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. I love using products that I personally made myself but if you have a lot of money to spend and you are in a hurry you can just purchase the lumbers you need in any home improvement shops.
After you have planned everything from the project to your desired materials it is now time to make a purchase. 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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As soon as the lumber gets home drying it will be the next step. 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. The moisture content of the lumber after it was air dried is 12% – 18% still wet to use but you can now bring it inside your workshop for the rest of the air drying process.It is best to keep your shops RH to atleast 50% for the woods moisture to go down to atleast 8% and to do that you can use a thermometer/hygrometer to monitor from time to time
The other method of drying is to build a solar kiln. Plans for solar kilns can be found on the internet. The set back if you want to have it built is around $200. As soon as the lumber gets home you can immediately put inside the kiln to have it dried. It usually takes 1-2 months for the lumber to dry down to 6-8% moisture and be ready for use. But sometimes the location and temperature matters..
As soon as the lumber is all dried up you can now make it ready for your project. The first thing you need to do is joint one face of the board. This can be accomplished manually using a hand plane or the uncomplicated approach by using a jointer. It makes things a lot easier if you cut the board down to a length close to your final needed length. After you have one face flat you then run the board through a thickness planner. This process will make the board equal in thickness. As soon as you plane the panel right down to the final size, you then joint one edge possibly by hand or by way of a jointer. With the board flat, planed to the final thickness you are ready to rip the board to your final width. You can do this with a table saw, band saw, or even a skill saw with an edge guide. Using the jointed for reference you can now set your board to your desired width. You are now close to starting your project. Cutting your own board from scratch surely saves you a lot of money