Replies

1. 
   fdampier5 | May 01, 2003 12:50am | #1

   maple can stain real easily,  from the time the tree hits the ground untill it's sawn into boards, stickered and put in the kiln should be as short as possible.   Make certain that your stickers are dry and not stain prone woods like redwood etc..

     I've seen stains form in three days on wood that was sawn and not put into a kiln immediately..exceptional conditions granted but it can happen..

     most other woods are not as sensitive and it depends on the weather a lot  freezing weather helps a lot as long as there is no freeze/thaw cycle going on..

1. 
   IronDog | May 01, 2003 01:04am | #2

   Thanks for the reply Frenchy.

   I am aware of the sticker staining problem and will be careful about that.

   So, you are advocating kiln drying as soon as possible and the any intermediate air drying is not necessary?

   That is the main question I have. One sawyer told me that sending the wood right to a kiln would result in case hardening. But could have been a lousy kiln operator too!

   I'm trying to get in contact with some local kiln people but thought I'd better check with everyone here.

   Tom

1. 
   fdampier5 | May 01, 2003 01:09am | #3

   Case hardening is when they try to rush the wood too fast..  kick up the heat and pull the moisture out of the wood too fast.. not from lack of air drying..

1. 
   IronDog | May 01, 2003 01:39am | #4

   Frenchy,

   That's interesting. I understand kiln drying is a combination of art and science.

   I'll just have to make sure I find a good kiln operator.

   I'll also make sure the board ends are well sealed. Is there a particular product you use?

   I did sucessful air drying of cherry just by painting the end grain with a lot of goopy paint.

   Tom

1. 
   johnhardy | May 01, 2003 01:51am | #5

   I believe the product you want (to paint the board ends) is called Anchorseal.

   John

2. 
   fdampier5 | May 01, 2003 01:58am | #6

   Kiln drying isn't the only way to dry boards, if you have the time air drying works fine.

     wax works best foer sealing the ends of boards but a good kiln operator will have what you need..

     The product I use is called green seal  

3. 
   Kevin | May 22, 2003 11:25pm | #11

   I couldn't find "green seal" using a search engine. Well... I did but what I got was a bunch of hits for some sustainable logging program called "green seal." I did find Anchorseal, though. Do you have a link on the green seal end sealer product?

   Regards,

   Kevin

4. 
   fdampier5 | May 23, 2003 01:52am | #12

   Sorry,

     I found it at the rocklers dealer near my home..  (it's a woodworkers supply house)

2. 
   RW | May 01, 2003 03:58am | #7

   FWIW, went to the sawyer yesterday and ordered some 8/4 soft maple. Said he'd get it cut today, will call when dry, expect about 40 days in the kiln. Believe the air drying is not a necessity either. Just doesn't cost you money to get it part way there. This sawyer has an interesting setup. Starts out as just a dehumidification kiln, the heat comes into the equation near the end. Haven't had any issues with case hardening from his stocks ( yet? )

   "The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb "      lyrics by Roger Waters

1. 
   IronDog | May 22, 2003 05:39pm | #8

   Hi everyone,

   I'm getting conflicting information from different kiln operators.

   One tells me this is a bad time of year to cut down a maple, I assume because the sap is running and that can lead to staining. So I would have to get it from sawyer to kiln immediately and be really careful about sticker staining.

   I saw a new product that are plastic stickers so they won't stain and they let air circulate better because of the way they are shaped.

   Got some good news from the arborist who will take the trees down.

   He says it's a Norway Maple which is a hard maple. Used widely in Europe for

   furnitute and may have been used for the backs of Stradivarius violins!

   The only firm B.F. price I have gotten to date is 60 cents from one kiln operator.

   What kind of drying prices are you all getting?

   Thanks!

   Tom

1. 
   johnhenry922 | May 22, 2003 09:34pm | #9

   Drying times for wood vary, but one rule of thumb for air-dried wood is you give up to a year per inch of thickness. Bad stickering of the wood can leave stains that penetrate very deeply into the boards, so it seems best to use something that is light colored and without volitile oils or pigments, like red cedar or walnut.

   Obviously this depends on many things, like relative humidity where its dried, the species and so forth.

   The various opinions voiced here about how long you can leave a log before cutting seems to be out of step with my own experience with the results I got from some wood I had sawn that had been left as logs for several years on the ground , uncovered. The other small logs has much more pronounced spalting but very little actual rot.

   Two years back, I struck up a conversation with a very nice lady who was a customer of the company I worked for. I asked about a pair of small logs that had been laid down in a bed of ivy. It turned out they were pear wood, one 9 footer, 15 inches across and a second smaller one 10 feet long and around 10 inches across with a s-shaped bend to it. She gave them to me, and I had them flat sawn a few days later and stickered them under a lean-to by my shed.

   I started planing it up in my recent acquired Ridgid 13" planer (Home Depot, Burnaby BC, $733 Can with stand) to see what they looked like. The outer layers of wood near the butt ends have some darker hues and checks but the remainder of the wood is a nice tan color after starting out rather light yellow-brown near the surface with some tiger stripping present in the full width of the boards.

   The boards seem to be pretty stable after I left them in my heated shop space for around two months.

   I also had some broad-leafed maple sawn from some logs I kept up off the ground and under cover for 3 years. The spalting does go into the wood but the biggest log, a 38 inch by 14 fott chuck, it only goes in a few inches near the butt ends that were in the rain.Next time you wave at me, use ALL your fingers. ;)

3. 
   jjf | May 22, 2003 10:22pm | #10

   If you want the color to be a honey tone it does not matter too much when you cut it and how long it takes.  If you want a white bright color this is the wrong time to cut and it must be put into a fast drying kiln quickly.  Either way don't wait too long or you will get mold type stain.

   It can be successfully dried in about a week with great results.  The rule of thumb - a year for each inch of thickness has no basis and truely arbitary rule even if you air-dry.  After you bring it down to about 15% by air-drying it must be brought down to 6-8% some other way.

   Casehardening happens no matter what type of drying you do: air-drying, solar drying or steam kiln dring, vacume or dehumidification.  Whether one notices if it is present depends on what you make and how you plan it.

   The only ways to eliminate casehardening is by introducing steam into the chamber after it has been dried or waiting veryyyyyy long time. Years