Buying a lumber can be quite costly sometimes so it is best if you buy it straight from the source and while it is still green. Because the lumber is still fresh you need to dry it for a while before you can use it for your projects. If you have a lot of money to spend then you can probably purchase the lumber from home depot, but if you ask me I prefer mine to be rough and dried by me.

After you have planned everything from the project to your desired materials it is now time to make a purchase. 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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After bringing the green lumber home you will then need to dry it. 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. 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.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.

The other method of drying is to build a solar kiln. Plans for solar kilns can be found on the internet. These kilns can be built for only a couple hundred dollars. You can place your green lumber inside the kiln to 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. The first thing you should do is joint one area of the plank. This can be accomplished manually using a hand plane or the easy method with a jointer. Cutting the board to your desired length is advised. And then you can run the lumber through the thickness planer. This process will make the board equal in thickness. After you plane the panel right down to your final dimension, you then joint one side either manually or by using a jointer. As soon as the board is planed you can now cut it to the final width. You can use any kind of saw to do this. Just set your fence or edge guide to the desired width and use the jointed edge of the board as a reference. You now have a board almost ready for your project, just cut the final length needed and build your project. You will really save a lot of money by processing your own boards for your projects