I build six "Old School" drying screens

[Drew Wiley]

... to follow up on that, the better the fir, the more pitchy it is too, and you have to solvent scrub it for it to take a finish, and then it needs to be oil-based, blah,
blah... and I am an expert on this nonsense. Spent all morning dealing with equip and tech advice and tangling with partially misinformed manufacturers related to
a historic register remodel around here. But I'm really thinking out loud. We just got in a big load of lovely tight-grained reddish stair nosing, and I'm cogitating
ripping some of that down and regluing it into picture frame moulding. A lot of work, but it would give me the color of cherry hardwood at a fraction the material
cost, and a unique look. But not a job for someone trying to sand by hand. Vertical-grain fir is infamous for peeling off long deep splinters until its fully sealed. I
have the fancy gear to do it right, and almost started a setup last nite, but copped out and developed some of my backlog of 8x10 film instead.

[Roger Thoms]

Thanks Roger!

Not sure if your local Home Depot will actually have it but it gives you a part number. What you really need is a table saw, then you could mill up exactly what you need. I'm not sure about the comment that you can't mill Douglas Fir in small demensions, I certainly haven't had any problems. My kitchen cabinets are Doug Fir and the wood strips that hold the glass in are 1/4" x 1/4" and so far so good, 83 years old btw. Sure for small stuff you want tighter grain stock.

Roger

[Drew Wiley]

Most of those home center type operations don't even use registered grading rules for lumber but arbitrary descriptions, so you never know what you'll get. They
often sell hemlock in lieu of fir for example - maybe no big deal if you're building and sandbox, but potentially catastrophic if you're building a building. About 80% of
the vertical-grained fir that gets cut goes to Japan at a premium price. Like everything else, current dimensional lumber doesn't have the same grain structure.
Fir is viciously splintery. We'd stockpile decades of the good stuff. You can't just go out and cut it. Then the damn military would come in an order 40K of it at a time
according to a federal specification for pitch content, take the very best stock, and torch the whole pile for a twenty minute fire extinguisher training session.
Your tax dollars at work.

[John Kasaian]

Thanks for all your comments. I'll see if the local Home Depot has the stuff, how much it is and if the grain is compatible, or ash if it is available (I'd guess that driving wire brads through Fir would be, well, memorable.) If not, I'll paint some pipe and be done with it---hunter green might offer a nice contrast. The biggest challenge so far has been the cheap import screws that come with the four hole mending plates. They're rubbish----I threw them all out and replaced them with #7x1/2" pan head sheet metal screws--a 100% improvement! The Phillips heads on the original screws would strip out if you just looked at them too hard.

[John Kasaian]

Yeah it's not carried by anyone out here in the sticks (Fresno) I guess I'll end up with two tone screens, LOL!

[Drew Wiley]

You have no right to refer to Fresno as the "sticks", John... we true hillbillies take pride in heritage and reserve that term for something actually forested. And yeah,
I do have a lot of leftover hardwood beading from the African Mahogany kitchen I did up in the hills; but I use it for various things here too. When you start making
serious money marketing your designer Deardorff-labeled drying screens, I'll sell you some stainless steel pins and a 23 ga micropinner to make life easy. Make sure you use true brass corner braces with silicone bronze screws. A leather handle on each screen would help too.... and maybe little bubble levels on each side, just to
make sure the screens are flat!

[John Kasaian]

You have no right to refer to Fresno as the "sticks", John... we true hillbillies take pride in heritage and reserve that term for something actually forested. And yeah,
I do have a lot of leftover hardwood beading from the African Mahogany kitchen I did up in the hills; but I use it for various things here too. When you start making
serious money marketing your designer Deardorff-labeled drying screens, I'll sell you some stainless steel pins and a 23 ga micropinner to make life easy. Make sure you use true brass corner braces with silicone bronze screws. A leather handle on each screen would help too.... and maybe little bubble levels on each side, just to
make sure the screens are flat!

I could probably sell one (and all I'd need to do is sell ONE) and retire.

[bob carnie]

I held off posting until I could find these pics.

We have found this screen system to work wonderfully for us.
We use small 2 x4 6 inch on each corner to stack one rack on top of each other, the space allows air to get through and overnight
we get nicely dried prints.

We always place face down so we are periodically washing down our screens with hot water.

Home depot supplys all material and they are very robust but also lightweight as that is not Arnold in the pic.

[Drew Wiley]

I just order up a stack of premade fiberglass screens from time to time from one of my mfg sources. Only a few go to the darkroom - most got to the house to replace the ones that have been shredded from the cats swatting at moths on the outside etc. (No cats are allowed in the darkroom). Yesterday, I told my housecats if they behaved, I'd take them to the movies to see The Great Catsby.... I believe it is starring Leonardo DiCatrio.

[John Kasaian]

That's a slick set up, Bob! I wish I had the space for something like that.

I held off posting until I could find these pics.

We have found this screen system to work wonderfully for us.
We use small 2 x4 6 inch on each corner to stack one rack on top of each other, the space allows air to get through and overnight
we get nicely dried prints.

We always place face down so we are periodically washing down our screens with hot water.

Home depot supplys all material and they are very robust but also lightweight as that is not Arnold in the pic.