If you don't want to spend too much on lumber it is best to buy them while it is still green and just been 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. Your alternatives are to buy dried and dimensioned lumber from distributors or places like Home Depot. These paths are great if your wallet is thick, and you need the boards immediately. I prefer to go with rough cut and prepare it myself.

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. Green lumbers shrink when it is dried up so you might want to get something that is a little bit over sized.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. One step is to pile your boards outside; undercover from rain and direct sun light; flat; with small (1"x1"x how ever wide your pile is) stickers spaced 12"-24" apart, between every layer of lumber (this allows air to circulate around the boards); this is called "Air-Drying." Then you allow it to air-dry for roughly one year for every 1" of thickness. This means that 1" thick boards will air-dry for one year, 2" thick boards will dry for two 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

Using a solar kiln is one way of drying your green lumber, so if you don't have it yet the plans is downloadable online. Building it will only cost you around $200. You can place your green lumber inside the kiln to begin 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. First thing you need to do is joint one face of your plank. You can do this manually with a hand plane or perhaps the uncomplicated approach by using a jointer. You can then cut the board to your lose to the final length needed. After you have one face flat you then run the board through a thickness planner. This process will make the board equal in thickness. After you plane the panel into the final dimension, you then joint one edge either by yourself or by using a jointer. Cutting the board to the final width is the next process after you have planed the it to your desired thickness. You can use any kind of saw to do this. Make sure that you are able to set the edge guide by using the jointed edge for reference. You're now almost ready to have a board for your project. Cutting your own board from scratch surely saves you a lot of money