Drying some AWESOME Eastern White Pine

steveST · May 22, 2004, 09:03:43 PM

I have some very green 8/4 EWP that is 23"+! I am drying it in my Northland kiln. I have never dried EWP. Since it's 8/4, I figure 4-5% per day is a safe bet.

What temp should I start at? Vent wide open 'til free water is gone? Any tips for drying this fabulous material would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Kedwards · May 23, 2004, 01:19:12 PM

White Pine or SYP you can use a $h#t and get schedule meaning that use the most aggressive schedule possible to vent. 4-5% a day is very conservative.

Don_Lewis · May 23, 2004, 03:11:48 PM

Big difference between the way you dry SYP and EWP. 5% a day is a pretty good rate for EWP and I would not go any faster. Kepp temps down to around 100-110F. Start with a 10% and make sure you get it at the start

Kedwards · May 23, 2004, 08:10:10 PM

Let me be more clear..If you dont want brown stain put in the kiln immediately and use 100F WET BULB. Dry bulb temps are around 120 the first day with no degrade. At any rate your kiln drying schedule from green wont typically exceed 12-13 days. You want to use a standard kiln schedule with white pine that doesn't cause collapse of the wood structure and doesn't allow brown stain or sticker stain(drying too slow).This means not starting with too high of a dry bulb/wet bulb temp. Since Northland kilns don't go dry bulb/wet bulb you will have to use samples and weigh daily to insure the correct MC is being released. I would recommend reading the "Dry Kiln Operators Manual" by The USDA and "Quality Drying of Softwood Lumber"

Here is also a good link for genral info on Pine
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/SoftwoodNA/pdf_files/pinusstrobuseng.pdf

Anyway.. The two most common defects for EWP is brown stain and ring failure which are both caused by too high initial drying temps. The ring failure may not show up until you are actually milling the lumber into final product.Too low a temp can result in sticker stain.

steveST · May 24, 2004, 05:44:29 AM

K,
Thanks for the good info...let me be a little more specific about the whole scenario here:

I purchased this material from an individual took it to his sawyer to have it sawed. It was deadpiled for about a week after sawing, but it was relatively cool outside at the time. It was then stickered for about a week, now I have it. I stickered and end-coated it right away.

The material is VERY clear and VERY wide...the very reasons I wanted it. It will make excellent Windsor Chair seats.

It is almost all looking good in the way of color/stain, but one or two pieces are exhibiting a slight speckled stain. I am not sure how deep it goes. It may be due to initially being stickered with a bunch of sawdust on it.

Attached are a few pix...the first is about 1/2 the load stickered, painting and awaiting the kiln. the second is one of the few boards exhibiting stain or mildew, the third is a closeup of the same, the last one is a pic of the next board down the pile.

I expect the kiln to be clear on Wed or Thu of this week. Thanks again for the tips, info and help!

Tom · May 24, 2004, 04:19:21 PM

I can't say that what you show is stain from sawdust but I sure would suspect it. That's what my wood will do if I leave the sawdust on it. Sometimes we sweep it, but, usually just a sharp rap on the edge when we sticker it will clean it off sufficiently. If you dry it quickly, it won't go deep.

steveST · May 24, 2004, 05:28:35 PM

Tom,
Thanks for the info...I am hoping it's just on the surface. When I load the kiln, I will scrape it a little with my hand plane to see what it looks like underneath.
By the way, I have some other 8/4 pine that I intend to load at the same time that has bark still on it. Any harm/ill-effect in drying it with the bark?
Thanks.