I'm planning on putting some 8/4 walnut in kiln today. I've had it air drying now for about 3-4 months. Pin meter said in one spot it's 15% and a couple other spots show 99% which means its over 30%. Pinless meter at 3/4" shows upper teens.
This was last week, I'll check it again today. If reading are all over the place again the book said to start at DB 120° WB 98°, Is this what some of you do that has done this lots more than me?
My self and another I know local to me both have Nyle L200 units, I have the woodmizer version so my controller is a bit different.
Our experience is that 8/4 Walnut once air dried below 25% will take about 30-35 days at 30% rh and 120-130f
My last load was 1500 bdft of 8/4 dried below 20%, some read 18% some 22% I found this load was done in 25-30days.
We both like to put the heat to the lumber for the last 3-7 days - 150f
I like to take the lumber down to 6% reading with my wagner pinless meter, then a week or 2 after coming out I find the moisture will equalize to 7-9%
I have nothing to offer since I run vacuum kilns but I see the same thing in walnut. Most of the wood can be dry but will have spots in the teens. These are sometimes but not always around figure. You just have to give it a couple days to get the spots down even with a vac kiln.
I don't put 8/4 walnut in the kiln until it has air dried at least 9 months, so I have not dried any as green as the stuff that you have. If it has only been air drying 3 - 4 months, I bet that it is still very wet, above 30% moisture content.
kind of what I was thinking. Looking in the book that Nyle sent said group 2 that is somewhere between 35-25% start at 110 db and 98wb so I'm trying that. I said on first post that I started with 120 db but I type wrong I set my temp at 110°. Checking last night the wb was only 96 so the compressor has not come on yet.
I hope I'm not rushing this too fast. Just running out of dry wood to put in
I believe 8/4 is group 4, and the manual says to use the same set-points as Group 3.
Quote from: xlogger on April 24, 2016, 06:37:47 AM
I hope I'm not rushing this too fast. Just running out of dry wood to put in
This is always a problem, sawing ahead. Unfortunately, I could fill a comic book ;D with stories of issues with drying from green, as opposed to air drying first.
Drying green, high value loads usually goes OK, but when it goes bad, it's memorable. So just keep an eye on the wood and watch it like a hawk.
Danny, I do see on page 2-2 if we have the same book it says 8/4 group 3 woods under group 4. Is that what you are talking about? I'll cut the db down to 100 and lower the wb to 90 this morning.
Just check on it, db 102 wb 82. Will wb ever get high enough to cut on compressor?
Wood must be drier than I thought. You could set the WB at 80 and get the compressor running. I would not be too concerned about that with walnut.