Drying question

[Yellowbeard]

I just posted another thread in which I showed a giant white oak I'm getting ready to mill. I should end up with most of the wood from it. My plan, at present, is to cut it into 3" slabs.

However, I am also cutting some of the branches into 42(ish)" in sections with the plan of cutting 3-4" slabs out of them to make stair treads for a house I am hoping to build soon.

What do I need to know about how long this all has to air dry, when I can take it to a kiln, etc?

The stairs, in particular, are of concern as I would love to find out that I can get them usable in the next 9 months or so in order to put them in the house.

Thoughts? Advice? etc.?

Thanks!

 

[Yellowbeard]

Also: I may end up taking the chunks I want to cut into stair treads to a bandsaw mill and then a kiln. Any thoughts as to what I should expect to pay a BSM to cut these up for me?

What I should expect to pay a kiln? I am sure this varies with location. I'm in NW Arkansas (and I am sure things vary a lot depending where I go in NWA as well).

 

[Blisters]

Not sure what it will cost u but the guy at the kiln will have all the info and more than likely put u in touch with a good Miller.

 

[Gixxerjoe04]

Air drying takes a year per inch of thickness, that's the general rule but is different for every location, heat, humidity etc. I think the mc of wood is usually put in a kiln around 25% or so, then depending on the kiln, could take a couple weeks to a couple months, with it being summer usually on the low end. I know around me one guy charges a $100 an hour to mill lumber and that's you taking the logs to him, not sure what he charges to dry it. Another mill I go to charges .35 cents a bf to mill it and another 35 cents a bf to kiln dry it. If you're having him mill and dry slabs, prices would probably be higher for drying I'd say, since they're heavier, awkward and limits space.

 

[Yellowbeard]

I know the general rule of thumb that air drying is a year/inch, but that's not before you put it in the kiln, right? I thought that was the rule if air drying only. I'm not saying that you were saying that's the case, just trying to clarify.

So, basically the wood needs to be at 25% before it goes into a kiln? Am I reading that right? Now I wonder how long that's going to take.... I suppose I'll get the best answers from the kiln operator, but I have to find one first.

Thanks!

 

[Franny K]

Not drying related but I wonder how the slabs you get out of the branches will move around as the edge portions are removed. If a tree is straight with equal branches on both sides it can be milled and the removed piece and the remaining piece stay pretty straight. I have some oak trees with branches approaching horizontal which would be the opposite. The stresses may well make them move while drying. I would certainly make extra I assume you are talking stair treads expecting some to go bad.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

How dry the lumber is when it goes in the kiln, is up to the OWNER of the kiln... He has different schedules for all of that, plus the thickness of the wood.

Generally, kiln owners don't like to mix lumber thickness' either, as they take different drying schedules...

SR

 

[Yellowbeard]

Ahhhhh. So it's not about something having to do with the wood drying to fast and cracking or something?

 

[wombler]

Checking and splitting during drying isn't about speed. It's mostly about *differential*. As wood dries, it shrinks. The end grain dries quicker than the long grain, so the ends shrink quicker than the middle, and that puts some pretty serious forces on the wood, because one part wants to be small, and the rest wants to be big, and they pull against each other. Eventually, as the differential size gets great enough, thar she blows! You can dry it as quick as you like, as long as you make sure the ends don't dry quicker than the middle, and that's most often done by sealing the ends with some sort of water-impermeable barrier.

It's important to note that differential isn't the *only* thing that causes problems, though. There are a bunch of issues, including the proportion and placement of different sorts of wood (heart, sap, reaction) within the piece. Knowledge of the orientation of the standing tree, and careful placement of the cuts, will improve the quality of the sawn timber, too.

 

[Gixxerjoe04]

The inch per year is for air drying the wood and not kiln drying, but yea I'd just call a mill and ask what they do since every place is different.