Hi everyone
Great topic and quite controversial I must say with everyone having a little different slant
As one of the old timers in this group I thoroughly enjoy the back and forth ideas and pointers.
At UCV we had quite a historical maintenance department headed up by one of the best architects in Canada, what he demanded for special timbers (ones that would be used say inside a mill or heated home) needed to be processed either hewn or sawn depending on the situation and stored in open sheds for a period of 3 years, well stickered, a period longer than this required a repiling and realigning the spacers to allow the timbers or sawn lumber to recover at the sticker points, and prevent points of rot to happen.
Even after this length of time the timber is dry only down to the relative humidity of the surrounding air. The longer the storage time the deeper into the timber the stability penetrates
I thoroughly agree builders from time gone by had a better choice and control of the timbers quality, by the fact that most timbers were harvested during the cold dry part of the year and gave the curing process a real kick at the can. The same can be saidof firewood white ash harvested in the winter can be burned immediately
NH
