Question
I am new at kiln drying. I have a container that I use as a dryer. I have only dried a few loads of wood ranging from Oak to pine. I placed the wood in a building that is not heated or cooled. This building has a concrete floor that sweats sometimes. The lumber showed between 6 to 8 percent moisture after I took it out of the kiln. Now it shows as high as 12 with an average of 10. The moisture meter I am using is a Wagner that you just slide across the surface, no pins. I just want to know if that is acceptable to still sell as kiln dried lumber?
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
Furniture, flooring and cabinets in a house will be at 6 to 7% MC, so a piece of wood, like oak, at 11% MC will dry substantially and shrink as it reaches its interior MC value. This can be a serious problem for many products. For construction softwoods, 12% MC is normal. Kiln-dried also means wood that is dried at over 130 degrees F to many people. This kills any insects, their eggs, fungi, etc. For softwoods for interior use, 150 or 160 degrees minimum is often expected as that will begin to set the resin.
Bottom line: for clarity and happy customers, you need to specify what sort of drying you provided and what MC level the wood is at before you attach the woods "kiln dried" to the lumber. Note that the meter you are using will respond more to the MC on the surface, so the MC may not be as high as you think. Borrow a meter with insulated needles or plane a piece of lumber and then measure the MC when the surface moisture is gone.
The final chapter in drying hardwood lumber talks about practical storage ideas. The storage facility that you are now using can be improved. Do you have room for another container that you can paint black or a dark color, keep outside, and then use free solar heating to provide the dryness you need?
