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kiln drying oak

Started by xlogger, August 26, 2016, 06:27:36 AM

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xlogger

I had a guy come by yesterday and ask me about kiln drying fresh sawn red oak. I told him I would have to ask someone first since I've never done that. He wanted me to do it in less than a week but I told him that would not happen (8/4 thick). So I'm sure he will not be back. Has anyone done this before (not counting vac drying) with a DH kiln and how long did it take. I have some white oak slabs 8/4 that I've got setting under my shed now for months waiting to get dried, what MC would you get on that before putting it in?
Timberking 2000, Turbo slabber Mill, 584 Case, Bobcat 773, solar kiln, Nyle L-53 DH kiln

WDH

8/4 green oak would take like 60 days.  4/4 green oak will take like 30 days.  Green oak cannot be dried in a week in a kiln without blowing up from the inside.  I shoot for less than 20% moisture content before kiln drying 8/4 slabs. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

YellowHammer

Yes, I try to get down to less than 20%, more toward 15%, i.e. almost air dried, before I put them in the kiln.  Otherwise the kilns are tied up too long. 
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Denny

Takes me anywhere from 30 to 35 days to dry green 4/4 RO in my conventional kilns. I could go faster but I'm a conservative type of guy plus I have the time, so I use a conservative schedule.  I still get honeycomb with this conservative schedule.  When I can, I like to use my kiln as a predryer for green RO, run it at something like 100-97 for the first few days.

longtime lurker

Quote ridiculous price, buy in KD from somewhere else to fill order, make profit on sale... then dry the fresh timber at your convenience and sell it later.

Sometimes people want the impossible and its truely impossible. You dont want customers like that anyway.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

scsmith42

Quote from: xlogger on August 26, 2016, 06:27:36 AM
I had a guy come by yesterday and ask me about kiln drying fresh sawn red oak. I told him I would have to ask someone first since I've never done that. He wanted me to do it in less than a week but I told him that would not happen (8/4 thick). So I'm sure he will not be back. Has anyone done this before (not counting vac drying) with a DH kiln and how long did it take. I have some white oak slabs 8/4 that I've got setting under my shed now for months waiting to get dried, what MC would you get on that before putting it in?

Vacuum kiln only.  If I go into my L200 with green 8/4, it' will be in there for three months.  Typically we will AD 8/4 oak for 12 - 18 months before going into a kiln.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

WDH

There is no instant pudding..........
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

xlogger

I understand that. I told him at least a month but a good chance it could take longer. Also told him to sticker it and air dry for maybe 6 months or longer and we would talk then. He didn't want to wait that long.
Kellogg, I sent him to you to saw the log up, did he ever call? Maybe not much of favor on that one ;D.
Timberking 2000, Turbo slabber Mill, 584 Case, Bobcat 773, solar kiln, Nyle L-53 DH kiln

Den Socling

For the record, it would take 6 days in one of our vac kilns from saw to 7%. No degrade.

A customer recently dried 6" x 6" Red Oak beams in 15 days. I don't know what they looked like. I'm sure there were cracks but they were dry.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

A pretty good rule of thumb is that 8/4 takes 2.5 times longer than 4/4.  This is true for all species.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

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