Rafters for loft in new shop

I took a look at a table of wood properties and was surprised to find that eastern hemlock is actually weaker than spruce.

I would take a close look at the wood before deciding. There's a lot of variation in the quality of spruce. I've seen some very clear spruce that was completely free of knots, but most spruce I've seen has been nothing but knots.

If you have time, you could build a solar drier from the green hemlock. Of course it might not be too straight when it's dry.

A solar kiln works much as a petroleum fueled one, but a little slower. I'm making one now as a part of my lumber shed. It uses 2 box fans to circulate the air.

The reason to sticker green lumber is to prevent almost all of that warp, curl, and twist you were worried about. Air-drying also needs stickering. I've successfully air-dried several thousand board feet sawn from my woodlot. The whole shed, 2 story post&beam, is completely from lumber we've sawn here. All the trim in our house is hickory sawn and dried here. Drawers are tulip poplar, cherry, walnut, oak, sassafras, whatever I've sawn and had sitting around.

The reason for my kiln is partly to speed up rate of drying, but also that I can't air-dry below 15% moisture content (mc) in Va. The local shops won't buy lumber that hasn't been dried to industry standard 7%. It won't stay at 7% here, but that's what it takes to sell it.

I know little about spruce and hemlock, uncommon here where hardwoods are native. I used oak for all my structural needs. Green oak rafters worked just fine.

Here's a link to one site with several kilns, number 4 being the most used here:

• solar kilns

Gerald J.