Woodchuck question Best way to store and age wood?

Originally posted by Federico
Flat or standing? Should I seal it, or leave unsealed?
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Federico I had a post going that I'm going to send in e-mail to save space here.:)
The short answer and what I've seen is that the end grain only is sealed. Oil based paint, varnish, and parrafin wax is used.
An old boss used oil based paint liberally applied in several coats.
He also used the rafters of the old family barn with many supports lain across them before the hardwood lumber in order to have real good support and air flow.
It takes many, many years to cure and age some woods to get them stable enough for use.
I have heard it takes 20-25 years to dry Black Walnut, but I don't know if it's true.
Another friend of mine had some Cherry his dad had cut when he was pretty young and it had been drying 20 years. Darrel was getting set to make a gun case from it.
Our Fine Woods Lumber company, Paxton's stores their wood leaning at an angle with very good support and they get it in kiln dried.
It's also sealed on the ends. Looks like parrafin wax to
me.
Bill had a very, very rare piece of California Nutmeg. Something I bet Walosi would have liked to get his hands on once.:D
 
Thank you very much for the info, I enjoyed the email very informative.

Im trying to think on the long term, for projects that will be worked on far down the road, though I would like to get stuff for immidiate workin. Unfortunately the local exotic wood store, doesnt kiln dry, or pretty much do much anything with their lumber except mark it up a good deal, though it did seem that the whole board was coated with a lite oil but now Im having second thoughts. At first I thought there must be something special about their wood given the prices they were chargin, but after cutting one board and havin sap get all over me, I wasnt too pleased. Still tryin to find a better place for lumber, four years livin in this city and still trying to find the best places to get stuff locally.
 
Fed, when we lived in the Twin Cities there were a number of old-line "all by hand" cabinetmakers scattered about. Most were Scandinavian old-timers, who knew thir business, and would never short-cut, or accept less than top grade materials for their work. Try one of them for suppliers of seasoned woods. They may not use the exotics themselves, but their suppliers should have info that is helpful.
 
Thanks for the tips Walosi. I know people and suppliers in my home-town of Rochester, but I figure that I should get off my duff and start a better search around here. Just seems like Im gettin all my stuff down there, when I get the gut feeling that there are still some gems of suppliers up here that Im missing.
 
http://www.seemyad.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?dir=/Arts/Crafts/Wood_Craft/Woodworking/Lumber/

http://www.paxtonwood.com/

The 1st one is a general search on Arts, Woodcraft.
The 2nd is of course Paxton's, the store I was telling you about. I didn't know they were nationwide.:)
There's some Paxton Stores closer to you than Tulsa and it may save you on shipping. I believe you will be satsified with what you get from them.
Looks like there's a lot of good places to buy online with some even welcomeing small orders.:D
 
Talked to another woodchuck friend, and he said that sealing the ends would be important only on fresh cut wood, and that the wood I bought at the lumber store was probably already sealed, and should be fine. Any thoughts on this? Also any thoughts on age times for mahagonny, and de-humidifiers?

Almost forgot. Thank you Yvsa for the links.
 
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