I am a novice to the art of sawing and drying my own lumber, and I've tried to do extensive research on the topic before posting but still find myself with some questions.
My main problems are sticker staining and discoloration of sapwood, and mildew.
I have been sourcing urban logs from friends who do treework, and when I have a big enough pile I've hired a sawyer with a bandsaw mill to cut them for me. This past summer leading into fall I had approx. 1,000bf of cedar sawn, (western red and cedrus deodora). The Deodar is not a well known species to many woodworkers since it's not native, but was and is a popular ornamental tree and as such it is available in the urban settings I've been sourcing logs from. It has very aromatic heartwood and is quite rot resistant, so i like to use it for siding and decking.
I followed good stacking and stickering protocol (I think?) and let the wood airdry outside during the shoulder season where we still have some nice sunny days mixed with wet ones...(covered from the rain, in the shade, and with fans on it to keep air moving) before moving into a greenhouse to finish off...this brought the MC down to 15% or less now which is sufficient for using as exterior siding and decking. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of mildew and pretty severe "sticker stain" and other sapwood discolorations, primarily on the deodar. The ends were treated with anchorseal, and I had very little loss due to checking or warping.
I've just got several more logs, of the same 2 species, and would like to see what kind of advice I can get on my options for sawing and drying so as not to repeat my mistakes, the sapwood discoloration being the most troublesome. I also wonder about letting the logs set around for 5 months, and if this would also cause the discoloration issues.
I live in the wet part of Oregon, so it will likely be very moist here for the next 5 months. I'd like to avoid the expense of kiln drying the wood, but am skeptical about air drying anything outdoors this time of year. Even if I keep the stack covered from rain, there is often heavy fog and dew that wets anything it contacts.
I have the option to air dry in a covered, but unconditioned barn, but am still concerned about mildew. I could stack in there, but would fans be enough to keep molds at bay and dry it fast enough?
I've listed possible options below, and hope some experts could chime in on what they think my best option to dry the wood is:
1. Mill the logs now (January) and immediately kiln dry.
2. Mill the logs now, stack outdoors to air dry, (with or without fans)
3. Mill the logs now, stack indoors to air dry, with fans.
4. Wait till late spring to mill the logs, then air dry outdoors during summer. (this may not be an option since I am storing them on a friends property with the agreement that I will deal with them in a timely fashion....)
Thanks for reading the long post, and hopefully for helping out!