The Forestry Forum

Local mill has a Northland kiln.  He has offered to dry whatever I have in exchange for some work from me.  I have a few thousand BF of 5/4 white pine, some of which is air dry at about 14% and some of which is still in logs.

Questions:  can I mix them or should the already air-dried stuff be dried separately, and about how long should it take to get to 7%?    Also, will the kiln treatment slow down or stop the rate of decay from blue stain/sap stain/mildew?

QuoteAlso, will the kiln treatment slow down or stop the rate of decay from blue stain/sap stain/mildew?

Yes

The best way to prevent bluestain and mildew on pine is to get it dried down to ~20% as quick as possible. i.e. before the fungus has a chance to grow. Putting it straight into a kiln after sawing would be the best option.

I'd say seperate the air dried and green wood and kiln seperately. The air dried stuff will only need a short period to dry / have pitch set. The green stuff will need a bit longer.

Ian

Ian

Do you know the purpose of the steaming offered by Taranaki Saw mills?

Does it somehow aid drying or is it just for pretreatment with CCA?

Thanks

Ernie