a stickering question..

[RobDyball]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to pick your brains about storing wood. I've been building up a modest collection of timber while completing my first build, and want to make sure it's nice and flat and dry for the next 2 or 20..
Here's the arrangement I've got so far:



My questions are:
Should I also stick a stick in between the halves of the sets? and
is it appropriate to sticker the soundboards (they are on top currently)?

Thanks for your help

Rob

[kiwigeo]

I sticker with stickers made from 3mm MDF and I try and put stickers in between every piece of wood. If the wood has been in my shop for a while and I know it's stabilised then I might sticker every second layer. Each stack of wood is sandwiched between sheets of 16mm MDF with elastic bungy cords connecting the two in order to compress the stack of wood.

[RobDyball]

Thanks Martin,

Do you sticker the soundboard material as well?

Cheers,
Rob

[kiwigeo]

Thanks Martin,

Do you sticker the soundboard material as well?

Cheers,
Rob

I try and sticker all my tops, backs and side material. Neck blanks generally don't get stickered.

I buy most of my wood in bulk and it comes from overseas so it arrives after a long journey during which it has been exposed to widely varying humidity. The wood is stickered and stored in my shop for at least 6 months before I use it.

[curly]

Lots more stickers I would say and also lots more topweight .
Your base needs to be dead flat , your stickers need to be perfectly vertically aligned ( on top of each other ) , the finished stack needs to be capped with a solid flat board and then weights like bricks or such to resist movement . Whenever you reduce the length of the timbers being stickered such as in the photo's each layer needs to be capped out with a solid flat board before you start with the shorter stock . I would never use mdf as it doesn't have the necessary stiffness .My favourite is Cypress macrocarpa as it helps prevent sticker stain . It's entirely possible with difficult timbers for an entire stack to cup and twist in unison .
The fella that taught stickering me said perfect was nearly good enough .
Pete

[kiwigeo]

I would never use mdf as it doesn't have the necessary stiffness .My favourite is Cypress macrocarpa as it helps prevent sticker stain . It's entirely possible with difficult timbers for an entire stack to cup and twist in unison .
The fella that taught stickering me said perfect was nearly good enough .
Pete

Your comments on MDF make sense. I'd love to use macro or another wood for my stickers but with the amount of wood on my shelves a. the cost of stickers would be prohibitive and b. the piles of wood would be alot thicker and my stash would no longer fit in my workshop.

[RobDyball]

Thanks for advice Martin & Pete, I'll make some adjustments!

[charangohabsburg]

I don't get too obsessed with overly neat stickering. I normally use 3mm poplar plywood and its lack of rigidity does not matter at all while the veneers are reasonably even (only in some very rare cases, I use 4mm spruce sticks).
Top and bottom of each "package" consist of 12 mm (in the beginning I used 15 mm) particle board with as many cross struts as there are stickers per layer, and each top/bottom pair of those spruce struts are connected with a threaded rod (M6) with a wing nut on top. The down side if the wing nut (compared to a rubber band or just a brick or two to weigh it down) is that I have to adjust it in the beginning every 4 - 6 months or so (later every year), but the up-side is that with this wing nut - tightening circus I get an idea by how much the wood has been drying lately (when I stop to be impressed by the number of turns needed I know that this wood is ready to be used.


Luthier's Room Divider ®

[kiwigeo]

Luthiers Room Divider.....Those Swiss!!!!

[HighMountainTW]

I sticker everything. All stickers lined up on top of each other, and close to ends to prevent checking. Then I pile a bunch of unprocessed bracewood blocks on top for weight. Seems to work pretty good.

Good luck.

Bobby