Perhaps the easiest way that you can buy you lumber is while it is freshly cut by a sawmill. This type of lumber needs to be dried out first before you can use it and if you have a project this will not do. The only alternative will be by purchasing dried lumbers from home improvement shops , that is if you have a lot of money but personally I'd like mine rough cut and prepared 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. If you go directly to a sawmill they will let you go around pick your choice of lumber. Getting a bit oversized lumber is advisable if you are picking the green lumber because it will shrink when dried.You should find that the price you pay here will be very good, so don't try to haggle the price down. If they like you and you become a repeat customer they will probably give you even better deals later on.

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Drying the lumber will be the next thing you would want to do after bringing it home. 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 Each 1" thick board will take a year to dry up so if you have like a 4" thick board it takes 4 years. After a year you can bring the umber inside your shop to continue the process since it still has 12%-18% moisture.However since most workshops has low humidity it is advisable for you to purchase a thermometer/ hygrometer that costs around $40 at radio shack so you could monitor the humidity on your shop . The ideal would be 50%RH .

One other method for drying a green lumber is by the use of solar kiln . There are a lot of solar kiln plans online. Building it will only cost you around $200. 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.

After your lumber is dried you can begin processing it. The very first thing you should do is joint one surface of your board. This can be done manually with a hand plane or the easy method by using a jointer. You may now cut it in close to the dimensions that you need. And in order for you to have a uniform thickness you may now run through a thickness planer. This process will make the board equal in thickness. When you finally plane the board down to the final size, then you joint one side either by hand or with a jointer. With the board flat, planed to the final thickness you are ready to rip the board to your final width. You can use any kind of saw to do this. Using the jointed for reference you can now set your board to your desired width. You are now close to starting your project. You will really save a lot of money by processing your own boards for your projects