The cheapest way to buy lumber is green and rough cut from a sawmill in your area. Your home improvement projects will need to wait for a while if these is the lumber you have intended to use, because this lumber needs to be dried out first. 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. Going to a sawmill and choosing the best lumber for the project is our next step, and if you go to a sawmill you will find lumbers that are just laying around that you can choose. Green lumbers shrink when it is dried up so you might want to get something that is a little bit 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. One of the ways to dry your green lumber is by piling the lumbers under the sun but making sure that it is protected from the rain you have to also make sure that every layer is 12"-24" apart 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 they air-dry the moisture content will be around 12%-18%, this is still to wet to work with, so now you can bring the lumber inside your shop to finish drying.If your shop has low humidity you can let your lumber finish drying for a few weeks in there. I suggest that you buy a thermometer/hygrometer from Radio Shack. It is only about $40 and you can buy remote sensors for it to monitor other areas. The humidity in your shop should be under 50%RH to allow your lumber to finish drying down to 8% moisture content.

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. These kilns can be built for only a couple hundred dollars. When you bring your lumber home you can immediately put your lumber in the solar kiln and begin drying. Drying the lumber can sometimes depend on your location and the temperature however it usually takes 30-60 days to have it dried or reach the 6%-8% moisture to make it ready for use.

Processing your lumber can start as soon as it reaches it's ideal moisture content. First thing you have to do is joint one face of your panel. This can be achieved by hand using 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. And in order for you to have a uniform thickness you may now run through a thickness planer. This is for you to have an equal thickness . Once you plane the board into your final thickness, you then joint one side either manually or by way of 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 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. You will really save a lot of money by processing your own boards for your projects