If you don't want to spend too much on lumber it is best to buy them while it is still green and just been cut by a sawmill. However if you purchase the lumber while it is still fresh means it can't be used for a while. I love using products that I personally made myself but if you have a lot of money to spend and you are in a hurry you can just purchase the lumbers you need in any home improvement shops.

After you have planned everything from the project to your desired materials it is now time to make a purchase. Going to a sawmill and choosing the best lumber for the project is our next step, and if you go to a sawmill you will find lumbers that are just laying around that you can choose. Green lumbers shrink when it is dried up so you might want to get something that is a little bit over sized.You should find that the price you pay here will be very good, so don't try to haggle the price down. If they like you and you become a repeat customer they will probably give you even better deals later on.

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As soon as the lumber gets home drying it will be the next step. Air drying is on of the ways to dry you green lumber this is done by piling your boards directly under the sun but protected from the rain Each 1" thick board will take a year to dry up so if you have like a 4" thick board it takes 4 years. The moisture content of the lumber after it was air dried is 12% - 18% still wet to use but you can now bring it inside your workshop for the rest of the air drying process.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.

Another way to dry your lumber is by using solar kiln and if you still don't have it you can find the plans online. These kilns can be built for only a couple hundred dollars. You can place your green lumber inside the kiln to begin drying. 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..

You can start processing the lumber as soon as its dried up. First thing you must do is joint one face of your panel. You can do this by hand by using a hand plane or perhaps the simple approach with a jointer. It makes things a lot easier if you cut the board down to a length close to your final needed length. And then you can run the lumber through the thickness planer. This will make the board parallel to the flat face. Once you plane the panel right down to your final dimension, then you joint one edge possibly manually or by way of a jointer. With the board flat, planed to the final thickness you are ready to rip the board to your final width. You can use any kind of saw to do this. To set your board to the desired width you can used the edge of the board as guide. 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