Air drying

[wavefreak]

So I've been reading up on drying lumber. Seems that some think that kiln drying is better. Supposedly it kills bugs, sets sap, has less warping and the wood ends up with better color. Also, outdoor air drying only gets the moisture content down to 20% or so and you need less than that for things like furniture. I also see articles on DYI kilns. Basically sheds with a few modifications.

What does all your experience have to say?

 

[BlueRider]

So I've been reading up on drying lumber. Seems that some think that kiln drying is better. Supposedly it kills bugs, sets sap, has less warping and the wood ends up with better color. Also, outdoor air drying only gets the moisture content down to 20% or so and you need less than that for things like furniture. I also see articles on DYI kilns. Basically sheds with a few modifications.

What does all your experience have to say?

Lots of missinformation and generalizations there. I am a furniture maker and I only air dry my wood. The wood in my shop is currently at 9% by the end of the summer the wood in my shop and in my outside covered stacks will all be at around 6%. in the early spring my dry outside piles are about 2-3% higher then my indoor piles. This will vary greatly depending on where you live.

For walnut the color of air dried is generaly thought to be far superior to kiln dried. the KD stuff will be more uniform in color and a bit muddy, and Im not using uniform in a good way here. while the air dried will be more vibrant and have some rich streaks of color. Walnut has wonderful sublte variations in color and it is one of the desirable traits of alnut. Kiln drying makes the wood more even in color whic takes the life out of it. Cherry can be the same but the color wont develope till long after the piece of furniture is built and delivered which is why most choose to stain it so kd vs air dried is probably less of an issue with cherry for color.

Some woods such as Holly and even some pines KD will give better color because these woods are so prone to blue fungus staining. it is still not mandatory to KD these woods just harder to air dry without blue streaks.

Not all wood has insects that need to be killed in a kiln and not all kilns get hot enough to kill the bugs. You are right though about a kiln being a good way to get rid of bugs. another way would be to fumigate only the stacks that need it. I have not done this but I have a friend that has done it a couple of times.

the issue of setting sap is marginal. I have used plenty of KD pine and fir that had sap pockets with sap that was not compleately set. This is no doubt due to improper kiln schedules. the sap will eventualy set without a kiln it just takes much much longer.

I suppose all of us think we need to build a kiln when we first start milling. Once we have a couple of years of wood stock piled it just isn't much of a priority. then it is a matter of do I spend time building a kiln to dry wood si I can build firniture, or use my already dry wood to build furniture with. Kind of reminds me of the guy in the news rescently that hijacked a plane that was headed to Cuba and demanded that the plane be flown to Cuba.

 

[wavefreak]

Thanks Blue.

It seems there are lots of variables to consider. How do you measure the moisture content?

I'm building a sun room for my wife and I want to panel the walls in maple and the floor in walnut. I was going to mill the walnut into 1 inch planks then surface plane them to 3/4 inch once dry. It seems from what I've read that 1 year drying time is good for 1 inch. The walls I haven't figure out yet. I was thinking of 3 to 4 inch thick slabs and then cutting 3/8 inch strips off it once it's dry, probably with a band saw. A four inch slab takes about 2 years to air dry, right?

Does flooring or wall treatment have to be as dry as furniture?