"Andy H" wrote

Well, I elected to forego the Dust Collector for the moment. I know Ill
have a huge mess with the planer. I do the best I can with a shop vac.
I have a couple paper masks,

Planer's don't usually make lots of "dust", they make more chip sized
particles, so unless you have health/alergy problems already, the paper
masks will most likely be fine, and a respirator overkill.

No shop vac I know of will keep up with most planers with a medium cut, but
if you make light cuts you can certainly keep the cleanup time down with
one.

Ive always heard to on plane one side of a board and wait a couple days
for it to acclimate before doing the other side.

Exact opposite, IME.

Do I have to worry about this with wood this old?

I always make at least one planing pass on both sides ... different strokes.

Fact: freshly planed wood really needs to be stored where the air
circulation is the same on both sides, otherwise you will likely wake up to
bowed wood the next morning.

While it is not necessary to "stack and sticker", some do so.

What I do ( and what most hardwood lumber yards do with "SxS" stock) is to
store the freshly planed boards on end, as vertically upright as possible,
with a support point (in the shop, a shelf edge, cabinet top etc.) about mid
way or higher, so that air can circulate to both sides while its waiting to
be used.

Then again, not all wood, even of the same species, will act the same way
(mainly due to the way it was cut from the log, or from internal stresses
when growing that are released when cut).

No matter the precautions, it's always a crap shoot, and why you should
always order at least 20% more project stock than you need, or more.

YMMV ...

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Last update: 11/30/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)