Tropical wood drying

[jim king]

The other day someone ask a question about drying wood outside and I could not find this photo and today ran across it by accident.  This is how wood is air dried in the Amazon.  The boards are flipped bottom end up every day for consistancy in drying and when the get down to 20% MC in a couple of weeks they go into the kiln.  Primative but it works.

[Tom]

Yes, it was done that way here many years ago.  Some folks today think it is the better way to dry because they saw the old-timers doing it that way.  What they don't know is the labor envolved.  Those yards that dry cypress that way today flip the boards over but I don't think they swap them end for end.   

It makes for an impressive drying field, but it sure is a lot of work.

[beenthere]

AND ya don't have ta make a million stickers............

[crtreedude]

Jim, I have seen the same, but usually done under trees (shaded) otherwise you can get awful splits. If done that way, often you don't need to reverse the boards as often.

Sealing the ends helps too.