# What can I make stickers out of?



## David K

The USDA booklet on drying lumber says that for hardwood I should use 3/4-1" by 1.5" stickers. The pile I have to build will be ~6 ft, so there will be a lot of weight on the lower layers.

I've heard I should use kiln-dried wood for stickers, and that I shouldn't use cut-offs from milling the wood (too likely to get 'blue stain'?)

So how much of this is true? I'm going to mill 3,000 bd ft of red oak.
I need to cut about 500 stickers, if I'm going to put them every 16". 

This could get expensive with anything other than pine.
So can I rip 2/4s? (I can get eight per stud, if I cut them 3/4" wide and 4' long).


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## dirtclod

You can cut them from any dry wood. 

Sticker stain from mold is rare. A more likely cause is a difference in drying rates. Green or wide stickers can present a problem. Many large mills use a 1-1/2" wide sticker that has been run through a moulder make them concave. The result is an hour glass shaped cross section that has a minimal footprint.

Most millers hate making stickers. There's no money in it and it's tedious work. But it's worth asking your sawmill man if you could buy or rent dry stickers. Maybe you'll get lucky. You might also check with your local larger mills as many are cnverting to composite stickers and giving away their wooden ones.

Oak can be tought to dry without defects. Keep up good airflow to eliminate molding but don't dry it too fast in the first three weeks. Direct sunlight (even a little) can lead to surface checking. Tempature is the heavy in controlling the drying rate.


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## bugman1954

I don't know where you live but there are a couple of flooring manufactures in my neighborhood.. They have a scrap pile and if you get there at just the right time you can get a pickup load for nothing most of these are 1 to 2 1/2 inches wide and 3/4 thick. Then I get my circular saw and go to work cutting about 20 at a time about 50 inches long. Good luck.


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## Daren

dirtclod said:


> Most millers hate making stickers.


Man I know I do :thumbdown:, but it is a necessary evil. I take free cottonwood logs and make stickers. Stack them criss cross and let them air dry (cottonwood dries fast). I had to cut 2000 linear foot Sunday (that will last a week ?) Here is a part of the process I use.


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## Daren

I would advise not to use "cuts off" from the local cabinet shop...red oak will tannin stain your wet wood :yes:.


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## bugman1954

Daren, What causes sticker shadow. I purchased some Frank Miller QSWO from Liberty Hardwoods in KC and about 25% of the boards had sticker shadow? Also don't you want to use stickers from the same type wood as you are drying? Like Oak for oak?


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## Daren

bugman1954 said:


> Daren, What causes sticker shadow.


I have only seen it in maple myself. A dry sticker will wick the water away (and sugar that naturally darkens the wood) and instead of like sticker stain where that part would dry slower and "stain" darker, the shadow dries faster/lighter.

I think the sticker debate is as old as the sticker itself. I have heard everything, some swear by this or that. I just know I have air (and kiln) dried alot of wood. When I first started I used PVC pipe for stickers, there is a little discussion about it here http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=28474#post28474
I still have the same pipe around (just not enough to do everything) and use it on maple for example that in wetter months can tend to stain. I say any dry wood will work. I mentioned not using red oak just because of my own experience. I did the same thing starting out, I hated cutting stickers. I went by the dumpster of a local cabinet shop and loaded up a pickup truck full of 1" oak cut offs 3-4' long. The wet wood soaked the oak, made it mold and tannin stain the wood I had stacked on it. I burned the whole truckload of stickers.


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## TexasTimbers

I've tried alot of stuff too. I also hate cutting them. One thing to do is train the wife to cut stickers. I told her how important stickers are to the whole opperation. It wasn't a lie. It is also very important to the sanity and general well being of the Senior Sawyer. :laughing:

I will always be tghe senior sawyer around here because I am 6 months and 2 days older than she.  

I have only had sticker stain one time. I used ash stickers on live oak. The oak was wet and the ash dry. 

I have never had sticker stain using ERC (it dries faster than cottonwood I think. A toss up maybe) and I have never had it cutting stickers from the flitches of the log I am gonna stack. But that's a pain in the heiny.

Haven't tyied cottoinwood but I have plenty of thast so that might replace ERC since sappy ERC for stickers promotes bugs and I don't like using good ERC either. If Daren says cottonwood works good that's good enough for me. Cottonwood it is. 

Cottonwood also makes pretty interior paneling next time you need it.


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