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. Your alternatives are to buy dried and dimensioned lumber from distributors or places like Home Depot. These paths are great if your wallet is thick, and you need the boards immediately. I prefer to go with rough cut and prepare it myself.

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.It will not be necessary to haggle the price of the lumber since the prices here are already discounted but if you are frequent customer they might give you better deal

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After bringing the green lumber home you will then need to dry it. One step is to pile your boards outside; undercover from rain and direct sun light; flat; with small (1"x1"x how ever wide your pile is) stickers spaced 12"-24" apart, between every layer of lumber (this allows air to circulate around the boards); this is called "Air-Drying." It takes a year to dry a 1" thick board so if you have 2" it will take 2 years etc... After they air-dry the moisture content will be around 12%-18%, this is still to wet to work with, so now you can bring the lumber inside your shop to finish drying.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. The set back if you want to have it built is around $200. As soon as the lumber gets home you can immediately put inside the kiln to have it dried. It usually takes 1-2 months for the lumber to dry down to 6-8% moisture and be ready for use. But sometimes the location and temperature matters..

After your lumber is dried you can begin processing it. The first thing you must do is joint one surface of the plank. This can be achieved by hand by using a hand plane or maybe the quick way by using a jointer. You may now cut it in close to the dimensions that you need. And then you can run the lumber through the thickness planer. This is for you to have an equal thickness . After you plane the panel down to your final size, you then joint one side possibly manually or with a jointer. As soon as the board is planed you can now cut it to the final width. You can do this with a table saw, band saw, or even a skill saw with an edge guide. Make sure that you are able to set the edge guide by using the jointed edge for reference. You now have a board almost ready for your project, just cut the final length needed and build your project. Processing the rough boards yourself can really save you a lot of money than purchasing the ready made one from your home improvements shops