Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

Can anyone shed light on the pros and cons of either?

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

Kiln dry lumber will be more brittle and less easily bent.
" none wrote in message
...
Can anyone shed light on the pros and cons of either?

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

"Jim Conlin" wrote in news:Kv6dnUhPw5NmHNjZRVn-
:

Kiln dry lumber will be more brittle and less easily bent.
" none wrote in message
...
Can anyone shed light on the pros and cons of either?



Thanks for the input.

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

Sure, Air dried wood is better, it has had time to slowly condition as it
dries (slowly). The wood fibers haven't been shocked, resulting in
chucking, cracks, etc. There is absolutely nothing to recommend kiln dried
wood except the production schedule of the mill and the amount of storage
they have. Once the moisture content has reached optimum levels you're good
to go.

" none wrote in message
...
Can anyone shed light on the pros and cons of either?

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

I've got two things to say:

1. Visit a planer mill sometime, and look what happens when kiln dried wood
jams up versus air dried ...kiln dried explodes while air dried splits and
splinters. Kiln drying damages the wood in a way that doesn't reduce it's
load rating, but impacts how it fails in a big way. It's brittle.

2. Buy a stick of air dried wood (or dry your own) and one of kiln dried.
Lay them on a sawhorse outside for a month. Take a look. The kiln dried
will be all warpy as heck while the air dried will have only warped a
little.

I think that kiln dried was developed so you could get homes built faster,
not having to wait for the building code's moisture limit to happen
naturally (you can't legally dry wall until the moisture content is low
enough). It really has no other good use if you ask me.

Brian
(In Oregon ...land of wood products)


" none wrote in message
...
Can anyone shed light on the pros and cons of either?

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

Those are alll good points -to a point . It allso depends on how FAST
wood was dried in the kiln
My father has built a kiln He uses it to dry wood for his woodworking
shop. He just doesnt get in a big hurry getting it dry (different
drying rates for diff. species) and has had very good luck producing
wood that is stable. it also depends where you live AZ ,NM, ect. the
wood will air dry nearly as fast as in a kiln in say the midwest (high
temp + 4 % humidity) equals very fast drying times we live in the
midwest our summer time humidity is 75 to 99 percent. just how long do
you think it will take to get wood down to say 12 percent hmmm.

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

I've read where the old time ship builders used to sink logs with rocks into
fresh water. A few years later the sap had gone and the wood was ready for
use.

They sure are getting premium prices for the logs recovered after 75 years
on the river bottom.

Roger

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm

"espresso kid" wrote in message
oups.com...
Those are alll good points -to a point . It allso depends on how FAST
wood was dried in the kiln
My father has built a kiln He uses it to dry wood for his woodworking
shop. He just doesnt get in a big hurry getting it dry (different
drying rates for diff. species) and has had very good luck producing
wood that is stable. it also depends where you live AZ ,NM, ect. the
wood will air dry nearly as fast as in a kiln in say the midwest (high
temp + 4 % humidity) equals very fast drying times we live in the
midwest our summer time humidity is 75 to 99 percent. just how long do
you think it will take to get wood down to say 12 percent hmmm.

Kiln dry vs. Air Dry Lumber
 

lol they are getting a premium do the the fact that old growth timber
tended to be tighter grained and straighter grained (better quality).
growing conditions HAVE changed in the last 2 to 4 hundred years
that wood still has to be dried (IT DOES NOT COME OUT OF THE WATER
DRY!) altho the sap has been leached out


they also soaked wood before they bent it, today steam is generaly
used to do the same thing