The cheapest way to buy lumber is green and rough cut from a sawmill in your area. However if you purchase the lumber while it is still fresh means it can't be used for a while. 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.

After you have planned everything from the project to your desired materials it is now time to make a purchase. This is a matter of locating a local sawmill and asking if they have any lumber of the species and quality you need. Chances are that they will have a pile lying around somewhere that you can sort through and take your pick of the boards. But remember this, "green lumber will shrink while drying!" So make sure you pick stock that is a little over sized.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 It takes a year to dry a 1" thick board so if you have 2" it will take 2 years etc... A lumber can b allowed to dry inside the workshop after a year because it usually has 12%-18% moisture therefore it is not yet ready to be used.It is best to keep your shops RH to atleast 50% for the woods moisture to go down to atleast 8% and to do that you can use a thermometer/hygrometer to monitor from time to time

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. Building it will only cost you around $200. 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.

You can start processing the lumber as soon as its dried up. First thing you must do is joint one face of the panel. This can be done by hand with a hand plane or perhaps the quick way with 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 panel right down to the final size, then you joint one side possibly by yourself 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 use any kind of saw to do this. Using the jointed for reference you can now set your board to your desired width. You now have a board almost ready for your project, just cut the final length needed and build your project. You're done, and you saved tons of money by processing the rough boards yourself.