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Responses to Fixing Twist in a Slab

1. Alistair Mactavish
   November 3rd, 2020 at 4:46 pm

   Hi Bongo, I have watched a number of your videos on chainsaw milling (thanks for the effort of making them !) I have a some questions for you about storage – if you don’t mind. I milled some massive oak recently and am wondering about the size and distance of the bearers and stickers (and sticker size). The boards were 3m long, 1.25m across and done at between 2 1/2 and 4 inchs depth. Heavy buggers I can tell you. Although 3m logs had been down for about 3 years the immediate moisture content was still an impressive 35%. Anywats I was thinking bearers 4 inch posts spaced at around 50cm. So 6 bearers. I have 15 boards so need a ton of stickers but what size would you recommend, with the board being so wide I thought maybe 1 inch x 1 inch. Sticker every 50cms as well (to match up with the bearers I assume). If I do that 6 x 1.3m x 15 = 120m of stickers. The temptation would be to rip on the boards down but I read you should use dry timber for the stickers to avoid staining. Do you have any advice on the cheapest material for stickers. Baten perhaps ? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Cheers, Alistair


2. Bongo
   November 4th, 2020 at 4:24 pm

   Hi Alistair,
   Thanks for your question. What you propose sounds about right. Yes, as you surmise, the stickers need to line up exactly with bearers, and the end bearers should be as close to the ends of the boards as practically possible. 1″ stickers is also about right. I have gone slightly less (down to about 3/4″) before, depending on what scraps I have to make them out of. Dry stickers are best, and something light colour too, pine for instance. Oak stickers between sycamore boards, for example, would stain the sycamore badly.
   So yeah, I use whatever I can get my hands on from skips. Spruce floor boards are excellent once ripped down. And yes, it’s surprising just how much timber you need for the stickers!
   If you don’t have scraps you can use, buy the cheapest light coloured softwood you can find that’s not too knotty.
   Note if the oak has character (not straight grain) you didn’t aught to go less than 1″ with the stickers as you need a bit more strength to resist warping. Also ratchet strap or heavy weights on top.
   With really nice boards that have very crazy grain, I have even added steel box section on top (with a sliver of wood so its not metal on the slab) and ratchet strapped that down to the bearers. Check and tighten every week for the first few months, then every couple of months… A heavy weight is just as good.
   Hope that helps. In the end some wood just wants to split and move – it’s all part of the fun:)
   PS. Remember to coat the end grain.


3. Alistair Mactavish
   November 5th, 2020 at 12:26 pm

   Thanks for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it.

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