Drying 6" X 8" Pine Beams

Estimates of the required drying time for large pine timbers. May 27, 2014

Question (WOODWEB Member) :
I am sawing 6"x"8 x 24' Southern Yellow Pine SYP beams. My two questions are: What is the lowest MC I can expect from stickered air drying, and what is the lowest MC I can expect from kiln drying?

Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From Contributor E:
Stickered air drying should be about 12% in five-ten years in a covered shed. Kiln drying is up to the kiln operator, but will take a long time.

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From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
The MC in a shed with fans would be 12% MC and you would get there within six warm months. In a kiln, a 3x5 takes ten days to get under 15% MC, so I would guess that a 6x8 in the kiln might take three times longer.

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From contributor D:
We did a teeth many years ago drying 50MBF SYP 6 by 8 log home timbers. They were for log homes and the requirement was 15% 1.5 inches in. From dead green off the saw it took seven days. We had replaced a European dehumidifier that could run to 125F and the best they could do with that was ten days. We have at least 40 kiln installations in that size range drying Eastern White Pine and that takes two to six weeks depending on the final tolerance for checks. Be sure to use 1-1/2 stickers.