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I've got a bunch of tops that are simply stacked and I wanted to sticker them to promote better drying. I've got a bunch of white oak I could use, but I'm concerned about tannins. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

As always, thanks in advance.

Steve

Buy some 1/4 inch melamine and cut it into 1/4 wide strips. Pretty cheap.

If this is spruce and it is properly quartered , my understanding is that it should dry very quickly . Take clothes hangers and simply hang them up with a fan simply moving air around them if they are green .
Soft woods do not have the warping and twisting issues that hard woods do . By stickering them , you could promote mold and staining .
This info came from John Arnold who has vastly more experience than I when it comes to drying spruce .

Sorry, I explained poorly. This is reasonably dry spruce, and I'm looking at long term storage.

Steve

IF it were mine, I'd do what Filippo said. When I was sure it wasn't losing any more weight (moisture), I'd move the whole lot to a high shelf in the shop somewhere. I'd go so far as to sticker on a top layer of plywood or whatever, and keep a weight on top of that (couple of bricks....whatever). Even then, I would check it periodically and re-stack it, with the stickers in slightly different places. Just what I would do.

Spruce will air dry at 1 inch per year...so you got flat tops at approx 1/4 inch thick then
if racked properly, it will be dry in 3 months ...usually less.
At that point you can stack it all up like a pile of paper or on edge like a book shelf...no matter cuz its dry. Me prefer flat,with some weight although it really ain't needed.
Once dry, racking it up and moving air around it don't do nuffin for the wood.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Steve,

Once I dry the top sets, about 10 days with fans on them, I just stack them up. No stickers, no weight just stack them. When you are getting ready to build just pull a set and leave it in the shop for a week or two and it will quickly acclimate. If you prefer to sticker them then just saw up some spruce from the lumber yard into 1/4 x 5/8 strips, that is the safest.

Shane

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Canada

Would 1/4" plywood stickers be a bad choice?

That's what I use, I just saw up my plywood scraps as needed.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I kept my tops stickered for about 5 years but it was a pain and took up a lot of space. About 4 years ago I rearranged my shop and just stacked em up. I can't see any difference as long as the wood is dry.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Filippo that top shelf with the mother lode of mahogany looks maxed out; better keep an eye that one

My sticks are 1/4" square white fir, cut from 2 X 4's. Once the wood is dry, there is no concern about sticker staining. Equalization of thin spruce taskes much less than three months, and for that reason (and to save space), I do not sticker guitar tops for longer periods. Another reason not to sticker for a long tims is that light infiltration will darken the edges, and with sticks, it may travel in from the edge far enough that it cannot be trimmed off.

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John

So would the same be true for back and side sets?

I came to the same conclusion 2 years ago. I keep the bundles bound until needed. Then lay them stacked un-stickered.

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Michael Lloyd

“I was born to ignorance, yes, and lesser poverties ...
I was born to privilege that I did not see ... I didn’t know it, but my way was paved” – John Gorka

Good news, I can take out my stickers -
That means I have space for at least twice as many tops now.
Good news for me, not so good for my other half....

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Denser woods do take longer, but it is highly variable. The best way to determine whether thin wood is in equilibrium with the air is to lay it flat, exposing the top side. If it curls concave up, it is losing moisture to the air. If it stays flat, it is in equilibrium. If it bows convex up, it is gaining moisture from the air. If you flip the wood over until it stops bowing, you have gained equilibrium.

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John