The start of workbench tops

Now that the steel bases for my work benches are welded together, I can start working on the wood tops. Yesterday my friend Stuart & I made a trip to Menards to pick up the wood I needed.  After about an hour of sorting through the lumber rack, we had picked out 14 decent 2″ x 12″ x 14′ Southern yellow pine boards.  After we got them back to my place, we cut them in half for stacking and stickering.  I thought 275 board feet of lumber would make a bigger pile, than it actually did.

stacked & stickered

Before I can start milling the lumber to size, I have to let it dry out some. The average equilibrium moisture content (EMC) in this part of the country is a little under 14%, thus once it reaches 14% I can start milling it. This morning I went out and took a moisture  reading from each board. The histogram below shows, that some of the boards still need to dry out. I’ll check the boards every few days and post an updated histogram.