wood, came right of with the machining process. I think good air flow is the key, once the surfaces are dry problems are minimized.


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## jimmyjames (Apr 7, 2013)

I surf around the net trying to find info on stickers and I get every answer imagine able, on the sawmill forums some guys use nothing but oak with no problems, and then some guys that have used oak had nothing but problems, some guys use for stickers some say its bad, some use green stuff cut off from the same log.... which of course would cause mold... I think my safest bet would be to use maple, they probably have enough cutoffs to get 1000' linear feet of stickers from the pile, probably more though. I. Surprised they can't use some of the pieces, some of them are 3" wide or better, your think they could rip them down for smaller mouldings...


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## Mike1950 (Apr 7, 2013)

1000 lin ft =300 stickers= not very much. I know just for me and I am not drying green wood- just drying wood that is not as dry as I would like. It takes a boatload of stickers. I got a bunch of red oak flooring that was free- it had gotten wet. It was still straight but badly stained. Works great. keep you eyes open for sticker materials- but then again you already seem pretty handy at that. I also agree with Kevin. I have a bunch of walnut stickers- they work great.


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## gvwp (Apr 7, 2013)

I use a lot of pine stickers but I prefer Aspen. Aspen dries quickly and is light as a feather when its dry. Almost a pure white color and does not stain. I hate cutting stickers so I reuse as many as possible. Just throw out the broken or seriously bowed pieces. I cut all stickers 1 X 1 X 48" and build 46" wide stacks. Right now I have way more than I need. I would avoid using Maple if possible. I know that Maple lumber is the most difficult to dry without it staining or shadowing and it can go deeper into the wood than other species, however, in the majority of cases the stained or shadowing planes or sands out and you don't have a problem.


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## jimmyjames (Apr 7, 2013)

Mike1950 said:


> 1000 lin ft =300 stickers= not very much. I know just for me and I am not drying green wood- just drying wood that is not as dry as I would like. It takes a boatload of stickers. I got a bunch of red oak flooring that was free- it had gotten wet. It was still straight but badly stained. Works great. keep you eyes open for sticker materials- but then again you already seem pretty handy at that. I also agree with Kevin. I have a bunch of walnut stickers- they work great.



If dry red oak will work they have tens of thousands of feet of cuttoffs of that, does dry red oak still have the acidic tannins present or is most of it gone in the drying?


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## woodtickgreg (Apr 8, 2013)

jimmyjames said:


> Mike1950 said:
> 
> 
> > 1000 lin ft =300 stickers= not very much. I know just for me and I am not drying green wood- just drying wood that is not as dry as I would like. It takes a boatload of stickers. I got a bunch of red oak flooring that was free- it had gotten wet. It was still straight but badly stained. Works great. keep you eyes open for sticker materials- but then again you already seem pretty handy at that. I also agree with Kevin. I have a bunch of walnut stickers- they work great.
> ...


The tannins stay present. That's why a oak floor that has been in a home for years and is very dry will still get black stains from staples or nails.


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## Jason (Apr 8, 2013)

What is a sticker


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## rdnkmedic (Apr 8, 2013)

Small pieces of wood cut 1 inch square. Placed between each successive layer of green lumber as it comes off the mill. Separates the lumber and allows air flow for drying.


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## Jason (Apr 8, 2013)

thanks, i was thinking that was what you were talking about but i wasn't quite putting it together.

jason


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## Kevin (Apr 8, 2013)

Jason said:


> thanks, i was thinking that was what you were talking about but i wasn't quite putting it together.
> 
> jason



Jimmy is currently experiencing sticker shock.


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