Buying a lumber can be quite costly sometimes so it is best if you buy it straight from the source and while it is still green. But by buying it this way, you cannot use the lumber for your projects for quite a while. If you have a lot of money to spend then you can probably purchase the lumber from home depot, but if you ask me I prefer mine to be rough and dried by me.

As soon as you have decided a the project you want to do and the kind of lumber you need, the next step is getting your materials. This is a matter of locating a local sawmill and asking if they have any lumber of the species and quality you need. Chances are that they will have a pile lying around somewhere that you can sort through and take your pick of the boards. But remember this, "green lumber will shrink while drying!" So make sure you pick stock that is a little over sized.Since the prices of their prices are already very low asking for discount is not really necessary and if you've been a repeat customer I am sure they will give you a better deal on your next visit

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As soon as the lumber gets home drying it will be the next step. Air drying is on of the ways to dry you green lumber this is done by piling your boards directly under the sun but protected from the rain For each 1" thick lumber , it will take you a year to dry so if you have 2" thick it will take 2 years 3" 3 years and so on. A lumber can b allowed to dry inside the workshop after a year because it usually has 12%-18% moisture therefore it is not yet ready to be used.The ideal RH of your shop should b 50% for the lumber to dry down to 8% moisture and for you to be able to monitor the humidity you can purchase the rmometer/hygrometer from radio shack that will cost you around $40

One other method for drying a green lumber is by the use of solar kiln . There are a lot of solar kiln plans online. These kilns can be built for only a couple hundred dollars. The green lumber can be placed immediately inside the solar kiln for it to start drying. The time it takes to dry will vary due to your location, time of year, and other things. But generally about 30-60 days in the solar kiln will dry your lumber down to 6%-8% moisture content. So it will be ready to use right out of the kiln.

Processing your lumber can start as soon as it reaches it's ideal moisture content. First thing you must do is joint one face of the panel. This can be accomplished by hand using a hand plane or the quick approach by using a jointer. You may now cut it in close to the dimensions that you need. After you have one face flat you then run the board through a thickness planner. This will make the board parallel to the flat face. After you plane the plank into the final size, then you joint one side possibly by hand or by way of a jointer. As soon as the board is planed you can now cut it to the final width. This can be done by using a saw. Just set your fence or edge guide to the desired width and use the jointed edge of the board as a reference. You are now close to starting your project. You're done, and you saved tons of money by processing the rough boards yourself.