Drying In Alaska

[joel383]

Hello all!

This is my first post here and after much searching I'm not coming up with much for air-drying times in climates this far north. I have read the USDA's manual on drying lumber and have seen various other charts for many species, but have yet to come up with any estimates even for air-drying time in climates this far north.

This is fairly critical as we will be purchasing land, and possibly a small mill this fall, and I need to know: if I mill soon after when the sap is down, if the lumber will be ready by mid summer of next year. I don't mind building with a little bit of moisture, but I have built green and it is a head ache.

General lumber species in the area are:

Black Spruce; Picea mariana: smaller in diameter
Sitka Spruce; Picea sitchensis:
Lutz Spruce; Picea lutzii: Hybrid between white and sitka
White Spruce; Picea glauca
Paper Birch, Betula papyrifera
Cottonwoods
Willows and alders

dominant species in my are: spruce and birch

geographically i'm at the junction of two major zones:temperate rainforest and boreal forest, though I'm alot closer to the boreal side.

Any and all input is welcome!

Thanks,
--Joel

[Ianab]

Softwoods like spruce should air dry pretty quick once the weather warms up. I imagine it would be pretty slow during the winter months (covered in snow even?). But once summer starts the longer days are going to assist the drying.

I would expect a couple of  months of good drying would have 2X softwood at least "construction" dry.

The birch and alder would probably take longer, especially if you are expecting to use those for trim or flooring, internal uses where they need to be fully dry. But you don't need that at the beginning of the project, so it has more drying time.

Ian

[beenthere]

Joel
Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

The Relative Humidity is important to you for air drying wood, wherever.

Here is a link to a site that gives the avearage daily lows and highs for your area. Also can see the variation around these averages. A way to add some heat will affect the RH to your advantage which may lead to some solar ideas.

http://weatherspark.com/averages/33065/Soldotna-Alaska-United-States

[fuzzybear]

If I remember correct, VA Tech had a solar kiln built and tested in Tok, Alaska. It would be the same design for any where in Alaska. And would dry it down fast.
I have air dried 2X down in one season. If you keep the snow off of it, it will loose moisture even in the winter. Spruce 2x, cut late fall, stickered corectly, would be ready to use by July, if we have a dry summer. Wet summer add 3-6 months. Birch takes a full year before I even look at it.
FB

[BandsawWarrior]

You'd be surprised how well wood dries in really cold climates.  Cold dry air will suck the moisture right out of the wood.  Birch will be the hardest to dry but I'm sure the softwoods will be fine.

[beenthere]

Tyler
Did you notice how high the RH (relative humidity) is during the cold winter months? Look at the link.
May seem dry, but isn't. ;)

[thecfarm]

Joel,welcome to the forum. Buying land,how much? You mentioned green lumber,so you must of been around a mill in the past? Good luck to with your new adventure.

[jueston]

the reason people say winter is dry, but yet that site lists the rh so high is we heat our houses but most of us don't change the humidy of the air, so when we raise the temp then the rh goes down and the warm inside air feels dry...

for instance 100% rh at 0 degrees(C) is only like 5% at 50 degrees(c)

so i agree that a solar kiln is the best route, and you could build that out of green lumber or cheap purchased lumber. and once you heat the cold air it would have really low rh and dry very very fast.

[Magicman]

I am of no help with your question but Welcome to the Forestry Forum,     joel383.   

[joel383]

Thank you all for your replies.

Joel,welcome to the forum. Buying land,how much? You mentioned green lumber,so you must of been around a mill in the past? Good luck to with your new adventure.

don't know yet. there are several pieces in an upcoming sale that i'm going to bid on. A couple have houses already, but most are just vacant parcels of land most ranging from 1-5 acres. I would like to build a small cabin on it, move in with the wife, build more on adjacent parcels of land then start renting them out in the summer.(this is a big tourist destination)

as for being around a mill, yes, growing up in East Texas its hard to avoid, within 100 miles there was probably 5 lumber mills, 3 plywood, and 4 pulp mills... plus a few independent guys. never got much firsthand knowledge other than watching them saw the wood and picking it up and using it.

[Okrafarmer]

Welcome to the forum, Joel! You live in a beautiful place.

That Sitka spruce, I think, should be a good building material for you. Not too many species to choose from around there. There should be several members of the poplar family, including aspen, cottonwood, and maybe balsam poplar. I think you are too close to the coast to have much tamarack, but inland north of Anchorage there is a lot of that. You are probably too far north to have the hemlocks, cedars and pines found in the rain forests of the pan handle.

If you can get electricity to your site, building a solar kiln and using simple home-owner grade dehumidifier and fans can dry your lumber fairly well in any weather. Even in winter when your sunlight is nil, the circulation and dehumidifying will work on it.

In summer, your kiln will thrive. I would suggest making it a three-sided or two-sided solar kiln, to catch that wrap-around sunshine in the summer.

BTW, not sure if you know, but it is possible to raise apple trees in that part of Alaska. There are several varieties that will grow there. Ask you extension agent if you are interested.